Hospital bill

Maybe Joleisa · April 2014

Last month I received a bill from the hospital for a $1,062.00 "nursery" stay. It pissed me off, I ripped it up and threw it away. Surely that was sent in error.

Yesterday I received the same bill in the mail again, but now it is 30 days past due. Is this really a thing? They charge me $1,062.00 for "nursery services" to keep my boys who passed away 5 hours after they were born? We held them every single second they were alive--it's not like we sent them to the nursery to get some sleep!

Anyone else get charged? (If you're mobile: Twin loss at 21w6d.)

mmsweeney1 · April 2014

** ticker *

All the hospital bills have been insulting, in my opinion. My situation was different, so I don't have answers for you. I just wanted to say I'm sorry you're dealing with this!

lexusolsen · April 2014

I don't have any experience with your situation but I would call and ask. Explain the situation. I hope they are as understanding and helpful as my insurance has been. I'm sorry you have to deal with this right now.

GymSpaz26 · April 2014

I received a similar bill in February, about two months after I'd finished paying all my other bills. I didn't pay it because I couldn't figure out what it was for, since our baby was with us in our room the whole time and never in a nursery. Besides the fact that we thought we'd finished paying all our bills!

I had it on my list to call and figure out if we need to pay it or not for about two months... I've been charged at least a month's interest now. I FINALLY got up the guts to make the phone call last week. Turns out it is the cost for the pediatrician who visited our son a couple times and basically all of the baby's care costs (which in our case do apply). And it came so much later because our insurance didn't want to process it for some reason. So... we do need to pay it.

It was so frustrating and hard though. When I finally got up the guts to call, the lady at the hospital asked my son's birthdate and where he lives. Why can't they pass along the information that he died! It would make things so much easier!

But that's what "nursery services" mean at our hospital at least. Pediatrician, pharmacy, nurses, etc for baby care. Though I would say your bill seems a lot lower than ours was. Ours was something like $4500 before insurance, but baby was in the hospital with us for more than 48 hours before we left. Maybe you could have someone close to you like a parent or close friend call the hospital and explain the situation and ask what those charges are really for and if you need to pay them?

I'm sorry... hospital bills suck.

TeamWinForever · April 2014

This for me has also been tough. Though I have not received any nicu bills yet, I know it's coming and it's going to be so hard when it happens. It does feel like a huge slap in the face when this happens. When you feel up to dealing with it, maybe call your hospital billing department and ask them to explain the bill? Perhaps it was in fact an error. So sorry that you have to deal with this. It's so unfair.

Jellybean71514 · April 2014

I haven't gotten a nursery bill bc Joseph was born sleeping but did get the statement of charges last week for hospital stay and overall birth so I know what bills are to come - probably over $1500 from what I can see so far and all for nothing .....makes me so angry.

Maybe Joleisa · April 2014

Thanks for weighing in, ladies. If we had a post-24 week loss and they had done anything for us I'd be okay with it, but they were clear that they would not be doing anything. DH is out of town for work this week, so I guess I'll call the hospital's billing department on Friday when I am off work. I hope this is one of those situations where the anticipation of the call will be worse than the call, because I'm anticipating b*tching them the heck out! Makes me angry, too, @Jellybean71514‌.

stefuge · April 2014

No experience to share, sorry, but I hope you can get it resolved. The bills just add insult to injury.

dadalou · April 2014

We haven't gotten any bills for Nathaniel. I don't think we will, but I'm not sure. It has only been 2 months. He died at birth, but did have a whole team of people working on him for almost an hour so we could get charged for that. The problem for us is that he was considered a stillbirth so he didn't get a birth certificate, so we can't get a SSN, so we can't add him to our insurance.

TeamWinForever · April 2014

My husband and i were discussing this very thing today. Fiona was born alive and spent time in the nicu, so she does have a birth and death certificate. However she at this point does not have an ssn. Now, we have no idea if she needs to be added to our insurance for nicu bills to be covered or how this works. I really think someone should provide guidance on this while still in the hospital bc it's just another added stress that we don't need. I am also dreading making these calls

GymSpaz26 · April 2014

@TeamWinForeverI know on my insurance at least our son was covered under me automatically for 30 days. This ended up being a whole confusion because he was originally added separately even though he'd passed away, before anyone remembered that he was automatically covered under me and it was fixed. Depending how long your daughter was in the nicu, maybe she's covered automatically under your insurance?

ajsweeton · April 2014

***siggy warning***

I too lost twins at 22w. We did initially get billed for nursery stay and our insurance denied it. When we called the hospital and explained the situation they determined it was a mistake on their part and the charges were removed. Our babies never saw a pediatrician or left our side until the funeral home picked them up. The hospital doesn't know they've made a mistake until you set them straight. It's ridiculous that they don't have things in place to keep these charges from being filed when there's a situation like ours though. Good luck to you.

ikrystal · April 2014

I got the exact same bill for my boys. I asked them if they were seriously charging me nursery fees for my babies who never saw a nursery. And then I asked if the bill was for holding a stethoscope to their chest to tell me they had passed away, because I thought that was outrageous. The hospital said they would contact insurance again with a new bill. I haven't heard anything since, and hopefully this will all go away. I'm hoping you can get this straightened out. Nothing is more offensive than a newborn nursery bill.

luckyclover0922 · April 2014

I just got a $1061 nursery charge. I called the billing department and yes it is a "real" charge. My son only survived for 1 hour 20 minutes and that is the fee they charged to clean him up and "hold" him for me...I too was PISSED. I called my work who had the insurance consultant call the insurance company to "piggyback" the charges onto me instead of putting our son on our insurance for the time he was alive and it was paid. He told me that most institutions charge the infant under the mom but the one I delivered at did not

Hopefully that will help you some... so sorry for the loss of your little one.

bunnybun4 · April 2014

just wanted to say I am sorry you are dealing with this. Hopefully the hospital will work something out with you.

cdale86 · April 2014

***Ticker***

I am so sorry! I really hope you can call and get that figured out/taken away. I know calling is hard so I wish you luck. Bills to pay thousands of dollars for babies we don't have at home is just so painful and unbelievable. We got a bill today for Bennett. It's been over 10 months. Thought we were done.

MCH77 · April 2014

I'm so sorry you ladies have to deal with bullshit. ((Hugs))

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