NYT:Pregnant laid-off worker "rushed to the hospital, took a medication to induce labor so insurance

[Pirate Smile]

would still cover her delivery.

When a Job Disappears, So Does the Health Care


Starla D. Darling, with her son, Colt, and daughter, Kathryn. Ms. Darling lost her health benefits when an Archway factory closed.

ASHLAND, Ohio — As jobless numbers reach levels not seen in 25 years, another crisis is unfolding for millions of people who lost their health insurance along with their jobs, joining the ranks of the uninsured.
The crisis is on display here. Starla D. Darling, 27, was pregnant when she learned that her insurance coverage was about to end. She rushed to the hospital, took a medication to induce labor and then had an emergency Caesarean section, in the hope that her Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan would pay for the delivery.

-snip-
Most people are covered through the workplace, so when they lose their jobs, they lose their health benefits. On average, for each jobless worker who has lost insurance, at least one child or spouse covered under the same policy has also lost protection, public health experts said.
Expanding access to health insurance, with federal subsidies, was a priority for President-elect Barack Obama and the new Democratic Congress. The increase in the ranks of the uninsured, including middle-class families with strong ties to the work force, adds urgency to their efforts.

“This shows why — no matter how bad the condition of the economy — we can’t delay pursuing comprehensive health care,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio. “There are too many victims who are innocent of anything but working at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Some parts of the federal safety net are more responsive to economic distress. The number of people on food stamps set a record in September, with 31.6 million people receiving benefits, up by two million in one month.

-snip-
“When I heard that I was losing my insurance,” she said, “I was scared. I remember that the bill for my son’s delivery in 2005 was about $9,000, and I knew I would never be able to pay that by myself.”
So Ms. Darling asked her midwife to induce labor two days before her health insurance expired.
“I was determined that we were getting this baby out, and it was going to be paid for,” said Ms. Darling, who was interviewed at her home here as she cradled the infant in her arms.
As it turned out, the insurance company denied her claim, leaving Ms. Darling with more than $17,000 in medical bills.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/us/07uninsured.html?hp

:(

[annabanana]

1. Oh Dear oh dear oh dear. .

These horror stories MUST be stopped. I sure hope that EVERYONE here is pestering the SHIT out of their representatives. .

[aquart]

3. No. They must be highlighted and TOLD.

[aquart]

2. Wouldn't have happened with national health.

American health care is killing Americans.

[jtrockville]

21. Health INSURANCE is killing us. Our health CARE is just fine...

except the only way we can get care is by participating in the health insurance scam.

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. That's right!

[malta blue]

4. When I was pregnant with Little MB, my ob-gyn office

called to tell me that as of June 1 1999 they would no longer accept my insurance. Little MB was due 6/30. I asked them what that meant, and they told me I had three options: get a new doctor (which I did), pay out of pocket and submit claim to insurance company OR GET INDUCED to be sure she would be born before the cut-off date. Yes, they suggested I induce the baby 4 weeks early!

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. wow!

[karynnj]

22. Wow. ridiculous

[tekisui]

5. That is horribly sad.

[SoCalDem]

6. She probably should have kept quiet about it.. There HAS to be a clause somewhere

in the paperwork she signed, that will let them NOT pay.. count on it..

THIS is why it's NEVER a good idea for your employer to be in charge of your health(care).. You are held hostage by the whims of a workplace than can leave you high & dry..or dead

[LisaL]

7. If you lose your insurance then you should be able to get cobra.

Of course it's expensive and she could not afford it, but in her case it might have been a good idea to get that at least until the baby is born.

[Pirate Smile]

10. The article says there was no COBRA for their situation: "In some cases, people who are laid off

can maintain their group health benefits under a federal law, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986, known as Cobra. But that is not an option for former Archway employees because their group health plan no longer exists. And they generally cannot afford to buy insurance on their own."

[LisaL]

12. Yikes.

I looked into cobra but did not get it because I thought it was too expensive. But at least it was an option.

[dflprincess]

53. I was part of a layoff 4 years ago

the COBRA for me - a single female - was about $300 a month. I heard that family coverage under the COBRA was close to $1000/month. I did pick up COBRA on my dental insurance ($24.00/month). I didn't know anyone who could afford to continue it for health insurance. Ironically, we were all being laid off from a major for profit health insurer.

I think the COBRA law is a joke that gives people who have never had to actually consider using it a false sense of security about health insurance and misleads the public about what happens to coverage after a layoff.

