United States: hospital claims 500,000 dollars after her premature delivery


After giving birth prematurely to her baby, Bisi Bennett received a bill of more than 500,000 dollars (approximately 441,000 euros). The Florida hospital had taken care of the infant for two months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

In November 2020, Bisi Bennett gave birth prematurely to her son Dorian. Born two months before the term of pregnancy, the baby was placed in an NICU until her organs reached maturity. Hospitalized for 56 days, he was released on January 7, 2021.

Throughout this period, Dorian received extensive respiratory and nutritional care as well as several radiological, surgical and cardiological treatments. However, the young mother was not worried about the cost of this hospitalization since, working in the world of insurance, she specifically chose the AdventHealth Hospital in Orlando so that her insurance covers almost all the costs. Except that after the release of her son, she received a bill of more than 500,000 dollars.

AdventHealth Hospital billed Dorian for hospitalization at $ 550,124.74, leaving the family with the option of staggering payment in twelve monthly installments of approximately $ 45,000.

Under the United States Health Act of 2010, nonprofit hospitals like this one are required to provide financial assistance to help patients pay their bills. The spread over several monthly payments is one of them.

An error following a change of insurance

The astronomical amount of fees would have been generated automatically by the hospital’s billing system. In fact, due to an insurance problem, the “patient liability” part amounted to more than $ 500,000.

The error on the invoice stems from the fact that Dorian was born in 2020 and needed care until 2021. During this time, Bisi Bennett’s employer transferred his health plan from United Healthcare to another company in insurance, UMR. For her part, the mother informed the hospital of this change.

Each insurance plan received an invoice with dates of hospitalization that did not correspond to their coverage. As a result, neither of the two insurances paid the hospital.

A year after the birth of their son, the family still had this bill to pay. Bisi Bennett has contacted the hospital regularly to let them know who to send the bill to for 2020 and 2021. “They’re in charge of the billing, and I shouldn’t be the one to tell them. But I did. “

Today, the two insurances have processed the Bennett family’s claims, and the bill of $ 550,000 has been reduced to $ 300.



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