Sounds pretty typical for people struggling to survive in the face of extreme medical bills. That happens a lot in this country. BK due to medical bills is one of the main reason for bankruptcies.
Jumping from your comments, I found some interesting information while posting on another thread.
Medical expenses are the leading cause of bankruptcy for families according to this reference. (
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100840148)
Several studies have been done regarding actual costs for procedures done in hospitals vs. the billing for those procedures. In one study (
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...are-costs.aspx) the chargemaster (a hospital's internal price list) was discussed. It has been found that in most, if not all cases, the costs for each item are highly inflated and are priced several times higher than the items would actually cost the hospital. This excessive charging for services, supplies, equipment usage, drugs, supplements, nutrition, medical procedures, diagnostic tests brings in revenue. When every pill, every tissue, every paper cup of water, is charged, costs skyrocket. It boggles the mind to consider how many procedures and diagnostic tests, how much medication, and how many consultations Justina would have undergone since she was first incarcerated at BCH.
The costs for insurance companies is negotiated between companies and hospitals. Medicare, because of its scope, can usually negotiate a much lower rate than standard costs. Other companies may negotiate different rates for services and items provided for clients' care by a hospital. The costs for someone who is uninsured are to be paid in full by that person. Similarly, some insurance policies have limits on what they will cover. The balance of the costs remains the responsibility of the person receiving the treatment. For example, in the study I'm referencing (
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...are-costs.aspx), 3 CT scans would cost Medicare $825. For an individual who earned a little too much to be covered by Medicare but could not afford other insurance, the cost would be $7,000.
Apparently each hospital determines its own chargemaster so costs may vary greatly in every medical experience. It seems very logical to me that the parents, who could very well be facing huge bills for Justina's rehabilitation, would be making arrangements to pay those costs.
My rant now begins, so you may want to skip over the next bit.
I'm wondering whether the parents will eventually be able to sue BCH for wrongfully accusing them of child abuse since Justina had been doing very well under the care which they provided and has become almost paralyzed below the hips since her incarceration at BCH. (
http://touch.courant.com/#section/-1.../p2p-79162494/) I think it would be poetic justice if BCH was forced to pay for Justina's rehabilitation and care at another hospital at the same rates the parents would have had to pay.
Since Justina's condition has declined so much in the year of the "medical treatment" at BCH, I wonder if the parents could somehow find a lawyer who could use the same criteria used to judge them as unfit parents in order to judge the BCH "doctors" and administrators who oversaw Justina's ever worsening condition at BCH as to their fitness to continue as medical professionals.
Deprived of friends, of education, of the presence and love of her family, deprived of normal everyday social interactions, it must have taken incredible inner strength for Justina not to break under the pressure of the failed BCH experiment to prove that she wasn't really sick. That she was able to convince a lawyer that she needed to be out of BCH, IMO, says even more about Justina's character.
