At age 29, with a blood clot at the base of my brain, I was hospitalized for three days in 2015. I had to be constantly monitored for strokes or seizures so, do to a lack of available hospital beds, this meant I was in the ICU for three straight days. 

I initially went to the ER with what I thought was an exceptionally awful, multi-day migraine. When the ER doctor ran into my curtained off area to ask if I had hit my head (I hadn’t) because the CT Scan demonstrated bleeding, I was terrified. I had to be transported by ambulance to a larger hospital where an MRI could be done on Saturday afternoon. Nothing like this had ever happened to me or my husband before, so neither of us – in all the panic – thought to call my insurance company to obtain pre-authorization for all of the medical services I would need. We didn’t know how much would be needed until it was happening!

Since we did not call, and since I had a Blue Cross Blue Shield high-deductible plan, many additional costs were passed on to me, and I owed far more than my already high deductible of $6,000. After leaving the hospital, I had to continue to take expensive medications to help break down the clot. Though I was directed to start this treatment the day I was discharged, the hospital had not yet submitted its bills to BCBS; without these, as far as the insurance company was concerned, I had not yet met my deductible. I was left with no choice about paying hundreds of out-of-pocket dollars for my medications, on top of my hospital bills.

Read the full story at This is the Bronx here.