In this conversation, you will meet Jessica. Jessica is from the United States. She had twin babies who were born prematurely and required a lengthy NICU stay. She received very high medical bills that were, fortunately, covered by insurance (after paying for the deductibles out-of-pocket). Her story highlights the BARRIER to PUBLIC HEALTH of Financial Constraints/Cost of Care.
TRANSCRIPT
Interviewer: You had twin babies who were born prematurely and were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for quite a while? Can you tell me about the cost of your medical bills?
Jessica: I have twin babies who were born at 34 weeks gestation. They were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for 9 weeks.
Jessica: We are so fortunate to have health insurance, because the medical bills ended up being a total of 3,000,000 dollars, including my emergency c-section surgery.
Jessica: I wondered about whether the other families, with babies in the NICU during our stay, were experiencing the same challenges, but without insurance.
EVIDENCE & RESEARCH
According to studies in the United States, “Daily NICU costs exceed $3,500 per infant, and it is not unusual for costs to top $1 million for a prolonged stay.”
A recent New York Times article from February 2020, discusses a family that had a $4 million bill.
According to this article, there is not much data on how much families end up spending out-of-pocket for these lengthy stays, but they often include travel expenses and hotel stays.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31446821/
Location:
United States
Date:
2022
Barriers to Public Health: Financial, Cost of Care
HEALTH CONVERSATIONS: When Aware We Care 