Child's Illness Leaves Huge Medical Debt Despite Insurance

My name is Eliza Fendell and I am 36 years-old. My household consists of my 34 year-old husband and my three children, Magnus who is 6 years-old, my daughter Fiona is 3 years old, and Duncan who is 18 months old. I am a full-time general manager for my father's company, Aeropost, Inc. I have been working at Aeropost for the past four and half years

My son, Magnus, is a relatively healthy child who lives with a chronic illness. In other words, as long as he gets treatment, he is healthy. I seek emergency hospital care when Magnus begins to have respiratory distress because he suffers from Vater Syndrome. It usually starts with his lungs; he becomes pale, develops a fever, and throws up. At this point, he should already be admitted to a hospital. When I sought care for my son at the hospital, I did not believe that I would be able to pay any medical bills not covered through my insurance.

Although my son had health insurance during his time at the hospital I still incurred medical bills not covered through my insurance. I attempted to apply for financial assistance. As it turns out, I was not able to apply because the hospital staff told me that my income was not low enough for an application to even be filled out.  My medical debt is approximately $22,000.

I am not sure who I owe money to. I have tried on several occasions to contact the hospital about my medical bills. My husband and I have both gone to the hospital and attempted to meet with staff in order to understand what has been paid, what has not, who we owe money to, and for what services.

My son spent 52 days of his third year in a hospital which makes it difficult to determine what each bill is for. My medical debt now belongs to different collection agencies. They have made demanding phone calls and sent letters to me. As a result of our medical debt, we do not own a home, we have no savings, are still living paycheck to paycheck, and at age 36, I am still reliant on my parents for certain things.

Eliza Fendell