[OnTheIce]

Brenda Brenda:

jj2424 jj2424:

You better stay in your little shack in the hills you hillbilly since you think Dec/ 13 comes before Nov/ 13.

You really don't get it, do you?
She went to Hawaii 6 weeks before her child was brought into this world, 9 weeks before he due date. Her insurance ended 3.5 weeks before her child was brought into this world, AND she tried to get home but wasn't allowed.

Now what part of this don't you get, you idiot?
Your claim that she left Canada without insurance and expected the US to pay is... stupid, to say the least


(btw, those are not hills. Those are mountains. I guess you've never seen anything like it though. It's kind of special. )

What part don't you get?

$1:

"Blue Cross said that because I had a bladder infection at four months and hemorrhaged because of that, that they would not cover the pregnancy," she said. "We thought we had done everything right. We thought we had covered all avenues and we thought we were covered. We thought we were safe to go."

She already had complications with her pregnancy and still rolled the dice and went on the trip....and lost the bet. After losing the bet, she opted not to try to extend her coverage and let it lapse. Another poor decision.

She made a poor choice and chose travel over her personal health and that of her unborn child.

You don't have to defend poor choices and be nasty to people just because your a woman and so it she. Women make mistakes, as do men.

[Brenda]

A bladder infection is NOT a complication with pregnancy. They can say that, but it isn't. It expired while she was on bed rest, in Hawaii, ordered by Hawaiian doctors.


Me nasty?

[OnTheIce]

Brenda Brenda:

A bladder infection is NOT a complication with pregnancy. They can say that, but it isn't. It expired while she was on bed rest, in Hawaii, ordered by Hawaiian doctors.


Me nasty?

Selective reading are we?

A hemorrhage is a complication with pregnancy. Being a woman, you should know that. It expired while she was on bed rest...did she break her arms and wasn't able to dial a phone?

She rolled the dice and lost.

Period.

In the end, she doesn't lose anything. She just doesn't pay it. You looking for any and every reason to place the blame anywhere but the mother is typical.....as is your nasty responses to those who disagree with you.

[Brenda]

Show me where I was nasty out of the blue?

She shouldn't pay it. And I think Blue Cross should stop being an asshole.
She was insured when she left for a vacation, which is her right.

Okay, here is the deal. It is YOUR fault. Now I am putting the blame on everyone but the mother. There are 2 parties here. The family, and the insurance company.

I am glad they got the care they needed, btw.

[Brenda]

So explain me this. Even IF her pregnancy would have been covered, would her early child birth, and thus her baby, be?
So, she was put on bed rest, and was not allowed to go home.
The Emergency C-Section, even when done if the insurance had NOT expired, would have created a new child, which is NOT covered under the insurance policy, correct? So the neonatal care costs would have been on her anyway, whether her policy had expired or not. The child, even when put on the policy the day it was born, would have suffered from 'pre-existing conditions' and thus be excluded.

[Xort]

Brenda Brenda:

You ever been pregnant?

If you think you have no life while being pregnant because you can't take international trips wait till the child is born.

Is that joke really so hard to understand?

Also I believe the new cultural standard is that when a women becomes pregnant so does the father and they both are. "We are pregnant!", "We are having a baby.", "We had our first one a year ago."

Although it seems that black people my have found a loop hole of some kind:

$1:

Who says she was on 'constant trips to be entertained'? She was 25 weeks pregnant and my guess is she wanted a last trip only with her man before their baby was born. The airline allowed her to fly. Why not? Usually, a pregnancy is not an illness, yaknow...

You implied that staying around your normal area was something that would make you bored.

"I'd suggest avoiding international travel for as much as possible at least for the last 6 months."
"Sit on your ass and be bored do nothing. Ok."

As to why not, how about a million dollar hospital bill?

$1:

That is insulting to every pregnant woman 'Medical condition', really??

Yes really. Every health care professional would call pregnancy a medical condition. Because well it is.

http://www.medicinenet.com/diseases_and ... lpha_p.htm head down to Pp-Pr.

If you don't like that webpage I can give you many more and quotes from doctors and all sorts of stuff. Being pregnant is a medical condition which is why the mother must make adjustments for that medical condition.

$1:

No one told her to not work, yet you tell her she can't go to Hawaii. K.

My statement was in direct reply to what you said, which wasn't made in the context of this lady.

"Keep going to work on the advice of your doctor."
"My landlord/mortgage provider is going to love not getting their money."

$1:

You really think women are stupid, right?

I think that the average person is stupid and 50% of the people are dumber than that person.

Some women are dumb, don't plan ahead and tend to make poor choices. I'm not suggesting this women is dumb, a fair assessment I think would be unlucky and short sighted.

Most people are short sighted, that's the standard for humans and it take a lot of effort to get around that.

Also, not to be rude but her insurance told her that the her pre-existing condition would void their coverage for her pregnancy and related complications. In hindsight I can say, well fuck those insurance guys were spot on the money. They saw the injury and didn't want to cover her pregnancy, turns out they were right.

The back and forth between what Blue Cross might have said and the conditions they may have put on her isn't clear from the brief explanation given in the story.

Again, hindsight I'm not sure what I would have done in her position. What I do know is what I have done; Which is to be totally clear on what the insurance I've paid for covers.

$1:

Your point?

A women that is pregnant shouldn't be in a situation that their 'landlord/mortgage provider is going to love not getting their money' because they are unable to work during their pregnancy.

[Brenda]

The only part worthy of responding to is the insurance part and pre-existing condition. Since we do not know WHEN they said that (after the hospital bill? Before they went? Who knows?) even that is uncertain.

