Woman's Heartbreaking Story Details Major Problems With Health Insurance Companies

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Meeeeesh
Feb 24, 2020 4:00 PM EST

Many of us have dealt with the "joys" of the American healthcare system firsthand, whether that be the inability to afford an astronomical bill from a trip to the emergency room, or the high costs of necessary medication. 

Michelle DuBarry dealt with one of the most unimaginable horrors a person could experience - the loss of a child, and her nightmarish experience with the health insurance company directly after.

On a bit of a lighter note, here are some amusing memes about the American healthcare system that will make you laugh and then feel sad again.

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  • 01
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie In 2010, I had good union health insurance. Obamacare was the law of the land. In November that yr my 1yo son was struck by a careless driver in a crosswalk. After two surgeries and a night in intensive care, he died.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 02
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie Before we knew the outcome, I sat at his bedside, his tiny stitched- together body hooked to a million incessantly beeping machines, straining to recall what our deductibles were. I worried I wouldn't be able to keep working during what could be a long hospital stay.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 03
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie I googled FMLA and learned I wouldn't qualify b/c I hadn't been at my job for a year. If I lost my job we would both be without insurance. Without my income, there was no way we could afford $1K/month COBRA.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 04
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie Within a week of his death, before we had even received a bill, the hospital put a lien on our house to make sure we wouldn't skip out on the PICU bill.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 05
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie My husband who was also injured in the crash, was refused treatment by his primary care doc b/c she didn't accept payment from auto insurance and his health insurer wouldn't pay til we exhausted our auto insurance.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 06
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie Have you ever had to call around to find a doctor that can handle your specific insurance situation? Have you done it in the days after your toddler has died, when you haven't even figured out a way to talk about it, when your husband is injured and urgently needs a Rx refill?
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 07
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie We ended up with around $5K in out-of-pocket expenses and our health insurer paid $175K. Eventually, we'd receive a settlement from the at-fault driver. For a minute, we thought we might be OK financially.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 08
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie Then our health ins. co. came after our pain and suffering settlement. They demanded reimbursement for the $175K they were out. Turns out they were legally entitled to do that. In an instant, our modest settlement meant to compensate for the loss of our son - was reduced to $0
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 09
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie (Side Note: It took me 8 yrs but in 2019 I initiated and passed a bill making this practice illegal in OR. It remains legal in many states.)
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 10
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie Through all this, my husband and I both were suffering from PTSD. We had jobs, a mortgage. All of it hung in the balance. In a humane system, we could grieve without having to navigate an insurance juggernaut, without worrying about being thrust into debt and poverty.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 11
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie Despite Obamacare and "good" union insurance, we were nearly bankrupted by a 27-hour hospital stay.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 12
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie Every one of us lives in a body that is going to fail. Sometimes it happens suddenly, catastrophically. Do you want to fight with insurers when this happens? Do you want to sort through a mountain of bills when you lose someone you love, when your grief is raw?
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 13
    Text - Michelle DuBarry @DuBarryPie Replying to @DuBarryPie There is no compromise on healthcare that doesn't leave millions of people unacceptably vulnerable to corporations trying to profit from sick and injured people.
    via beepbeepmeow
  • 14
    Font - EIBlue via Android O 97 pts 4 hr Hi, Spanish med student here, our teachers and doctors that teach us use the USA medical system as a bad example on how to do things. (1/2)
    via ElBlue

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