Married Couple thinking of divorce to cover medical costs

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Happily married couple considers divorce to pay for daughter's health care costs: link

The Greys got married nine years ago on a Florida beach. They have since become the proud parents of two daughters, 2-year-old Fairen and 6-year-old Brighton, who was born with a rare genetic disorder, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Developmentally still a newborn, Brighton requires around-the-clock attention.

The couple has tried to get Medicaid to help with spiraling medical costs but Jake earns too much — $40,000 — for the family to qualify. The Greys applied for state assistance but don't expect to get it because of where they fall on the list.

This one seems to check many of the boxes.
Married couple. Employed earning what is probably a roughly median income of $40K with health insurance. Child with a rare condition who incurs costs, after insurance, of over $15K per year that the family can't afford. They're looking at divorcing so that the mother can become an unemployed single mother and receive Medicaid and put these costs on the tax payer.

This one raises a lot of questions regarding whose responsibility is the cost of your medical care, what should happen to you if you can't afford it, destruction of the family unit by the welfare state, the fact that even with insurance, America's gold standard for health care :rolleyes:, care can still be unobtainium for many, and last but perhaps not least that in an earlier era or different time in America children such as this would have likely just died and this brings up the question of why should the tax payer be forced to fund their treatment, especially when the same tax payer has to suffer through insurance for their coverage.
 
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While I feel for them, the taxpayers didn't decide to get married and squeeze out a kid, why is it ok to game the system and dump the cost of the kid on them?

If I get sick the Gubment is fine watching me die in a ditch, why should they pick my pocket to pay for what is essentially a non-life?
 
Since it's a genetic disorder this has happened in their past with family as well as with this kid. Same with Downs Syndrome. Testing prior to pregnancy would have most likely told them what the odds were. Failure to obtain that pre pregnancy testing, or ignoring the results has resulted in a child they can't care for and they want to push it off on the working taxpayer.
Is it fair to the taxpayer?? No, but it's too late to turn back now..... What quality of life did they expect a child with this disorder to have?? They didn't think ahead, they just wanted to spit out a kid....... Very poor planning....
 
He still will have to pay child support and alimony, don't see how he can get off the hook,
perhaps he needs ObamaCare?
 
He still will have to pay child support and alimony, don't see how he can get off the hook,
perhaps he needs ObamaCare?
My take on it isn't that he would be getting "off the hook", but that they would stay together and that the divorce was a paper / legal one only as a means to effectively game the system and make the taxpayer responsible for paying for their child's care. A child that as BB has pointed out, was irresponsible of them to create for that and other reasons. Any legal system mandated alimony or child would be silly at best and an inconvenience at worst.
 
It's not necessarily inherited:
Many cases of Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) (about 50-60%) are not inherited from a parent and are caused by a new (de novo) deletion of a region of chromosome 4 (called 4p16) that occurs for the first time in the person with WHS.

What a shitty lose-lose decision to find yourself facing. I have two questions: Why is it so damned expensive? Is there an alternative to their expensive treatment?
 
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It's not necessarily inherited:


What a shitty lose-lose decision to find yourself facing. I have two questions: Why is it so damned expensive? Is there an alternative to their expensive treatment?
That is more my line of thinking. $15k AFTER insurance is crazy. Since Obummercare, insurance covers less and less, so I’m guessing this is the result.
There is also no reason Tylenol costs $4/pill in the hospital when it’s literally pennies at most retailers. There are countless examples of insane pricing and shocking waste.

I certainly feel for the family and child but it is 100% wrong to pass that cost on tax payers. It sounds like they have to make some really tough decisions, and divorce nor life/death should be on that list.
 
Why is it so damned expensive? Is there an alternative to their expensive treatment?

"Developmentally still a newborn, Brighton requires around-the-clock attention."

I suspect a big part of the expense is not for medicine, but for the cost of someone to tend to the child for at least part of the day. (Obamacare plans have a $7,150 individual out-of-pocket maximum that makes the $15K claim suspicious.)