[Yavapai]

8. Blue Cross and Blue Shield are predators!!!

When I reached retirement, they raised the monthly premium to $750 per month. Last January it was raised to $1050 per month. A few weeks ago I received a notice that starting in January, it will raise to $1530 per month. I surrender!

[stillcool]

11. that's insane...

they should bail out the big 3.

[emilyg]

14. I;m on the 65+ with BC and pay

$197/mo.

[nc4bo]

31. Good God - how obnoxious! The greedy, slimy bastards. So sorry this happened to you. nt

[tritsofme]

32. Are you making COBRA payments?

If yes, drop that COBRA like a rock. You can probably find a much better individual policy if you are under 65.

If you're over 65, drop the COBRA altogether and find a good supplement to Medicare.

Premiums like that should be illegal, that is just disgusting.

[Book Lover]

37. Shit, you'd almost be better off buying short-term CDs!

Cash them out when needed to pay your medical bills.

[Yavapai]

9. Blue Cross and Blue Shield are predators!!!

When I reached retirement, they raised the monthly premium up to $750 per month. Last January it was raised to $1050 per month. A few weeks ago I received a notice that starting in January, it will raise to $1530 per month. I surrender, I can't afford to bail out Wall Street and the Auto makers and have health insurance too! I guess we will have to go over to the Smith and Wesson Health plan!

[Pirate Smile]

15. kick

[Maine-ah]

16. 9K? Hell my daughter was just over 26k

It's fucking pathetic these days how much medical care costs, and what it drives some of us to do. I had no insurance, and paid my prenatal out of pocket. I tried to get on Mainecare when I found out I was pregnant, but they said I made too much money, and one counselor suggested that I quit my job. I applied again after I had my daughter and I wasn't working, and luckily they went retroactive on the bills and paid for the delivery. After 2 years, I'm still making a monthly payment on the prenatal care.

[Quantess]

17. I think we'll see a lot of renegade moms giving birth at home, alone.

Of course, we'll also see some deaths as a result. Moms will be blamed.

[glowing]

18. I think the revolution may just begin in mommy and me clubs.

Working, pregnant, pop the baby, and right back to work.. Do you know how many people my age complain and bitch about that.. and when they hear that in other countries they get time off.. paid time off for a year at home.. hello. Mommies get pissed.

[ravencalling]

19. Have you seen MMoore's film Sicko?

In some countries you even get someone coming to your home to help care for the baby!

[kath]

20. How the hell did fokking BC/BS get away with denying her claim?!?

I read the article, and it doesn't say what "reason" they came up with.
Lowdown, scumsucking parasitic bastards.

Single payer. Now.

[Lugnut]

25. Reasons?

They don't need no stinking reasons. Insurance companies override physicians all the time as a matter of principle. Their bottom line is far more important than some peon's health.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. I missed six months from work due to pregnancy.

I had to stop working when I was 24 weeks along because I was too big to sit up. I'm a small person and pregnancy was really difficult for me. When I sat up my ribs hurt from the baby's pressure on them. So that was four months off. I stayed home and ate, slept and tried to breathe. The baby was jammed into my pelvis diagonally.

After my C-section (which saved my life because I had an 8 lb baby), I stayed home from work for two months.

and I didn't get paid during those months either.

Fortunately the baby was big and healthy. Grown now and very healthy. But not big now.

[LeftyMom]

27. Uh, who on earth told you an 8 lb baby couldn't be delivered vaginally?

:wtf:

[Lyric]

29. Some women have problems delivering babies of that size or larger

I am a "big" girl, but my pelvic bones are narrow, and I have a family history of cerebral aneurysms and weak cerebral arteries. The kind of hard pushing that would have been involved with having a baby bigger than 7 lbs would have been potentially dangerous--both for me and the baby. I don't know if her situation is similar, but it might be. OktoberKid was 10 lbs, 11.6 ounces, by the way. My doc flat-out told me that if I'd had to push him out, one of us probably wouldn't have made it.

Just sayin', sometimes it really is impossible to have a baby naturally. I hope to deliver naturally next time, though--the only reason OktoberKid was so big was because I was too poor to pay for prenatal care, I was misinformed and told that I didn't qualify for Medicaid, and I had a terrible case of gestational diabetes that went undiagnosed and untreated until my 36th week. I literally did not see a single OB/GYN doc until I was less than a month away from delivery. :(

[Manifestor_of_Light]

33. The ob/gyn told me I had to have a C-section on my FIRST visit.

It's a matter of how big the hole in your pelvis is.

