Hospital Nightmares

Many people know of this situation I'm about to highlight pertaining to the hospital billing systems, Medicaid insurance, and state to state differences. Watching so much in the news, reading varying articles pertaining to healthcare reform etc., really sparked another cause for this article I'm writing.

The love in my life, to which I live with became unemployed. Trying to stay at home, raise my daughter, and not in the greatest health, we sought some much needed assistance. Medicaid was the necessary choice for our girl, and the only option we could take. (Anyone who knows the drill, who has been there, understands exactly what I am about to say.) In the meantime, being unmarried, we as a couple could not acquire this same assistance. Also living within the same household, it was considered that his income from unemployment and claiming me on taxes in the state we reside was a "marriage." Though still a low income, it disqualified us for any health assistance but allowed our daughter to get her much needed care. Yes the twists and turns throughout the ordeal. Where do people turn when they are needing help? That's not the worst of it. Yes there is more.

We were about to embark on a trip to visit family nearly 1000 miles away. It had been saved for, and planned to take this trip with our daughter, and though we were already struggling, the trip was a much needed break away. My main point was for my daughter to be able to see, get to know, and enjoy time with grandparents, aunts, and uncles. If you live far from family and have children, you already know and well understand this concept.

Our little girl became sick during the visit. My mother helped me with her, and we tried to ensure that she was still getting as much fluids as necessary. My mother took a ride to the store and bought some pedialyte. When she came back we gave her some right away. She didn't hold it down, and the diarrhea was bad as well. She suddenly became lethargic, eyes open but nearly unresponsive. I panicked, as any parent just does when their child is not well to this point. I thought she may actually be so sick that she really could die. There were so many illnesses going around at that time, I thought maybe she had picked one of them up that was really bad and her little system couldn't take it. On the way to the hospital I kept giving her small increments of the pedialyte. She spoke a little to me in her little girl voice, "medicine, hospital." At her voice I felt a little more relieved.

At the hospital, a small town facility emergency room, I filled out the, "sign your life away forms." I made it clear to the secretary at the desk that my daughter had medicaid from the state we resided in. We were sent to a hospital room where we tried to wait patiently. In waiting, our little one began to perk right up, walking around, examining the room, saying she wanted to go home. A doctor came in, looked in her ears, checked her reflexes, and administered apple juice in small amounts for approximately a half hour. Personally I believe the pedialyte had already started working to do the job of getting the fluids lost, back into her system. I figured that everything was going to be fine and I was glad to have it covered by medicaid. Guess what, it wasn't covered. Not in the least.

After arriving back home, not too long following the events of the trip, a bill comes in the mail, for nearly a thousand dollars. Seriously!!! A cool grand for APPLE JUICE. I called my state program to find they only cover the medicaid program so many miles surrounding the state, once beyond that point it no longer covers unless it is a "life or death" situation. I explained my heart out to them, because as a parent with the love of her child, I thought, wholeheartedly it WAS a life or death situation. This is my small child to which could not hold anything in, whom became lethargic. That to me IS a life or death situation. What was I suppose to do, wait until a tragedy did occur!

Six months or maybe even a year prior in a similar scenario, relatives visiting us had taken their young child to the hospital, and lived there in New York. They WERE covered under their medicaid plan for their child in our state. I really am not sure how this all balances out, but it does not seem like a very fair system.

My biggest questions concerning the healthcare system are as follows:

How does the hospital come up with such a high amount for administering something like Apple Juice?!

How can one state's medicaid provide healthcare in another state, then another medicaid plan can't provide the same in the same manner?

What is considered to be a life or death situation in the eyes of medicaid insurance? Letting a child remain lethargic and waiting until they are critical THEN taking the child to the hospital?

How are state to state healthcare coverages balanced, when they are suppose to be much the same, yet the rules differ so greatly?

I would love to hear some comments regarding this article from my readers. Its a very important subject and I believe everyone really should be putting up a stink about it all in the same situation, or similiar. Something does need to be done, and it takes much more than a few voices to be heard, to change it all.