The nest egg they’d carefully built so her husband could retire early was wiped out. The only way past it, the Foys concluded, was to declare bankruptcy. When the couple couldn’t pay, the state sued Sherrie. The complications produced nearly $800,000 in bills from the University of Virginia Health System for services that weren’t covered by the Foys’ health insurance. One in 8 Americans who have health care debt say it was at least partially caused by pregnancy and childbirth. Most Americans who have medical debt had coverage, according to a KFF survey.Įven with health insurance, childbirth can be very expensive. What’s Broken: Ward and her husband had health insurance through her employer in Texas.īut that’s often not enough to protect patients from a major medical event. Her husband, who was finishing a master’s degree, watched the babies. In Chicago, Ward took on extra nursing shifts, working day and night several times a week. They moved back to the Midwest from Dallas to be closer to family who could help them. Then their health plan denied thousands of dollars in claims for the boys’ therapies, deeming some unnecessary.ĭesperate, Ward and her husband loaded up credit cards, borrowed from relatives, and delayed repaying student loans. Much of it at first was from hospital care. ![]() The bills, which topped out at about $80,000, overwhelmed them. ![]() Ward and her husband scrambled to get the boys the care they needed, including years of physical and occupational therapy. The babies spent more than three months in a NICU. One required multiple surgeries to fix a breathing disorder. The twins were diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Her husband, Marcus, runs a small nonprofit.īut when the couple’s boys, Milo and Theo, were born 10 weeks prematurely, their lives were upended financially. Ward is a nurse practitioner who works at a neonatal intensive care unit in Chicago.
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