Uninsured in Wisconsin

A few years ago I was in the process of getting ready for work. I nearly collapsed in the bathroom. I had such severe abdominal pain that I could barely stand up. I called in sick to work and decided to rest. Within an hour I could only crawl. I crawled to the phone and called a friend to drive me to the emergency room (it was late on a Saturday). He did. I was seen at the hospital and told that I had an ovarian cyst and needed surgery. Knowing that I had no option I had surgery early in the morning. I also had no insurance. I stated this to the doctor but they insisted I needed surgery immediately. It was terrifying to know that there is something wrong with you and to not know how much fixing it will cost or how you will pay for it. I was in the hospital for a few days. They sent me home—I still had NO idea what the bill would be or how I would afford it. A few days after being home for recovery I became ill. I called the doctor and they requested I return to the hospital. I did and spent 4 days in the hospital severely dehydrated with vomiting and diarrhea. I was then discharged and again had no idea as to the amount of costs this hospital stay would cost.

During my initial discharge from the hospital I was provided release instructions that included a follow up visit in two weeks and then again in a month. I called the specialist to schedule an appointment and was told the visit would be approximately $320 and payment was required at the time of the visit. Of course if other tests or procedures were deemed necessary the cost would be more. In essence I would be sending the equivalent of my rent in utilities for a 30-minute visit. I explained to the receptionist there was no way I could afford either. She said they could possibly work out a payment plan but I would have to pay half up front. This was not feasible at all unless I was going to start living on Ramen Noodles, which isn’t exactly the best diet for health either. I made the decision to not attend the follow up visits simply because I couldn’t afford them.

About two months later the bills started to come in. When I opened the first I thought it was the total. Unfortunately it was only a portion, only the charges from the hospital and only for the first hospitalization. The total on that bill exceeded NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS. At the time this equaled about half of my annual income. Then the next bill came for the surgeon and was more than $6,000. Some time passed and yet another bill came from the hospital showing my total balance was just under $15,000.
In about a weeks worth of time my entire annual salary was spent.

I was so nervous and anxious about these new debts—they were equal to the total debt of my 4-year college education loans. There was no way I would be able to afford to pay both. I kept paying on my student loans and sent a small amount to the hospital and physicians service. I was constantly in contact with the later two groups explaining that I was paying as much as I could possibly afford. Not satisfied that I couldn’t just write a check to pay off the balance they transferred my account to a collection agency. Five years later with accruing interest and late fees I STILL owe money on these bills. And the debt is recorded on my credit report, which made it impossible for me to be listed on the mortgage of the house that my husband and I purchased. I cannot even get an auto loan because the bills are showing as a collection account that is five years old. Supposedly medical bills cannot be used to judge creditworthiness. I find this very interesting because on my credit report you can see the collection account but there isn’t any notation that the original bill was for medical treatment.

For me this story ends worse than it begins. My husband and I have been trying to have children. Over the last two years we haven’t been successful and I have since sought the input of healthcare providers since I know have insurance. It turns out that skipping the two $320 follow up visits that I couldn’t afford cost me and my husband the ability to have children. The scaring on my ovaries is so significant it was probably due to an infection that would have been caught (and treated) had I made it to the recheck appointments. This entire saga was one week of my life that will affect myself, my husband and my family forever.