I’m writing this for a family friend who is looking for some advice. Their baby has congenital pulmonary vein stenosis. We live in the Caribbean and the surgeries needed cannot be done here.
Right now, the Boston Children’s Hospital is ready to take her and has accepted her. The parents have a B1/B2 visa. We just need to figure out the health insurance. They can afford the travel and the insurance, but they cannot cover a surgery costing over 600k.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Please help… time is running out. Even flying with the baby is risky but it’s the only way she can get the care she needs.
They should look for a children’s hospital in the US that offers charity care. If Boston can’t help, there are other hospitals with good cardiothoracic surgery programs that might provide assistance.
Boston Children’s Hospital may send a Patient Financial Counselor to help the family with a Masshealth (Medicaid) application. They should refuse to complete it since they are not MA residents; submitting a false application could bring them trouble. They need to stand firm with the financial counselors that they’re not residents since the billing office mainly cares about getting paid, not about the consequences of filing fraudulent Medicaid applications.
@Dex
Of course, they should refuse to fill it out. But I find it hard to believe that Boston Children’s, who has a lot of out-of-state and international patients, would push non-residents into applying.
@Teo
I understand it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. I see it almost every day.
They even state that not applying for programs that patients might qualify for can lead to a denial of Patient Financial Assistance:
The Hospital and Foundations will work with patients to apply for public assistance, such as Medicaid and Health Safety Net, as appropriate. Failure to apply for any public assistance for which you may qualify could result in the denial of your financial assistance application.