Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Flava, just curious--are you talking about Eastern Maine Med here? I had a pretty good experience there and really liked my OB, and I would be sad to find out they are so vehemently anti-VBAC.

No, that phone call was with Waldo County in Belfast. I just heard that they have a new OB who is very pro-VBAC, but is still not allowed to do them by the hospital. Apparently he's referring a lot of potential VBACs to EMMC! I remember you had a good experience there, and it seems like you're not the only one.

EMMC and Maine Med (where Ezra stayed) allow you to VBAC (and now that I'm looking into it more, it looks like the hospitals on MDI do to, but I'm not going out there). They're both roughly the same distance from our house. I don't know, I'm so excited to try to homebirth next time again, I trust my midwives even more now after I've seen them work through an emergency. But I get so caught up in planning everything. The two hospitals that are closest to me (Waldo County and Pen Bay, where Ezra was born) are both 15 minutes away and are very anti-VBAC, so if I transfer again for any reason whatsoever I know I'll have surgery. Their facilities aren't that fabulous either (the OB at Pen Bay who delivered Ezra was fabulous, but she has since left - she was so positive, talking to me and my midwife about how great a VBAC candidate I was while we were still in surgery). So I think that if any of my prenatal testing shows that I'll need to have another c-section, or if I can try for a vaginal birth just with a bit more supervision than the midwives can offer, I'll be going to Portland (and perhaps sleeping on couches down there for the last week or so...) As much as it has a negative tone to it all, Maine Med was a great place and I'd be happy to be there again. But I don't even want to be thinking that way! Agh! VBAC messes with your mind, I swear.

(have I properly derailed this thread by now?)

I am only 10 minutes from Maine Med and I have a guest room!

I'll definitely keep that in mind! :)

I hate my insurance company.

Leela had the state mandated hearing screening done the day after she was born while I was in the hospital (in-network). It is done by the only company that does screenings in the hospital, and no one asked if I wanted the screening, because it is mandated by state law - they took my child, tested her and brought her back.

My insurance first denied all payment and then the test administrators billed me $150. Then I appealed and my insurance company sent me a check for $10 to pay for the screening test.

They have said that I need to lodge a second appeal if I want any hope of being paid this $150 bill for services that were rendered in an in-network hospital, without my consent or notification. So between dealing with my messed up ankle and a 4 month old, I am writing out an appeal.

If I had more money, I'd just pay the $150 and let it go. And I guess that is where these people make their money.

The hearing test administrators don't want to be paid $10 for the test, they want $150, so they don't participate with Blue Cross. Blue Cross doesn't want to pay $150, so they deny the claim. And then the person paying $890 for coverage for 2 ends up paying an additional $150 or having their credit forked.

Oh Tofulish, I'm so sorry. Hang in there! I know it's not where your attention should be right now, but don't let them get away with this. Ezra saw a dozen doctors while in the hospital, and of course they all billed separately, and of course half of them were out of network. It sucks, but I spent so much of his young life on the phone arguing with insurance companies.

My credit definitely took a nosedive when he was born, and I'm still terrified to see what it looks like now. I refused to open any bills for about two months when we finally got home. I needed to get comfortable with my new life and finally bond with my son. I knew those bills would be there later and whatever hit my credit took was worth it. Seriously, I wish there was a 6-12 month wait until all those bills come at you. Insurance companies were calling me IN MY HOSPITAL ROOM when I was still recovering. It's not right and they can wait. You need time to adjust!

Oh Flava, your situation was so much worse than mine! This is just $150, and I'm not that affected by it, just more annoyed - but I wanted to put it up and share my experience.

It just feels like both parties with the negotiating power - the testing provider and the insurance company are refusing to come to an agreement, and the person without a seat at the table - the patient- gets slammed. There are no consequences to anyone else. If there were any alternatives here, it would be one thing, but this is literally the only company that does the mandatory testing.

Next time I am giving birth at home.

It is pretty awesome when it goes how it's supposed to go. I loved the fact that I wrote one check (figuratively - we did a payment plan, so it was many little checks) and we were DONE. The idea of not having to worry about bills after having a baby is so freeing.

I yelled about two things while in the ambulance when we headed to the hospital:
1) the fact that we had JUST finished paying off Nate's hospital bill from when he broke his arm two years ago, and
2) "This ambulance is going to cost so effing much!"

(yeah, our health care system is messed up when that becomes your priority.)

