A surprise-billing law loophole? Her pregnancy led to a six-figure hospital bill

[Nevilledog]

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/02/28/1159786893/a-surprise-billing-law-loophole-her-pregnancy-led-to-a-six-figure-hospital-bill

It was the first day of her family's vacation in the San Juan Islands last June when Danielle Laskey, who was 26 weeks pregnant, thought she was leaking amniotic fluid.

A registered nurse, Laskey called her OB-GYN back home in Seattle, who said to seek immediate care. Staff members at a nearby emergency department found no leakage. But her OB-GYN still wanted to see her as soon as possible.

Laskey and her husband, Jacob, made the three-hour trip to the Swedish Maternal & Fetal Specialty Center-First Hill. Laskey had sought the clinic's specialized care for this pregnancy, her second, after a dangerous complication with her first: The placenta had become embedded in the uterine muscles.

Back in Seattle, doctors at the clinic found Laskey's water had broken early, posing a serious risk to her and the fetus, and ordered her immediate admission to Swedish Medical Center/First Hill. She delivered her son after seven weeks in the hospital. Though she was treated for multiple postpartum complications, she was well enough to be discharged the next day. Her son, who is healthy, went home a month later.

Laskey soon developed a fever and body aches, and she was told by her OB-GYN to go to Swedish's emergency department. She said doctors there wanted to admit her when she arrived Aug. 20 and scheduled a procedure for Aug. 26 to remove a fragment of placenta that her body had not eliminated on its own.

*snip*