A pregnant woman is probably getting into that situation when her situation changes. Break up, partner dies, job loss, sickness. Then there is the maternity leave, which covers 55% of your last pay (or something) for a year.
Where I'm from, it is 70% for 16 weeks (6 weeks before due date, 10 weeks after giving birth). After 16 weeks, you go back to work or get sick pay if you can't, which is also 70%.

[bootlegga]

Horror stories like this are why we cancelled our trip to the States this year - with my daughter's condition, we'd never get insurance coverage and if something happened and she needed to be hospitalized, we'd be on the hook for a couple hundred thousand dollars.

[OnTheIce]

Brenda Brenda:

So explain me this. Even IF her pregnancy would have been covered, would her early child birth, and thus her baby, be?
So, she was put on bed rest, and was not allowed to go home.
The Emergency C-Section, even when done if the insurance had NOT expired, would have created a new child, which is NOT covered under the insurance policy, correct? So the neonatal care costs would have been on her anyway, whether her policy had expired or not. The child, even when put on the policy the day it was born, would have suffered from 'pre-existing conditions' and thus be excluded.

I don't have her policy in front of me so I can't comment on what would or would not be covered.

Looking at my own travel policy coming up in two weeks and in December, childbirth is covered and isn't considered a pre-existing condition...unlike a hemorrhage during pregnancy.

[Regina]

Besides the semantics of dates, the insurance company declined the bill because she had a preexisting condition. So at some point she did in fact have insurance to travel. In the live interview I saw, she said she was told that because of a bladder infection her claim was rejected. All medical doctors said it would not be related to the premature delivery. She hid nothing from the insurance company before traveling and consulted her doctor.
Usually our provincial healthcare will cover the costs related to the treatments in the US but only up to what it would cost if she was treated in Canada. Same as the inter provincial agreements currently in place if this would have happened in any outside province. That total would be NO where near the $1 Million she was charged for her total stay.
Quite surprised in all the bickering that no one pointed to the "for profit" billing.

[DrCaleb]

Regina Regina:

Besides the semantics of dates, the insurance company declined the bill because she had a preexisting condition. So at some point she did in fact have insurance to travel. In the live interview I saw, she said she was told that because of a bladder infection her claim was rejected. All medical doctors said it would not be related to the premature delivery. She hid nothing from the insurance company before traveling and consulted her doctor.

This is actually a common tactic by Blue Cross, and many insurance agencies. Sometimes it's because you didn't put some obscure prescription down on the form because you forgot all about it. But when they check your history (how do they do that?) they find you neglected one med, and any claims you make will be rejected. Even if the meds had nothing to do with your injury.

But, even knowing they'll reject any claim you make, they'll happily accept your premiums!

Regina Regina:

Quite surprised in all the bickering that no one pointed to the "for profit" billing.

I noticed. I was just

[QBall]

Brenda Brenda:

I read something different than you, I guess.
Her water broke 2 days into their holiday, then she spent six weeks in bed on bed rest. Then her baby was born on December 10. She was on bed rest for 6 weeks already, so roughly, since November 1.

This is where her story doesn't make sense. If there is a preterm premature rupture of membranes the pregnancy can, under very specific circumstances, be kept going for a little while but delivery needs to take place within a week or else there is a severe risk of infection to both the baby and mother. I don't believe for a second that her water broke, she waited six weeks and then delivered the baby. When a woman's water breaks that is the start of the process of delivery. It's like starting the process to launch a rocket into space when it's T minus 10 seconds, stopping at the T minus five second mark and saying to the crew, "Let's hold off for six weeks and then we'll pick up where we left off".

[Brenda]

QBall QBall:

Brenda Brenda:

I read something different than you, I guess.
Her water broke 2 days into their holiday, then she spent six weeks in bed on bed rest. Then her baby was born on December 10. She was on bed rest for 6 weeks already, so roughly, since November 1.

This is where her story doesn't make sense. If there is a preterm premature rupture of membranes the pregnancy can, under very specific circumstances, be kept going for a little while but delivery needs to take place within a week or else there is a severe risk of infection to both the baby and mother. I don't believe for a second that her water broke, she waited six weeks and then delivered the baby. When a woman's water breaks that is the start of the process of delivery. It's like starting the process to launch a rocket into space when it's T minus 10 seconds, stopping at the T minus five second mark and saying to the crew, "Let's hold off for six weeks and then we'll pick up where we left off".

Apparently, that is not always true...

https://hollybaumannphotography.wordpre ... s-bedrest/

[Benn]

Seeing she does in fact not have private insurance I'm sure the hospital will realize they have no cash cow and will offer to reduce her bill to something more reasonable, like $500,000

[rickc]

Brenda Brenda:

xerxes xerxes:

It's also another example of why not to travel when pregnant.

Hmmm, should one be sitting on their butt for 9 months then?
Your employer expects you to come to work too...
If my calculation is correct, she was 25 weeks pregnant when her water broke, 2 days into her holiday.

Also, apparently...

$1:

Tell the U.S. hospital "sorry, don't have it" and just move on. What are they gonna do? Mess up your credit in the USA? Americans without insurance get these insane bills all the time. We laugh (950,000 due NOW? all you can do is laugh...) and throw them away. Don't pay it. Don't try to pay it. And don't feel bad about not paying it.
They can't do a thing to this family past giving them an "blemish" on their AMERICAN credit report. They aren't American, the report has no bearing on anything in Canada. So don't even worry about it. After 7 years they have to stop even trying to collect.

I do not know who is giving the advise in the quote, but they are wrong. Credit reports might not cross the border but court orders do. This hospital can easily win a judgement against this couple in court. Armed with that judgement they can have the couples wages garnished in Canada. They can put a lien against their property and even force the sell of that property. Both parents are on the hook for the payments. Ignoring the payments is a bad idea. The best thing for them to do would be to file for bankruptcy in an American court. Get rid of the debt, and not mess up their credit in Canada.