This thread makes me so angry on behalf of people who should be focusing on getting better. Tofulish, I hope you get your hearing screen covered! That is ridiculous. Flava, I'm really sorry that you had to worry about that stuff when your priorities should have been different. I think a law sort of smushing together the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act would be interesting - like, the same provisions for deployed servicemembers kicking in with those facing medical or family issues that would trigger leave entitlements. I don't suppose hospitals or doctors would like the idea, though.

I understand a lot of my [US] friends have been upset over the whole birth control coverage controversy lately. It's getting to the point where I'm getting downright tired of hearing about BCPs. But in my mind, the overwhelming issue at hand is: can we please decouple employment and healthcare already? Then this wouldn't even be an issue.

I know this is turning into a political rant, but while it has a left-leaning bias I highly recommend the book High Wire.

Yikes Flava, that is horrible.

Thanks for the recommendation annak! It is crazy that employment and insurance are so coupled that when you're sick you have to worry about meeting performance standard, attendance etc, or risk losing your job. And so crazy that in all but 6 states, your insurance company can choose to terminate your coverage if it becomes too expensive for them.

Oh yay! In June we settled the stupid $150 hospital hearing test bill that our insurance wanted to give me $10 for, and then said I had to return the check if I wanted to appeal and then kept saying they would send me a new check once I accepted that after going through 3 rounds of "appeals" where they lost my letters and paperwork that was all I was going to get. I paid the hearing test company $100 and they agreed it was settled.

So today I get a call that they need payment on the remainder. I am so angry there aren't even words. The hospital and MidAtlantic Neonatology have forked me over for the last year and now they don't even have records of my payment arrangement. I hate them so much. Hatehatehatehatehate.

Ewww. Sorry to hear that Tofulish. When you work so hard for something that shouldn't have even been an issue and then they handily forget about it. That happened with me once with physical therapy bills, only I am such a pushover I called once or twice and then gave up. Insurance companies must love people like me.

It turns out it was a mistake and easily fixed. But still balls to hospital bills :)

Geezus Pete this thread is scary. We've talked recently about how we're not sure we could afford a baby 2 if we land in America (everything is sooo up in the air).

Freya's intense but non-surgical birth included nearly 7 days in the hospital for both of us, multiple additional staff (second OB at delivery, a pediatrician, anesthesiologist, etc.) a little over a day in the NICU, IV antibiotics, iron infusion for me, multiple lab tests and gosh, I can't even think of what else. Total cost to us = maybe 40 or 50 quid in parking fees.

I do think that NHS keeps you in longer. Leela was in hospital for 3 days for jaundice ($8,000 and change). My stepsister's twins had jaundice (milder than L's) when they lived in London and she was in for over 10 days. Though at least she was also admitted and allowed to stay with the boys in her room etc. Wheras I had to put my postpartum sore body in a chair for 3 days.

I still want to punch people if I think about it.

tzipi was definitely kept for longer than if she'd been in the US. parking was expensive, but everything else was free. the facilities weren't cushy though! i was definitely parking my poor, sore, stitched up nether regions on a hard wooden rocking chair for 10 days, while i've heard of other people rooming in with their babies in proper beds in private rooms for similar situations.

I got lucky - if one can even use that word to describe the situation - in that I was already in a private room when it was discovered Sierra had jaundice. Since I'd had a c-section they'd normally keep me at least 3 days but I was feeling so fine the hospital was going to discharge me after 36 hours...till they ran the tests and found the jaundice. I totally freaked out about having to stay an additional day because I was convinced this would ruin everything (like my first birth experience with the hospital cramming Dahlia full of formula) but this particular hospital was soooo great about calling me to the heat-lamp room to nurse her frequently.
However, my insurance was extra-shitty this time so no matter what, I had to pay $500 a night for the first 2 nights in hospital. It could be worse I guess.

I kicked and screamed to get a bili blanket and not have V treated inpatient, but at least the Army hospital was going to give me a room and put the light bed in it, with me having primary responsibility to care for V. It seems like this is so obviously a cheaper way to do it since you don't need as much nursing care for the baby!! But I guess most hospitals have no incentive to lower costs.

I think I might've mentioned this before, but to twist the knife into the fellow Americans out there, the Dutch basic health plan pays for 7 days of a postpartum doula in your home.

That would be amazing, annak!

I do wonder if the NHS kept F in a bit longer than in the US. For me, they let me stay an extra day to be with her, otherwise I was fine to go home 4 days pp.

If we have a next time, hopefully, we will be in and out. :)