How Billing Turns a Routine Birth Into a High Cost Emergency

Wednesday, October 27, 2021 (Kaiser News) — Caitlin Wells Salerno knew that some mammals — just like the golden-mantled floor squirrels she research within the Rocky Mountains — make investments an insane quantity of assets of their younger. That didn’t put together her for the assets the conservation biologist would owe after the delivery of her second son.

Wells Salerno went into labor on the eve of her due date, within the early weeks of coronavirus lockdowns in April 2020. She and her husband, Jon Salerno, had been instructed to undergo the emergency room doorways at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, as a result of it was the one entrance open.

Despite the bizarre covid vibe — the vacancy, the quiet — every little thing went easily. Wells Salerno felt nicely sufficient to say no the assistance of a nurse providing to wheel her to the labor and supply division. She even took a selfie, smiling, as she entered the supply room.

“I was just thrilled that he was here and it was on his due date, so we didn’t have to have an induction,” she stated. “I was doing great.”

Gus was born a wholesome 10 kilos after about 9 hours of labor, and the household went residence the following morning.

Wells Salerno anticipated the invoice for Gus’ delivery to be heftier than that for her first youngster, Hank, which had value the household a mere $30. She was a postdoctoral fellow in California with top-notch insurance coverage when Hank was born, about 4 years earlier. They had been braced to pay extra for Gus, however how rather more?

Then the invoice got here.

The Patient: Caitlin Wells Salerno, a conservation biologist at Colorado State University and a principal investigator at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. She is insured by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield by her job.

Medical Service: A routine vaginal supply of a full-term toddler.

Total Bill: $16,221.26. The Anthem BCBS negotiated charge was $14,550. Insurance paid $10,940.91 and the household paid the remaining $3,609.09 to the hospital.

Service Provider: Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, operated by UCHealth, a nonprofit well being system.