The hole in your pelvis has to be 4 inches in diameter. If it's not that big, the baby cannot come out. A good doctor should be able to tell just by a pelvic exam. I've seen it in a maternal nursing textbook.

Yes, there are women who cannot have a vaginal delivery. I am five foot three and have small bones. I have a narrow pelvis. I wear men's slacks because they fit my body better.

Women still die from a big baby and a small pelvis. I know the natural childbirth advocates think that every woman can deliver vaginally if she wants to, but that is not true.

BTW, I weighed 187 lbs and could barely walk when I went to the hospital to deliver. My knees were hurting me.

Pregnancy is very stressful for small women. I know. You've seen the summary. As I said, my child was jammed in diagonally. She never kicked much because there was no room for her to kick.

Furthermore, I think women who say they feel like a failure if they have a C-section are nuts. The goal is for mother and baby to both be healthy. Delivery is not a contest. I'm just glad I had a good surgeonm I had good pain relief, and nurses to take care of the baby while I was in the hospital, and we both got through it OK.

[LeftyMom]

34. That's nuts.

Provided you haven't suffered some sort of catastrophic injury (ie pelvis broken in a severe car accident) the chances your pelvis is honestly too small for a vaginal birth are about zero. "Cephalopelvic disproportion" is overly diagnosed and can almost always be non-surgically resolved with proper positioning of the laboring woman to maximize the pelvic outlet.

-LM, the tiny 5'2", mother of a 24" long 10 lber delivered vaginally. No drugs even. So yeah, I do know what I'm talking about.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

35. Why is it nuts?? The doctor knew exactly what he was talking about.

Why can't you understand the problem of trying to fit a baby through a hole that is too small?

Cephalopelvic disproportion, the chances are about zero? How do you know that?

Large women have a much easier time delivering, or women with a wide wheelbase. I am not pear shaped.

According to my maternal-fetal nursing textbook, the average female mature pelvis is 12 cm by 11 cm. That's average. The baby's head is 12 to 13.5 cm in size, depending on which axis is measured.

I took note from my medical chart what my pelvic measurements were. They were 7.5 cm by 11 cm. Not big enough by any means.

Books don't even talk about what happened to me. The baby's head was floating, which meant it was too big to engage in the pelvis and descend. I had NO dilation, NO dropping, NO effacement, but my water broke at term.

The baby was in a diagonal lie, which happens in less than 1 percent of cases.

I went into labor and the contractions got to 3 minutes apart and stopped, because the baby was not being pushed out. The baby was in fetal distress.

Lots of women died in the bad old days because they couldn't get a c-section, and even now, women in some parts of the world die in labor because of a baby that is too big. I believe the World Health Organization says that 100,000 women a year die due to complications of childbirth.

I'm just glad I'm alive and my child is alive, and we're both OK after all these years.

I would have died without a C-section.

If you don't believe me that is your problem, not mine.

[LeftyMom]

36. The vast majority of CPD diagnosed mothers deliver subsequent births vaginally sucessfully.

CPD diagnosis almost always reflects poor management of labor, rather than true CPD.

Of course you'd have no engagement with the diagonal positioning, the head wasn't in the right place to engage. Normally the treatment for that would be external version, provided improved positioning didn't address the matter.

[EstimatedProphet]

40. Thank you, Dr. Frist

[Renew Deal]

42. Howard Stern tells an amazing story about vaginal birth advocates

He had Mary McCormack on a couple years ago. She said that all three of her deliveries have been c-sections. She joked that it was because she wanted to keep her shape or keeping her body. He said that of all the stuff he's done, he's never received as much angry mail as he did for McCormack's interview.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

45. Natural childbirth advocates can be quite annoying.

Especially the ones who refuse to recognize that SOME mothers must have C-sections because the baby's head is too big and mom's pelvis is too small. It's a simple mechanical failure, but they seem to think that childbirth is a contest, and if you have a C-section you "failed" or you "didn't push hard enough".

Turning the baby? Wouldn't do any good. Turning the baby wouldn't make the kid's head go through the pelvic inlet. The kid's head wouldn't drop into the pelvis. That's the first clue that it was too big to do so.

Vaginal delivery in all cases is Total Bullshit.


