United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi my brother, Luis has a motorcicle accident April 2005..and he have BPI a Dr in Houston is goin to perform the surgery "Nerve Transfer"...well the problem is he don't have insurance and we just tray to find the amount of 60k for the surgery!!.the Dr said he is goin to be only 2 days, but what happen.something like complications he need to be there for more than 2 days? Someone told ne we can check with MediCaid !ufff If someone have any idea ...financing help with hospitals ect sorry I don't know how to write a good English ...thank you for any help Mary

Hi, how old is your brother? If he is under the age of 18, they can help. The Shriners system offers free services to children. Dr. Kozin, up in Philadelphia, does the nerve transfer surgery. My daughter had that surgery in December. Call 1-800-237-5055 for an application.

AmyB

Daughter, Scarlett 8 mo, LOBPI

If you are from Europe, you might try to come home to do the surgery here. We have almost free hospitals for all citizens (you pay less if you have social security, but there are a lot of different hospitals and it depends on countries). You may try to have some support from your Embassy.
I am totaly unaware of the prices of these surgeries and you might find that the flight price is the same as the surgery. (?)

We are from Puerto Rico which is a commonwealth of the USA. What do you have to do to qualify for social security?

He is 40 years old and we are from Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the USA.

Did you find anything? I'm sure someone here can come up with an idea to help. As we are from Europe, I have no idea as how your system works. Good luck.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 6701c.html

'Manny's Law' urged

The parents of Manny Lanza took some comfort yesterday that the death of their son - who was sent away from a hospital because he had no insurance - has inspired calls for change.

The proposed "Manny's Law" would require hospitals to tell uninsured patients that they are entitled to charity care.

Lanza's mother, Levia Pietro, said her family knew of no such right when Lanza was admitted to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in 2004 with a deformed blood vessel in his brain.

"I was told repeatedly, 'When you obtain insurance, we'll take care of him' " said Pietro.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has proposed a law that would require hospitals to tell patients they are entitled to care regardless of ability to pay and that government aid and payment plans are available.

"When this information gets out to people, it can have lifesaving results," said Quinn (D-Manhattan).

Lanza, 24, was discharged within days. He waited several months for treatment before Pietro found him dead in his room last year.

"I told them I would sell my house to pay the bill," said .Lanza's adoptive father, Reynaldo Pietro. "I can replace a house, but I can't replace my son."

Bill Egbert


Originally published on January 23, 2006

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According to the article, we are all entitled to medical care whether we can afford it or not. Whether it is inforced is not known.

Unless I am mistaken, hospitals are only required to give charity care if it is life threatening.

it's a shame if it does have to be life threatening. I remember reading that article and decided to bookmark it. One can make the argument that anything left untreated can be life threatening.

We should all be allowed to have healthcare whether we can afford it or not. It's just not fair.