Brum Mum hit with £75k hospital bill after premature birth in USA

[DGRossetti]

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/bartley-green-mum-hit-75k-19484536

A mum has racked up a £75,000 medical bill after prematurely giving birth in America - two days before she was due to fly home to Birmingham.

Amy Collins, from Birmingham, needed an emergency caesarean to deliver tiny William Collins in Texas on December 11.

He was born at 24 weeks and weighed just 1lb 9ozs and needed specialist care in hospital where he remains.

Amy, 30, had been due to fly back to Birmingham on December 13.

But with no insurance she has been left with a medical bill of £75,000 for the delivery and care of her son - with the charges set to rocket further.

(contd)

Struggle to have much sympathy for her other than hoping the baby is ok

Her husband is an engineer, it is unlikely he can't afford insurance.

"if I need to see a doctor and get antibiotics once a year so why should I pay $300/mo for basic health insurance? They don’t realise they are one accident away from very large medical bills, they gamble. For them $300/mo is affordable but it’s still a good chunk of their earnings and they are healthy so don’t see a need for it."

I wish it was $300/month!! Not even close to what we pay. Health insurance is insane here. An engineer should be able to afford it though.

I flew to Vegas and Dominican Republic all while pregnant and got the highest level of insurance to cover me because of that. I might be able to understand someone going on holiday with no insurance if they're entirely fit and healthy and have no reason to see why they might need it, save for being hit by a bus or something but pregnant? That's next level idiocy.

But US has a program called Medicaid and WIC, plus there are state programs that specifically provide free healthcare to poor pregnant women and women with infants

They also have a system of county hospitals, where those with absolutely no assets are treated (though they do check finances)

As you suggest, on the whole it's not the truly poor who come a cropper but those who can just about afford insurance but take a chance

@KonTikki

She was either going to scam the NHS having the baby here, or will try and crowd fund to raise the medical costs here. Reporting this to the local UK press is just the first step to raise awareness in her "plight". People are far too trusting and quick to donate online to these tales of hardship.

This absolutely.

Hope the baby is OK, but honestly anyone who spends any time in the US would never travel there without having adequate travel insurance, especially when pregnant!

Irresponsible beyond belief!

@TheLadyOfShallnott

Sadly she gambled on being on the right side of the Atlantic when the time came.

And it is unfortunate that she lost the spin on health tourism roulette but them’s the breaks.

All for the sake of a few bob on the insurance. Daftness.

This . I’ve very little sympathy for her .

Amy has been married to Texan engineer Greg Collins for the last year and is also mum to seven-year-old daughter Ava, from a previous relationship.
She had been living off and on in America after she met Greg online three years ago when an online romance blossomed.* She was due to fly back to give birth in Birmingham if all had gone to plan, but the premature birth put paid to those plans.*

Well, if she's married to an American and 'living on and off in America', whatever that means (she has an older dc too - did she take them back to the Uk?) sheshould have had health insurance in the USA, for her and her dd 🤷🏼‍♀️

Have to agree with the comments re: ridiculous to not have insurance, and by the article seemed to be living there and wanted to travel back to take advantage of the NHS and not having to pay- so what a shame. Hope her little one is okay though and continues to receive the treatment he needs.

no insurance = no sympathy.

It's the US you know what to expect when it comes to healthcare (fuck all)

What a nightmare

Why did she not get insurance? I thought everyone knew this about US?!

Crazy ! We went to US with toddlers & youngest got conjunctivitis on the plane & it cost $500 !

In all the times I've traveled to US, I've never gone without insurance. It's just not worth the risk.

Even worse that her partners American & they practically live there uninsured with an older child !

She lives there and wanted to pop back to give birth on the NHS so she didn't have to pay. She should have had insurance.

@TruculentandFarty

"if I need to see a doctor and get antibiotics once a year so why should I pay $300/mo for basic health insurance? They don’t realise they are one accident away from very large medical bills, they gamble. For them $300/mo is affordable but it’s still a good chunk of their earnings and they are healthy so don’t see a need for it."

I wish it was $300/month!! Not even close to what we pay. Health insurance is insane here. An engineer should be able to afford it though.

Yes, I agree it is definitely a lot more than that for couples, and families with children. I picked $300 as for my imaginary young healthy single person and no prexisting conditions When we lived in Florida for a few years we paid around $7500/yr for our family of six with three of us having asthma. I didn’t mean to imply that the woman in the article would only have paid that much. Sorry.

If she has been living off and on in the USA, am wondering if she is entitled to the NHS treatment?

It's a residency requirement not nationality one.

I’ve no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who goes on holiday without adequate holiday insurance. They’ll be crowd funding next which really pisses me off. Sort out your own mess.

What a risky decision to go to US pg amd not covered

Haven’t rtft or link though

The headline should read "Brum Mum reaps the consequences of travelling uninsured".

@ilovemydogandmrobama2

If she has been living off and on in the USA, am wondering if she is entitled to the NHS treatment?

It's a residency requirement not nationality one.

Yes agree. And she has her older daughter living there with her and presumably attending a US school. She’d have a hard time saying she’s usually resident in U.K. if she’s built a life there.

I’m guessing that she’s not habitually resident in the US and has been visiting as a tourist (I think up to 90 days at a time is allowed) so her husband didn’t add her to his insurance policy. They should’ve got travel insurance instead if she’s officially resident in the UK. I feel sorry for them, but they were very irresponsible, her DH would be aware of how much medical care costs in the US.

What a pair of CF. She lives in USA and is pregnant for several months without taking out medical insurance because she plans to fly to UK for the birth (which presumably now has a bill of £75k for the medical attention she received and baby continues to receive) and the burden is then on UK taxpayer to pay. Not her anywhere, anytime.

How can this happen? Whenever I go to my local hospital for my regular minor checkups I get asked am I a UK citizen, have I lived in UK for last 2 years, name and address of my doctor. If she gives false information, surely this is an offence. No wonder the National Health Service is on it’s knees.

@RaspberryCoulis

The headline should read "Brum Mum reaps the consequences of travelling uninsured".

No, it should read 'British woman's health tourism plan fails as she gives birth in US before being able to get to the U.K. for the NHS to pay'

The mother may or may not be eligible for Medicaid depending on her legal status. But the new baby certainly is IF the family meet certain income/resource criteria.

The average stay in NICU for a baby born prior to 32 weeks is 13 days and costs (on average) $280,000 USD. Co-insurance on a good 80/20 insurance plan would be $56,000 in a participating facility, more if it's 'out of network'. But that's just the hospital stay. That doesn't count doctors and specialists who often bill separately as they are not employees of the hospital. They'd owe at least 20% of those charges too, assuming those doctors were 'in network. And that's just for the baby.

Average uncomplicated C-section in the US is $52,000.00. Copay would be $10,400. And again, that does not include the doctors, specialists, anesthesiologist, etc.

Remember, these are averages. Costs can vary greatly from area to area and there are lots of other factors that may reduce the amount that insurance pays. I'd say it wouldn't be unusual for a family to have $100,000 outstanding after insurance from a premature birth when all is said and done.

I'm not saying that anyone should contribute to a fund for this woman and her child. I'm just saying that what she's left having to pay may not be completely out of line.

Of course IF she had no insurance, then she's pretty damned stupid.

Meh. Nothing to see here. She probably has no legal standing to stick around in the US, hence not eligible for his insurance plan, or any state funded legal aid. If you're a green card holder and legal resident, there's surely no room for an "on again/off again" living situation, traveling back and forth across the Pond in a bloody pandemic during a pregnancy. 🙄