A mother was billed more than $550,000 after giving birth to her premature baby who had to spend two months in the ICU.
38-year-old Bisi Bennett and her husband from Orlando, Florida, were on their way to the hospital on November 12, 2020, when she gave birth to their son Dorian in their Mitsubishi Outlander.
Their firstborn was born prematurely in breech position and spent 56 days in the NICU.
But what shocked the parents was the gigantic bill of $660,553, and they needed to shoulder $550,134.76.
Advent Health Orlando, the in-network facility that accepts the mother’s health insurance, offered a payment plan to let the parents cover the huge bill in $45,843 installments for 12 months.
Speaking to CBS Mornings, Bennett said: “It was ridiculous, I don’t have $46,000 to pay a month.”
According to reports, the cause of the extraordinary bill was a miscommunication, as the mother’s health insurance switched from United Healthcare to UMR – a move that the family made sure the hospital was already aware of.
But both companies were billed the charge in full.
“I called the hospital several times to let them know: ‘Hey, you’re lumping the bill together, you need to split it out,’ Bennett said. “I was scared that I was going to go into collections.”
Advent Health Orlando told the mother that it would have the problem cleared up by March but the issue was only resolved in September.
According to NPR, United Healthcare claimed it informed the hospital to change the bill.
“They’re in charge of billing, and I shouldn’t be the one having to tell (Advent Health Orlando), ‘Bill my one insurance for dates in 2020 and bill my other insurance for dates in 2021,’ but I did,” the new mom told NPR.
“I kept having the same conversation over and over.”
After both companies paid their portions, the bill went down from $550,000 to $300, with the total amount at $6,300.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this story with your friends and family!