In many states, the parents could simply hand the child over to the state, so it is probably reasonable to assume that the parents want to keep the child but avoid much of the cost and bother associated with doing so.
 
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Since it's a genetic disorder this has happened in their past with family as well as with this kid. Same with Downs Syndrome. Testing prior to pregnancy would have most likely told them what the odds were. Failure to obtain that pre pregnancy testing, or ignoring the results has resulted in a child they can't care for and they want to push it off on the working taxpayer.
Is it fair to the taxpayer?? No, but it's too late to turn back now..... What quality of life did they expect a child with this disorder to have?? They didn't think ahead, they just wanted to spit out a kid....... Very poor planning....


With all due respect, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. "Genetic disorder" does not mean "inherited from family".

Downs Syndrome - less than 1% can be attributed to "running in the family", a statistical non-starter
https://www.ndss.org/about-down-syndrome/down-syndrome/

That said, no, I don't think it's .gov or taxpayer responsibility. I think genetic conditions are horrible and awful and I wish they didn't exist, but .gov ought not have a role in paying medical bills.
 
At what point does logic have to step in over emotion? It's tragic that they have to deal with this but how much does one pay for treatment and care, even then what is the prognoses? I mean if the best one could hope for is a longer period of suffering ...
 
So this would be clear welfare fraud in the state of North Carolina because. If the way I read it is they would divorce and still be together. In NC you have to report total household income so if they would find the father living in the home they would be charged.
 
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I would suggest the dad get a second and or third job to help with the costs,
when my first was born healthy, I had a p/t job and took a second p/t job so my wife
could stay home and take care of our daughter as well as our second three years later.
 
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So this would be clear welfare fraud in the state of North Carolina because. If the way I read it is they would divorce and still be together. In NC you have to report total household income so if they would find the father living in the home they would be charged.

I am not sure what the situation in Florida is, but in NC, this would probably not need to happen. We have the CAP/C program that they would be eligible if they met the qualifications, regardless of the parent's income. Plus, to participate in the program, they'd be automatically signed up for Medicaid (sounds like they tried to go to Medicaid as a primary already) as a secondary insurance to help with any expenses over and above the primary insurance coverage. There are still things that are not going to be covered, but it is better than nothing. I'm guessing this couple didn't look into all of their options before going to the press with their problems. They need to find a case manager to help them out.
https://dma.ncdhhs.gov/medicaid/get...s/community-alternatives-program-for-children
 
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Since it's a genetic disorder this has happened in their past with family as well as with this kid. Same with Downs Syndrome. Testing prior to pregnancy would have most likely told them what the odds were. Failure to obtain that pre pregnancy testing, or ignoring the results has resulted in a child they can't care for and they want to push it off on the working taxpayer.
Is it fair to the taxpayer?? No, but it's too late to turn back now..... What quality of life did they expect a child with this disorder to have?? They didn't think ahead, they just wanted to spit out a kid....... Very poor planning....

What would you have them do if the tests came back positive for some disorder.

Just go ahead and whack it?

You do realize the tests are not infallible, right?

Poor planning my azz.
 
Then tell us great swami, where do they come from and is there testing that would reveal the presence thereof??

Genetic mutations and issues can happen regardless of what a test says. The body does mysterious things. Plus if really wanna go down that rabbit hole, there is always the chance of something being wrong. Even the 1-2% chance happens while the 90% doesn’t.

Back before the wife had our 3rd and final child, I always told her that if it came down between her or the kid(s) I choose her. But since our last one about killed her and has that problem solved, Ill do anything up to and even die for my wife and kids. No matter what issues come up they are worth everything.

Besides that, I am really surprise how most of y’all are acting. This (what would be considered fraud) goes on everyday. Nothing is done about it everyday. People that really need help do to unforeseen problems don’t get it while others that don’t need it do.

Not saying what they are attempting is the thing that should be done, but I have a sneaking suspiscion not many have been back in to a corner like they have. I haven’t, came awfully close actually but remember people are gonna do what they need to do to survive.

Things got so bad for the wife and I we thought about doing the same. Why, because sometimes your best isn’t good enough and life kicks you in the nuts, over and over again.

