I was going to be posting something very different today, but our medical insurance system sucks. I suffered a missed miscarriage at the end of June and had a D&C on July 7th. It is now August 27th and I am still fighting over bills and what is and what isn’t covered.
Now, I had originally chosen to have the D&C because I didn’t want to be retraumatized by passing my unborn baby and seeing that happen. But I am still being traumatized by the hospital, by the medical practice, and by insurance. I like to think that I have good insurance. I’m under 26 (for a couple more months) so I am on my parents’ health insurance. I have also been a big advocate for medicare for all and joining other countries in not having private insurance. This whole experience has only solidified that viewpoint.
The hospital charged $14,631.54 for my D&C surgery. Insurance denied $6,371 and they paid $2,836.54. For those not able to do rapid math in their head, I was left with a bill of $389.70 which was the remaining part of my deductible and an added $100 as a copayment for day surgery for a grand total of $489.70. Crying, I paid that bill on the phone the day before the surgery.
Fast forward almost three weeks, I received a bill from the medical practice for $132.03. I had no idea why I was getting this bill when the prenatal care I had received was covered under maternal health. I called and was told that it was for the last ultrasound when they confirmed the miscarriage. Apparently, both the medical practice and insurance decided that because the baby was dead, the ultrasound was not covered by insurance because I was no longer pregnant. I tried to argue with them, saying that my body was still convinced I was pregnant, but they denied the refute and I had to pay. I could not believe how awful they were to me on the phone. They talked about my loss as if it was just a simple medical procedure. They did not recognize my loss as a real loss. It was just business to them. Frustrated and traumatized, I paid the bill.
After that, I thought it was over and I could start to move on. We were getting ready to start trying to conceive again. But then, a month after the ultrasound bill, I received a bill from the hospital for $66.15. This was posted only a couple days after the hospital had refunded me $66.54. I called to find out why I was getting this bill. I was told that it was related to pathology. I complained about getting a refund only to have to pay it back 10 days later.
I feel like they are not allowing me to move on. Every time I start to feel better and more hopeful about getting pregnant again, another medical bill is thrown at me. They don’t make it easy for us to grieve and move on. The whole system keeps pulling us down, reminding us of what we lost, what we were incapable of doing. How is this a fair system? Something needs to change. They need to get their stuff together because they can’t be contributing to us falling apart. They can’t be the ones keeping us from moving on. They can’t keep traumatizing us and taking our money. There has to be a point where they leave us alone to grieve, heal, and move on from the loss.