I think the answer is a combination of the above. If doctors could reduce what they take in (or perhaps a scale based on income), it would help. And then perhaps non-profits could build funds/grants for families with neonatal families to help them pay for care and expenses. There is nothing like having to worry about not only your little one in the NICU but also how you will afford their needs after they are home.

Yes, doctors need paid for their expertise. With that expertise, they save lives. Yes, they must pay for insurance and school loans and their own families.

But our system is broken-and when it is broken, we all suffer. It affects even the doctors when the parents cannot pay the bills (eventually).

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First off, let me say that I don’t see you as a “bad guy” at all. I see a broken system. As a self employed parent who’s child spent 46 days in the NICU, I am horrified by how much it cost. The neo’s visit was several hundred dollars per day, and I rarely even spoke to them. A bed was well over $1,000 per day.

I know everyone in the NICU does very important work, and any amount of money is worth my child’s life. The problem comes when families are completely ruined by trying to pay back this money they have little or no control over owing. This is not a giant elective procedure – it is an unexpected life and death issue – an unforeseen tragedy. On top of bills, you are also faced with problems getting future insurance coverage, and often, lifelong health concerns that require care.

As for the fact that we chose our own insurance and know what it covers – in part true – but seriously, most people in the US take what they can get when it comes to insurance. They take what ever their job offers (if it does) because it is fine 98% of the time. Problems don’t arise until you have a preemie, or a kid with cancer. Then you are basically screwed for life. As a person dependent on individual insurance coverage, I can tell you it is nearly impossible to afford coverage that wouldn’t leave you bankrupt if you had a prolonged critical illness. Even very good coverage has lifetime caps that often become an issue in the case of extreme prematurity.

On the medical provider side of the coin, I understand that Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements are often very poor, and malpractice insurance can be very expensive. I know providers are struggling in many areas to keep their doors open, and they work very long hours, have loans to pay back, etc. There needs to be a balance.

I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how to fix the system, but perhaps a bailout is in order…

-Kristie

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I personally feel many points in your post. For example, when I was pregnant with my girls (first set of twins), there were major changes at my job in the form of a new boss that came in and turned our department upside down. I was 24-25 weeks pregnant and suddenly my job because very demanding. And I ended up in the hospital at 26 weeks for preterm labor. The new boss KNEW that it was her fault too. She even called me in the hospital to apologize. Now, my *usual* boss was very understanding and took it easy on me, but some bosses don’t care and some workers are not lucky enough to have good relationships with their bosses to even ask about working from home, etc.

I was lucky enough to have awesome insurance threw my job, so i did not have to pay a penny for anything. But, those bills sure did arrive in the mail as soon as we got home! And it was not pretty. I cannot imagine having to worry about paying that on top of all the other bills and responsibilities that I already had.

With my 2nd set of twins, one of them ended up in the NICU for 11 days. Luckily it was a short stay. But again, when that bill hit the house when he was barely home, I would have worried like crazy about having the $$ to pay.

In closing, I completely agree that the US needs to prioritize how important they thing reproduction is. I know in one sense it’s a “problem” here. But there are also plenty of people who want nothing more but to have healthy children. The costs associated with that often leads to a lot more stress than it should.

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And it doesn’t matter how grateful I am to a doctor who saved my child’s life. I shouldn’t have to have no money to raise that child because I am paying outrageous NICU bills.

Beyond all of that, the bills themselves are insanely high. Why does a doctor need to charge hundreds of dollars per day? I spent PLENTY of time in the NICU with my three children being there. The doctor did not spend all that much time with each child unless the child is having a crisis. Many days, in fact most days, it was simply checking in, looking over the chart, and chatting with us for maybe 5 minutes.

I’m not trying to dismiss what neonatologists do, but don’t tell me we should just pay up tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, and be thrilled they saved our children. Plenty of people save lives daily — police, firemen, EMTs — without demanding the life savings (or money not even earned yet) of the people whose lives they saved. No they don’t pay as much for their educations, but they don’t pay THAT much less.

I am one of the “bad guys” who work for a Neonatalogist who is head of the NICU unit in a local hospital. I have been doing all his billing for over 10 years so I see it from a different prospective.

What I see is that this doctor saved thousands of infants lives over those 10 years and my first thought is that if I had been the parent of any one of those very precious newborns and the doctor saved that baby’s life I would be eternally grateful and money be damned, my child’s life was saved.

What price can you place on anyone’s life?
Obviously PRICELESS!!

Folks remember this we that file the claims are filing on YOUR behalf! It is your insurance so know what you are signing up for and what the policy will and won’t cover.

Yes I have to send statements for copays and deductibles and I get angry parents calling asking why they are being sent a statement, well the people to call is the insurance company not the doctor’s billing service they are simply doing what your insurance company has stated they MUST do, send you a bill.

Sorry I don’t mean to sound insensitive but I had to say what I see coming from a different point of view.

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