But I was able to find a job, and the wife got a raise. While we ain’t doing the best we are better than we where this time last year

So whoever said they rather see the money go to these folks instead of a foreign country, I applaud and agree with you.


Flame on
 
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My individual insurance premiums for this year are going to be $10325.90. And on top of that to use the insurance I have a $1500 deductible and then they cover 85% after that.

In the past two years our insurance has gone up 24%. I’ve heard it was due to rising prescription drug cost this year. America the medicated :/.

The system was broke long before Obama ever got ahold of it, although he did make it worse. Too much big pharma lobby money In Washington for there ever to be a solution made.

I’ve got a family member who is a sales manager for a stint company. He makes well over 500k a year. Wonder where all that money comes from?

Yay the American dream is now working 3 jobs just to afford health care premiums for your family. Especially since wages have stayed stagnant since the 70’s. But I hear the economy is doing great ;).
 
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Besides that, I am really surprise how most of y’all are acting. This (what would be considered fraud) goes on everyday. Nothing is done about it everyday. People that really need help do to unforeseen problems don’t get it while others that don’t need it do.

Actually there is someone being charged with this kind of fraud every day. If someone slipped through the cracks that still doesn't make it alright.
 
Genetic mutations and issues can happen regardless of what a test says. The body does mysterious things.

Besides that, I am really surprised how most of Y'all are acting. This (what would be considered fraud) goes on every day. Nothing is done about it every day. People that really need help due to unforeseen problems don’t get it while others that don’t need it to do.

Not saying what they are attempting is the thing that should be done, but I have a sneaking suspicion not many have been back into a corner like they have. I haven’t, came awfully close actually but remember people are gonna do what they need to do to survive.

Flame on

Yeah, some can get on their high horse and say they'd never take a government handout until they're backed into a corner. It's not as easy as saying you should pay cash for all of your medical expenses- for one reason, the extremely high cost of healthcare is largely due to the government's involvement from long ago. Hospitals and doctors charge whatever they can and they're not making much when you subtract all of their costs for regulatory, CLIA, FDA, HIPAA, Joint Commission, CAP, and many other regulating organizations they have to answer to just to operate. But, in the end, the cost to the cash paying patient is crazy expensive and most procedures are out of reach for almost everybody paying for it without insurance or Medicaid or Medicare or some kind of third-party assistance. So, even somebody with a decent paying job will be financially ruined with one kid with a chronic problem that involves much time in the hospital or needs procedures. Only the really wealthy can survive a health crisis without needing some kind of intervention by either their insurance company or government benefits.

The other part of this is that parents will do whatever it takes to make sure their kids are taken care of. If that means looking to the government after all other resources are exhausted, then that is reasonable. At the end of the day, would you rather stand on your principals and see your kid die a horrible death, or take government help and have him/her live? Because that's what is at stake here.
 
Actually there is someone being charged with this kind of fraud every day. If someone slipped through the cracks that still doesn't make it alright.

That’s good to know. I agree it doesn’t make it right one bit but people act it this is a new trend lol

Yeah, some can get on their high horse and say they'd never take a government handout until they're backed into a corner. It's not as easy as saying you should pay cash for all of your medical expenses- for one reason, the extremely high cost of healthcare is largely due to the government's involvement from long ago. Hospitals and doctors charge whatever they can and they're not making much when you subtract all of their costs for regulatory, CLIA, FDA, HIPAA, Joint Commission, CAP, and many other regulating organizations they have to answer to just to operate. But, in the end, the cost to the cash paying patient is crazy expensive and most procedures are out of reach for almost everybody paying for it without insurance or Medicaid or Medicare or some kind of third-party assistance. So, even somebody with a decent paying job will be financially ruined with one kid with a chronic problem that involves much time in the hospital or needs procedures. Only the really wealthy can survive a health crisis without needing some kind of intervention by either their insurance company or government benefits.

The other part of this is that parents will do whatever it takes to make sure their kids are taken care of. If that means looking to the government after all other resources are exhausted, then that is reasonable. At the end of the day, would you rather stand on your principals and see your kid die a horrible death, or take government help and have him/her live? Because that's what is at stake here.

