Texas newborn denied health insurance over pre-existing condition
By Jan Jarvis for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram –
At birth, Houston Tracy let out a single loud cry before his father cut the cord and handed him to a nurse.
Instantly, Doug Tracy knew something was wrong with his son.
“He wasn’t turning pink fast enough,” Tracy said. “When they listened to his chest, they realized he had an issue.”
That turned out to be d-transposition of the great arteries, a defect in which the two major vessels that carry blood away from the heart are reversed. The condition causes babies to turn blue.
Surgery would correct it, but within days of Houston’s birth March 15, Tracy learned that his application for health insurance to cover his son had been denied. The reason: a pre-existing condition.
“How can he have a pre-existing condition if the baby didn’t exist until now?” Tracy asked.
New federal legislation that will prevent insurance companies from denying children coverage based on a pre-existing condition comes too late for the Tracys. The legislation, passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama this week, won’t go into effect until September.
But Houston, who is hospitalized at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, needs coverage now.
Without surgery, babies with this condition often die soon after birth, although some may live as long as a year, said Dr. Steve Muyskens, a pediatric cardiologist.
“In his case, we had to intervene in the first days of life,” Muyskens said.
To read the complete article, visit www.star-telegram.com.
There is absolutely NO excuse for something so evil and completely wrong! How can these people live with themselves! I know people need jobs but how can that person looking at the application for a newborn needing surgery to actually be able to deny it!?! Is any job really worth killing over??? NO morals, and no heart…I want to be that person in that job and accept EVERYONE ESPECIALLY THE CHILDREN!!!!! Come ON people! I’m soo sorry to hear of these types of stories…I just hope that the more we all talk about it the more action will be taken to fix the problems we are all facing.
Jennie, sorry you don’t have all the facts. The baby was treated.
These people decided not to have themselves insured. They paid cash for all the expenses for the care and birth. More that enough to have both parent insured, which would have automatically cared the new born.
They knew the risk and gambled, now they want someone else pay the bill. If we are lucky they will now be forced to buy insurance to cover themselves.
TR Wilson: Well, I am sorry you don’t have any common sense or common decency. At least, it certainly doesn’t sound like you do based on this post. Quite frankly YOU don’t have all the facts either. You certainly don’t have enough details to warrant your statement: “They paid cash for all the expenses for the care and birth. More that enough to have both parent insured, which would have automatically cared the new born. They knew the risk and gambled, now they want someone else pay the bill. If we are lucky they will now be forced to buy insurance to cover themselves. that” Really? Really?? Wow. Let me remind you that, at that time, insurance companies still had the option of 1) Denying coverage for whatever they deemed to be a “pre-existing condition” 2) Charge extremely high deductibles for certain treatment/care. Many times, the deductible they have to meet is higher than the cost of certain treatment. 3) Sometimes insurance companies will limit the type of care they will cover until a specific length of time has passed, like the first 6 months. There are many, many more scenarios I could list, however, I think this next statement sums up what we should all keep in mind…”But for the grace of God go I”. Think about it….
According to the Republicans, this is the kind of health care system “the American people” want. According to the Republicans, “the American people” are outraged that the Democrats are creating a system which won’t deny health insurance to newborns based on preexisting conditions.
I just don’t get. The Republicans claim to be the party of morals and a Christian based faith but how is not caring about those less fortunate than you, turning your back on people who cannot get that which you take for granted and preaching that it is more important to worry about the budget then it is worry about the health and well being of your fellow man following the teachings of Christ?? Republicans, when it comes to carring for those less fortunate, ask yourself, what would Jesus do?