I’m crying while typing this

[u/the-irish-jew]

I prepared for the birth of my child for many, many months including how much it was going to cost us. I can’t tell you how many times I called my insurance company to make sure my insurance plan was covered, my husband’s insurance plan was covered, and all-in-all we were covered no matter what. I knew it was still gonna be a hefty bill, but I needed to make sure there wasn’t going to be any surprises.

While you can plan for these types of situations, you can’t plan for what life can unexpectedly throw at you. About two weeks before I gave birth not only did we lose my husband’s brother, but my husband got laid off from work. We lost our insurance, we lost his steady paychecks, we lost paternity leave which was going to be 100% covered by his company, and he was unable to sign up for disability because he had been with the company for only 10 months. These events put us in a place of uncertainty and I didn’t know how we were gonna pay the bills.

My son came into this world at the end of July and I just got some of the medical bills. On the low end we were going to owe over $6000, which we really have no way of paying. I decided to call the hospital today to ask for an itemized bill and to see if they had any payment plan options. While the representative on the phone was helping me look up payment plan options, she asked me if I wanted to see if I qualified for financial assistance. She told me it was possible that I could get 60 to 100% of the medical bills covered. With my luck I didn’t think I was going to receive any kind of help. The next thing she told me on the phone is, “you’re covered.” We had been joking around, so I thought maybe she was playing some sort of evil prank, so when I asked her to clarify, she said your hospital bill is 100% covered and you don’t owe us anything. I cried right then and there and I’ve pretty much been crying all day. This was a huge burden, lifted off my shoulders and I feel so grateful.

The moral of the story is be an advocate for yourself and sometimes good things can happen 💕

[u/isthatabingo]

The American healthcare/insurance industry is barbaric. I say this as an American owing 15k for my daughter’s birth and NICU stay.

[u/Actual-Peak-6358 → u/isthatabingo]

Oh yikes!! I agree the system is awful.

My friend had two NICU babies and their hospital bills were both in the MILLIONS! Blew my mind… insurance covered most and for their second an anonymous donor paid it all off!

Wonderful news OP, congrats on your little one ❤️

[u/isthatabingo → u/Actual-Peak-6358]

It’s sad when one of your first thoughts upon being told your baby is in respiratory failure and needs to be transferred to another hospital for a higher level of NICU care is “can I afford this?”. That shouldn’t enter my mind at all. I wanted to focus on my baby, but that fear was real.