I’m not gonna lie, my kids are on Medicaid. If they weren’t the wife and I would be screw beyond belief and our kids are healthy. My kid needed tubes in his head a few years back, no way I was gonna be able afford that. Medicaid picked that bill up. Same with speech therapy, and the same with dental stuff coming up.

Myself and my wife sat down and totaled up everything. We are barely making it and still able to set some cash back. If anything comes up be he house or health stuff we screwed
 
"Developmentally still a newborn, Brighton requires around-the-clock attention."

I suspect a big part of the expense is not for medicine, but for the cost of someone to tend to the child for at least part of the day. (Obamacare plans have a $7,150 individual out-of-pocket maximum that makes the $15K claim suspicious.)

In many states, the parents could simply hand the child over to the state, so it is probably reasonable to assume that the parents want to keep the child but avoid much of the cost and bother associated with doing so.


That 15k is likely monthly premiums. I know mine are $10325.90 for this year. Again that’s just to have insurance.
 
One thing that I'm learning from this thread is that some people will scream bloody murder about the boogeyman called socialism until they require the benefits of it. Medicaid is a form of socialism and I will be honest that my tolerance for being forced to pay for it has gotten a lot worse since I've gotten butt raped by 0zerocare.
 
One thing that I'm learning from this thread is that some people will scream bloody murder about the boogeyman called socialism until they require the benefits of it. Medicaid is a form of socialism and I will be honest that my tolerance for being forced to pay for it has gotten a lot worse since I've gotten butt raped by 0zerocare.


Same goes for SS.
 
They are in a tough spot on a few levels, and I feel for them. Unfortunately people tend to go for illogical "solutions" to problems.

Possible solutions:

1. New job with better insurance.

2. Second job. You could make $15K waiting tables 2-3 nights a week in my experience, and that would cover their yearly medical expenses.

3. Find a good church (which is tasked with benevolent work,) to participate in.
 
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Since it's a genetic disorder this has happened in their past with family as well as with this kid. Same with Downs Syndrome. Testing prior to pregnancy would have most likely told them what the odds were. Failure to obtain that pre pregnancy testing, or ignoring the results has resulted in a child they can't care for and they want to push it off on the working taxpayer.
Is it fair to the taxpayer?? No, but it's too late to turn back now..... What quality of life did they expect a child with this disorder to have?? They didn't think ahead, they just wanted to spit out a kid....... Very poor planning....


Not necessarily:

https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/7896/wolf-hirschhorn-syndrome

"Many cases of Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) (about 50-60%) are not inherited from a parent and are caused by a new (de novo) deletion of a region of chromosome 4 (called 4p16) that occurs for the first time in the person with WHS. In about 40-45% of cases, the person with WHS has an unbalanced translocation with both a deletion on chromosome 4 and an extra piece (trisomy) of part of another chromosome. In these cases, the unbalanced translocation may be de novo, or inherited from a parent who carries a balanced rearrangement (when parts of chromosomes are rearranged but there is no extra or missing genetic material).[2]

Risks to family members and their children depend on whether the person with WHS has the syndrome due to a de novo deletion or an unbalanced translocation.[2]"
 
That’s good to know. I agree it doesn’t make it right one bit but people act it this is a new trend lol



I’m not gonna lie, my kids are on Medicaid. If they weren’t the wife and I would be screw beyond belief and our kids are healthy. My kid needed tubes in his head a few years back, no way I was gonna be able afford that. Medicaid picked that bill up. Same with speech therapy, and the same with dental stuff coming up.

Myself and my wife sat down and totaled up everything. We are barely making it and still able to set some cash back. If anything comes up be he house or health stuff we screwed


That's great glad it's there for you. But in that same breath I have paid at least 20k+ for my one child to do all the above. I'm not exactly setting the world on fire.
 
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Nobody could afford healthcare today if they had to pay for everything themselves. Having said that, I don't like it that my premiums are high because some people want to have kids that they can't afford. Hell, I know folks that have 5or 6 kids and they can't afford to raise 1 on the salary they make. Guess who gets to buy their food and medical care, we do.
 
