Canadian couple will be charged nearly $1 million in medical bills because they gave birth in the U.S.

They would not have had this problem in Canada, which has universal health coverage.

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/19/canadian_couple_will_be_charged_nearly_1_million_in_medical_bills_because_they_gave_birth_in_the_u_s/

Joanna Rothkopf
Nov. 19, 2014

Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel, a Saskatchewan resident and Canadian citizen, was six months pregnant when she and her husband, Darren, decided to travel to Hawaii on vacation. She checked with her doctor, who said it would be fine to take the trip, and bought travel insurance just in case. When her water broke and she had to be airlifted to a Honolulu hospital, she should have been able to take advantage of her six weeks of mandatory bed rest, reassured that she had taken the right steps to ensure proper healthcare coverage. Right?

Wrong.

After about a week in the hospital, Blue Cross contacted the couple to let them know that their coverage had been denied because of a preexisting condition — a bladder infection that had not threatened the pregnancy. The insurance company maintained its stance, despite the company receiving a letter from Huculak-Kimmel’s Canadian doctor ensuring them that the pregnancy was not high-risk. They would be responsible for the hospital bill, which, due to the baby’s premature birth and critical condition (the baby had to stay in a neonatal intensive care unit, which cost more than $10,000 per day) had risen to $950,000.

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Now, the couple, along with their healthy 10-month-old baby, Reece, are at a devastating crossroads. “We don’t know what to do,” said Huculak-Kimmel. “We can’t afford to pay a million-dollar medical bill. We can go deeper into debt and try to fight Blue Cross. We can wait and declare bankruptcy on the bill, which is no good for anybody. But we don’t have very many options.”

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada

Health care in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded health care system, which is mostly free at the point of use and has most services provided by private entities.[2] It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act of 1984.[3] The government assures the quality of care through federal standards. The government does not participate in day-to-day care or collect any information about an individual's health, which remains confidential between a person and his or her physician.[4] Canada's provincially based Medicare systems are cost-effective partly because of their administrative simplicity. In each province, each doctor handles the insurance claim against the provincial insurer. There is no need for the person who accesses health care to be involved in billing and reclaim. Private health expenditure accounts for 30% of health care financing.[5] The Canada Health Act does not cover prescription drugs, home care or long-term care, prescription glasses or dental care, which means most Canadians pay out-of-pocket for these services or rely on private insurance.[4] Provinces provide partial coverage for some of these items for vulnerable populations (children, those living in poverty and seniors)