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Sobbing fills the phone line. “I am not sure what to do, I am pregnant and they are telling me that my baby has heart disease and my die if she does not have surgery as soon as she is born, but my insurance company is refusing to pay for transport to Cleveland and she may not even make it down there in time. I think we are just going to go down there and have the baby and then if insurance don’t pay they don’t pay.”
This is a true story. This family did not know that even if they went down there the baby was not guaranteed to be allowed to have the surgery because the insurance would not cover any part of it. We often do things without full understanding and thought.
The Morlock Foundation worked with the primary OBGYN, the cardiologist in Buffalo, Cleveland Clinic, the insurance company, the baby’s primary (even though the baby was not born yet), the employer, the church the family attended and it did not stop there. The baby was set to arrive 2-3 weeks after the phone call. This was crisis mode and that is how we worked, as crisis mode. We were able to get the paperwork completed, the approvals, the Ronald McDonald house in Cleveland, all of the members on the same page. The baby was born 2 weeks and 3 days after the phone call. She went into surgery immediately. The baby girl survived and is doing great. We saved the family in medical bills alone over $1.2 million dollars, we had a fundraiser with the church to cover their travel expenses and food costs too.
This little girl has gone through a few more surgeries but is doing well growing up and loving life.
What if we were not here to help that family?
My guess is that they would have gone down to Cleveland and suffered a huge financial setback (because the insurance company with having no prior authorization), the care might not have been provided as they needed and even things that we don't want to think about.
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