That's great glad it's there for you. But in that same breath I have paid at least 20k+ for my one child to do all the above. I'm not exactly setting the world on fire.

That good, like all bs aside that is good.

Not really sure where the second part of your post was going but, I aint trying to set the world on fire either. Plenty of other things that is gonna do that lol.
 
Nobody could afford healthcare today if they had to pay for everything themselves. Having said that, I don't like it that my premiums are high because some people want to have kids that they can't afford. Hell, I know folks that have 5or 6 kids and they can't afford to raise 1 on the salary they make. Guess who gets to buy their food and medical care, we do.

My sister spent the last 3 weeks in the hospital because her appendix burst. I asked how much that would cost, apparently nothing she has Medicaid. I mean really that shit would cost me 20% of the overall cost. Which sure as hell makes me wonder if she could have been released two weeks ago.
 
That good, like all bs aside that is good.

Not really sure where the second part of your post was going but, I aint trying to set the world on fire either. Plenty of other things that is gonna do that lol.

The second part is I make less than a single mother of 4 living in public housing by the time I pay insurance and taxes every year.
 
My sister spent the last 3 weeks in the hospital because her appendix burst. I asked how much that would cost, apparently nothing she has Medicaid. I mean really that shit would cost me 20% of the overall cost. Which sure as hell makes me wonder if she could have been released two weeks ago.

Plus your deductible before they hit you for the 20%.
 
The second part is I make less than a single mother of 4 living in public housing by the time I pay insurance and taxes every year.

Well I don't know your situation, but I know the wife and I bring home less than 25k a year together including insurance for her along brings us closer to 20. I ain't ashamed that we have to get government help. Nor an I ashamed of how things have been of lately, nor was I ashamed of myself when we where on food stamps.... Ok maybe I was a little at that point. I have 3 boys that I have to look after and feed. Life just throw wrenches in to everything.

Wife had to go to the ER because of a mishap with my RC airplane. We where hit for over 1500 for some pain meds and 4 stitches.


either way, we all have it crap in one way or another. I aint trying to compare manhood sizes either. I have stopped worry about things out of my control, embrace the suck and make the best of what I got. nor do I need pitty from folks nor am I looking for it. I am/was stating that sometimes drastic measures are taken by folks backed in to a corner.

So-

Insurance is expensive- Check
The folks in the story may end up committing fraud in the state they live in- Check
Paying taxes suck- Check
Life is a bitch- Check.
Some folks have it better than other-Check
I'm done with this thread because, well not really much of a point to post in it anymore lol- Check
 
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Well I don't know your situation, but I know the wife and I bring home less than 25k a year together including insurance for her along brings us closer to 20. I ain't ashamed that we have to get government help. Nor an I ashamed of how things have been of lately, nor was I ashamed of myself when we where on food stamps.... Ok maybe I was a little at that point. I have 3 boys that I have to look after and feed. Life just throw wrenches in to everything.

Wife had to go to the ER because of a mishap with my RC airplane. We where hit for over 1500 for some pain meds and 4 stitches.


either way, we all have it crap in one way or another. I aint trying to compare manhood sizes either. I have stopped worry about things out of my control, embrace the suck and make the best of what I got. nor do I need pitty from folks nor am I looking for it. I am/was stating that sometimes drastic measures are taken by folks backed in to a corner.

So-

Insurance is expensive- Check
The folks in the story may end up committing fraud in the state they live in- Check
Paying taxes suck- Check
Life is a bitch- Check.
Some folks have it better than other-Check
I'm done with this thread because, well not really much of a point to post in it anymore lol- Check
Don’t feel bad man, you would not believe how many of these “sovereign citizens” that complain about having to pay for everyone else’s this or that, get every bit of their taxes back at the end of the year, effectively paying for nothing. Not one person whining and complaining about how “those people” are “stealing” their money by taking advantage of government benefits is willing or able to actually do anything about it but whine and complain.
 
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