Why do you beat on vaginal delivery like it's possible for every woman? It's not.

And I had heavy drugs too. That probably pisses ya off as well.

I would have died without a C-section, the baby would have died without a C-section, and I don't care if you know it.

[lady raven]

47. I had a C section with my first because of his size

He was 9 lb 5 ounces, and 23 1/2 inches long, but an ultrasound had estimated that he could have been as big as 13.5 pounds. Thankfully this was inaccurate. I have a smaller hole in my pelvis as well.

My pelvic bone is wide, but the hole the baby would pass through was just barely as big as they'd like. Coupled with his possible size, we were concerned.

I opted for a c section because I was worried about my son being injured in what I had previously planned as an all natural birth (You should have seen my detailed birth plan- The hospital here said they hadn't seen anything like it before, lol). Turns out it was unnecessary. I didn't have GD with either pregnancy- My first was just a big boy. For 34 weekers, my twins were fairly big as well- just a hair under 6 lb each.

Anyway

During the first c section they found that they had to cut my uterus vertically because the lower area of my uterus wasn't wide enough for him to pass through.

This (because of the threat of uterine rupture) made my second c section (the twins) necessary.

I wish I could undo it and have had Josh naturally. While we chose to do it for his safety, it turned out to be an unnecessary procedure.

[lady raven]

48. Wow, that was TMI. Sorry. (Too late to edit)

[Canuckistanian]

24. This is insanity

I really have problems comprehending why ANYONE would be against universal health care.

9 grand just to have a baby in a hospital? And that's the NORMAL cost?

When my wife gave birth, she stayed in a premium birthing suite at one of the best hospitals. Full pre and post natal care for four days. Our cost? About $400.

I thought SicKo would have made a difference. Hell, even I was fired up and ready to kick some ass. Then I realized that we already had one of the best health care plans in the world.

I really have difficulty understanding the level of apathy and misguided thinking that's stopping this.

[Quantess]

26. How long ago was that?

(that your wife gave birth)

You're in Canada, huh......
Do American women ever sneak across the border to give birth in Canada?

[Canuckistanian]

28. Almost exactly 12 years ago

My son has his twelfth birthday coming up. 12 years old on the twelfth day of the twelfth month.

And yes, I hear that many women from Detroit are coming up to Windsor, Ontario to attend clinics, get prescriptions, etc.

I don't know if that many ever stay in Canada for the birth.

[Quantess]

30. That would be a hoot if US women had "anchor babies" in Canada

But anyway, I'm sure the cost has gone up since 12 years ago, even in Canada.

12 is his lucky number. Get him a lottery ticket.

[recoveringrepublican]

43. I just had a baby in July. I have BCBS. They paid everything, but I see what was

submitted to them. All together it would have cost us $10K for a problem free vaginal delivery. No meds, no cutting, nothing. BCBS maybe paid for half of what they were billed for. It would have cost soo much less if they just would have covered the Birthing Center I wanted to go to.

[Sabriel]

39. My emergency Caesarean plus four-day stay for infection? Almost 30 thou

So, yeah, I was very aware how privileged I was to have great health insurance that year.

I'd still be paying it off 9 years later if not for that.

National health care, so people don't have to be "creative" to get help and financial relief.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

46. I shudder to think how much a C-section and hospital stay is now.

It was $8,000 back in 1985 for a planned C-section and 4 days in the hospital.

[Renew Deal]

41. One of my friends works at Bloomindales and her insurance was taken away.

She's been working there a little while and had insurance. Bloomingdales found a techniality and took her insurance away. Supposedly they did the same thing to a co-worker. I think Bloomys is trying to cut costs.

Cases such as the news story above are exactly why we need some frm of universal care in this country. This woman had to have surgery and prematurly give birth just to avoid the bills. What a disaster. At least the baby came out OK.

[AspenRose]

44. This is unacceptable.

"Pro Life," "Pro Family," indeed. x(

[GreenPartyVoter]

49. It truly is :^(

[sarcasmo]

50. Free health care for ALL, NOW!

[w4rma]

51. The whole financial industry is inundated with corruption and are mostly parasites. (nt)

[jazzjunkysue]

52. God bless the USA. Screw the children, the mothers, the elderly...

But support the troops! Keep them in harm's way! It's unpatriotic to want them safe and home.

When will america wake up to the fact that without health insurance, we're a third world country?