Fired Teacher Delivered Baby Early to Beat Insurance Cut-Off

[Ian David]

<snip>

If this isn't a case for national health care, can you please tell me what the temperature is above Whoville this week you grinch?

Rhonda Hartwell was fired, according to the American Federation of Teachers, because she helped organize a union at the charter school where she taught.

She was eight months pregnant at the time, and the loss of the job meant loss of her health insurance too. So she moved up an already scheduled delivery to beat the cut-off date.

<snip>

Babies electively delivered before 40 weeks have proven to have an increased risk of respiratory problems, even if the pregnancy itself was low risk. Infants born within just three days of the 39-week mark have a higher morbidity, and there is a two- to four-fold increase in the risks of everything from sepsis to lengthy hospitalization.

More:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/pregnancy/107714/fired_teacher_delivered_early_to

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/crazywtf/status/21508414547

[joeybee12]

1. It also tells you that Obama's education reform is nothing more than union-dismantling...n/t

[LWolf]

2. +1

[Ian David]

3. Charter Schools predate Obama. n/t

[joeybee12]

13. So do the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...

...but he's still following the same path that was blazed before him.

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. +1!

:thumbsup: NOTHING is EVER Obama's FAULT, even when IT clearly IS! :evilgrin:

[Dorian Gray]

46. Both points

are valid in this. The educational and health care ramifications that this story tells both scare me.

[Ilsa]

4. Wouldn't she have been able to buy COBRA? Or is that option gone

since she was fired? I really don't know, but it seems like the COBRA, if available, would have been a good investment in the baby's health.

[Ian David]

5. I'm guessing that the new birth date was at the end of the COBRA period. n/t

[mzteris]

11. Cobra goes for 18 MONTHS

so no - it couldn't have "run out"

[wcast]

14. Cobra cost money, and premiums are high.

Being fired meant no money, or at best, unemployment payments, probably not enough to pay the cost.

[mzteris]

17. For one month max? Versus an early delivery?

She was 8-1/2 months already!

The whole "insurance" thing is a complete non-story imo. the woman's an idiot, obviously..


I think she'd have a better chance making a "pregnancy/newborn" discrimination case against her employer.

[tammywammy]

23. I agree

I would borrow the money by any means to pay for a month of COBRA, versus the risks associated with early delivery.

[uncommon]

48. My best friend purchased insurance through COBRA when she left her old job and it cost her like $40

per month.

I'm sure it wasn't the best plan, but I pay like 7 times that for my insurance after my employer pays half...

[tammywammy]

21. Even if you're fired, you can get COBRA.

[Dappleganger]

22. Do you have any idea how expensive COBRA is??

The only way we were able to afford it for awhile was when it was heavily subsidized by the stimulus package.

[tammywammy]

24. It depends

The last place I worked at, COBRA was $214/month.

[Shadowsmith]

37. Try $2000/month

When I was laid off two years ago, I had the option of picking up Cobra for the low, low price of $2000 per month. Trust me, that didn't happen.

[mzteris]

40. when you were layed-off, or after the 18 month period?

That must have been some gold-plated coverage you had there!

[mzteris]

26. one month maximum - if she had to incur it at all. n/t

[Statistical]

31. Which is more expensive?

1 month of COBRA

vs

potentially lifetime of complications caused by premature birth

[karynnj]

32. COBRA for one month would cover the birth

What if the risk she assumed didn't pan out and the baby was born with really severe problems? Problems that would continue for years - not only cutting the child's quality of life - but likely costing far far more than what was saved not paying for a month of COBRA.

[Dorian Gray]

47. It's expensive, but

it's definitely worth the one or two months that she would be paying for the coverage to deliver her baby in a timely fashion rather than risk an earlier delivery.

Having said that, the fact that she would have to consider paying COBRA or not is shameful in her situation.

[Renew Deal]

6. Why would the doctors do the procedure if they knew the danger?

This brings up some serious moral questions for society. Should a pregnant woman be permitted to "terminate" her pregnancy by early birth?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

7. the doctor should be brought up on charges

if there was no medical reason to deliver early...

sP

[truedelphi]

8. Yes I fully agree, and

We should be able to bring all of Congress and the Rahm/Obama Presidency on conflict of interest charges.

But wait! Feinstein already re-arranged the wording of conflict of interest charges in the Senate, so that it is almost impossible to bring those charges about.


So we will have to settle for the House and the President.

[Ian David]

15. Because there are also risks associated with giving birth while uninsured. n/t

[mzteris]

19. There's no reason she wouldn't have been insured.

Except maybe she's not very bright or something.

[Ian David]

20. Well, maybe she doesn't possess your genius and emotional sensitivity. n/t

[mzteris]

27. I'm not following your attempt an insults.

What emotional sensitivity is needed to ensure you've made the best decision possible for your child?

What genius does it take to simple damn math? eight and one half months pregnant. If coverage ended that day (which it didn't unless she was fired on the 31st), at the MOST she would have to pay one months premium. If she's not smart enough to figure THAT out, then IMO she's not smart enough to be teaching anyone!

[Fumesucker]

35. Some pregnancies go over nine months..

My own daughter went two weeks over the "due date".

And maybe the woman didn't have the money to pay even one month of COBRA.

We simply don't have all the facts to make a judgement and there's a good chance we never will.

[mzteris]

39. she was already scheduled for a cesarean . . .

so - nope - not going to go over nine months in that case.

ONE month of COBRA - I would beg borrow or steal before I put my child at risk. I think it's a load of hooey, frankly.

[Fumesucker]

43. Not everyone has resources..

People make hard decisions with their backs against the wall every day, I know I've had to make more than a few in the last four or five years that I never expected to have to make.

I remember getting in fairly heated argument with my daughter about three or four years ago about the kid that died of an abscessed tooth because his mother couldn't afford to get him to the dentist. She told me how she would *never* have let that happen to one of her kids.. She came to me a few weeks back and told me that she was wrong, some of her friends are getting to that point now and having to make those sorts of decisions about dental and medical care. Quite frankly my daughter was spoiled, never lacked for anything and then married a man who made a very good income in a (rare here) union job with excellent insurance, all of her friends are not so lucky.

My daughter literally had to see it happen to someone close to her that she cared about before she would believe it could happen.

[Renew Deal]

28. Medical risks?

[mzteris]

30. possibly -

some doctors/hospitals DO play favorites with those who have insurance (especially "good" insurance) and those who do not. If faced with a potentially large cost measure that may not be covered, they may elect to skip it. Immoral? Yes. But it happens all the time.

[karynnj]

36. Medical ones?

It seems to me that there are some holes in this story. I really doubt the doctor would agree to moving up the delivery without a MEDICAL reason. The risk of getting sued for malpractice would guarantee this - if his conscience didn't. The solution of paying COBRA for one month is too obvious.

From the link, I can see that the story is legit - coming from a credible source (the union), but it brings up too many questions - starting with why was she offered no severance as she did have a renewed contract for the fall.

[mzteris]

41. maybe she was and forgot to mention that to the press...

there are a LOT of holes in this "story" from where I'm sitting. I think we need WAAAAAAY more information.

[Xithras]

34. Her body, her choice.

That's pretty much the beginning and end of the discussion for me. If she wanted to end the pregnancy, it was her right to do so. The "why" shouldn't be a matter of our concern.

[truedelphi]

9. A big K & R. n/t

[Uben]

10. I was an eight month baby....

....and look how swell I turned out!

[SoCalDem]

42. I gave birth to a barely 7 monther , an 8 monther and a 9 monther+1 day

not by choice:(

[mzteris]

12. IF - and that's a BIG IF -

she were fired for unionizing, then you can bet there will be an investigation by the NLRB. I'll wait until the results are in before I say that's why she was fired.

It's already evident that she has pretty piss poor judgement so........

[MadMaddie]

16. So President Obama didn't sign the papers to fire her

The charter school where she worked fired her for organizing a Union.

So let me get this straight it's Obama's fault that the charter school which has been around since before he came into office fired the teacher.

Maybe just maybe if anger was directed towards the right culprits things would get changed. The charter school is the organization responsible for this action...the charter school is the one that is Union busting. So logically people should be pointing their anger to....yes, the charter school.

What about all of the other industries that are attempting to Union bust? Are they all President Obama's fault too?

[mzteris]

18. she wasn't fired. Her contract - along wtih others - was not renewed.

Big difference. And for all you know the unionizing had NOTHING to do with it. did they non-renew ALL the teachers involved in said unionizing? NO. They didn't, so methinks she's just trying to make a case where none exists.

[MadMaddie]

25. The below snip is what I was referencing

<snip>
Rhonda Hartwell was fired, according to the American Federation of Teachers, because she helped organize a union at the charter school where she taught.
<snip>


The thing is should we be surprised if this were true.

[mzteris]

29. I wouldn't be "surprised" in some ways -

because I spent many years in "staying union free" environments. However, I WOULD be surprised if they were stupid enough to actually FIRE her for THAT reason!

Again, I suspect a "oh well, she's gonna have a newborn around so let's cut that one" attitude instead. Given a list of 10 equally qualified personnel, and you have to get rid of one, then- for wrong or ill (or illegal as hell) - it makes sense to cut the one with a baby at home. Generally speaking, they "will" miss more work than the next person. (Or maybe they heard the rumours that she said she wasn't coming back anyway...)

[karynnj]

44. I agree with your alternative scenario being as likely as that she was fired

because of the union activities. As you say, they don't allege that all union activists were fired - just her. This likely means that it WAS just her, because the others been fired too, it makes a stronger case and doesn't lose her person story.

[TheKentuckian]

38. More single payer less Arnie

[piratefish08]

45. Fucked by education AND healthcare in one fell swoop.