H1N1 Families Face Financial Challenges

(CBS)  After six weeks in intensive care, Lateasha Howard has apparently beaten H1N1.

But Carolyn Howard has no idea what saving her daughter's life will cost.

"Are you expecting to see a big bill at the end?" asked CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.

"Hopefully not," Howard said. "Praying and hoping that I don't see one."

Tony Estlinbaum's finally home. He fought H1N1 for a month in the same ICU, at Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City.

As a stress relief, his parents used to joke about the whopping expense.

"How much is this going to cost to be in the ICU for a month?" Hugh Estlinbaum asked.

"Hold your breath for three seconds, oh, there's $500," Lizzy Estlinbaum said.

More coverage of Tony and others at Children's Hospital:

A Child H1N1 Patient's Joyous Homecoming
Two H1N1 Kids Now Show "Miracle" Progress
Two H1N1 Patients, Two Different Outcomes

A machine called an ECMO is the big expense. It's a lifeline for the heart and lungs and requires two nurses in the room, around-the-clock.

"Staffing, training, equipment - very quickly you're going to be running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Cole Eslyn the CEO of OU Medical Center.

Lateasha Howard's hospital charges? $1.2 million - and rising.

Tony's bill? Almost $900,000.

And that's just the hospital.

"That doesn't include the doctors or nurses, or the CT or the plastic surgeons that came into the room," Hugh Estlinbaum said. "The list is long."

Hospitals usually negotiate much lower settlements. But unlike many insurance plans, the Estlinbaums have a lifetime cap on expenses: $1.5 million. Tony's hospital stay and continuing rehabilitation could top that.

"I don't know how we're going to do these medical bills," Hugh Estlinbaum said. "I have no idea."

Every insurance plan's lifetime cap varies. But in extreme H1N1 cases, with sky-high medical bills, a child who once had a severe flu might have trouble getting health insurance ever again.

"Their ability to purchase individual insurance in the open market is very limited, if not zero," said Dr. Peter Kongstvedt, a health insurance expert.

Carolyn Howard relies on Medicaid -- which will pay Lateasha's bills.

"You're better off having Medicaid than private insurance with that type of cap," Kongstvedt said.

Congress is now considering three major bills to overhaul American health care. All three would eliminate lifetime caps.

"I can't put a price tag on what he is worth," Lizzy Estlinbaum said. "There is no price tag on what he is worth."

So the Estlinbaums could soon face a new crisis. Not medical - financial.

[jokr8790]

If good health care legislation does not pass in Congress it will NOT be President Obama's fault. It will be our fault for not electing truly progressive candidates to back his agenda. As a candidate he recognized that single payer health care was the most effective way in terms of health results and cost for providing health care to the American people. Unfortunately, too many DINOS (Democrats in Name Only, i.e.
"blue dogs I think they call themselves) got into office, like Joe Lieberman. Conservatives only constituents are the wealthy and political powerful not the working people of the United States. You want decent legislation then elect progressive candidates.Good examples are Alan Grayson out of Florida or Barbara Boxer in California.

[Virgil-1]

Insurance companies are more of a blood sucking leech with
there hands in your pocket.When they are needed to pay the bill,
you have to take them to court.

[hungry1968-17]

by DaVicar8 October 30, 2009 9:58 AM EDT
"you think that the health care system in this country that takes BILLIONS and GIVES it to insurance companies, is better than using those BILLIONS on actual medical procedures FOR PEOPLE?"



Duh, Hungry...are you forgetting about the BILLIONS that the insurance companies PAY OUT to their customers for medical care?






Yeah great.

They take 37% of ALL MONEY MARKED FOR HEALTH CARE, and KEEP it for themselves.

The way I see it, if there's a trillion dollars for health care, $370 BILLION of it should not go to the Ponzi Scheme known as "insurance".

[jokr8790]

For the amount of money the health insurance industry and the chamber of commerce spent in trying to defeat the public option in health care they could have probably provided health insurance to every man, woman and child in the US w/o co-pays and deductibles.

[hungry1968-17]

"I don't know how we're going to do these medical bills," Hugh Estlinbaum said. "I have no idea."






You're going to have to follow the republicans plan: file bankruptcy, lose everything you own, and give up everything that you've worked so hard for, over the course of your entire life.

Why do republicans hate REAL AMERICANS so much?

[DaVicar8]

The Democrat plan is much better...get everything for free, and continue living your life on the public dole.

[hungry1968-17]

So Vic - you think that the health care system in this country that takes BILLIONS and GIVES it to insurance companies, is better than using those BILLIONS on actual medical procedures FOR PEOPLE?

[DawnBroderick40]

The very concept of a lifetime cap is ridiculous. A child gets cancer and their lives are ruined with medical insurance? Whoever came up with that is an idiot. Although I'm very glad to live in a state that cannot deny you coverage or disallow a pre-existing medical condition, I can't imagine what other people go through who don't have that protection.

Insurance companies almost killed a child of mine once with their denials. There is no love lost between them and me. If these companies would insure people for preventative care and encourage wellness (some of them are starting to come around), like offering lower premiums for healthier people, things could get better. More than 10% overweight? Pay more. Smoke? Then you should pay more. Those who indulge in these dangerous behaviors will whine and moan about how unfair it is. No it's not. You cost us more and you should pay more. Just like car insurance. Have an accident? Pay more.

[jokr8790]

Boy I'm so glad we live in America and don't have a government run health system to take away our freedom to die in poverty. We should be proud of ourselves that we are so unique, not like them French people or Canadians who will never have that freedom and luxury of being Americans and giving our hard earned wages so insurance company CEOs can live in obscene luxury while ordinary working people can experience the thrill and freedom of going into bankruptcy.

[COLORADOGRANDMA]

PLEASE PRESIDENT OBAMA PAY ATTENTION!!!

[COLORADOGRANDMA]

I HOPE OUR PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS SEES THE VIDEOS AND THE STURGLE THE ESTLINBAUMS ARE FACING WITH A SICK CHILD AND BIG MEDICAL BILLS AND FUTURE INSUREANCE PROBLEMS. AND FUTURE HEALTH PROBLEMS. HUGH LOOKS LIKE HE HAS AGED 10 YEARS IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS. LIZ LOOKS TIRED. LIZ IS MY DAUGHTER AND HUGH MY SON-IN LAW TONY SAMANTHA AND ZAK MY GRANDCHILDREN.

[cattlekate1]

Thank you for your post, Grandma. I do wish your family well. Thank you CBS for covering this story. The story should include the stress the bills and EOB statements cause. I cannot imagine how it must be to walk to the mailbox and open each bill - and not knowing when they will stop.

Our system is so piece-meal and convoluted. Only the wealthiest, and the poorest on Medicaid, as well as seniors on Medicare, have the freedom to not worry about the bills and losing everything they have ever worked for when they or a loved one is sick.

[flires]

Obama's Katrina-

A few years ago we the United States experienced the devastation of Katrina where a few thousand people died. The democrats were all over FEMA and the Bush administration's so called failure for being late a few days in an area where people were told to evacuate.

Today, thousands continue to die because of the inability of the government to approve and distribute the N1H1 vaccine quickly enough, even tough the vaccine has already been developed. Where is the outrage now? Thousands are still dying and a lot more will die before this will be over. The media doesn't seem to care now that Obama is the president. Shouldn't this be Obama's "Katrina" failure?

[jwesel1]

Wow!! You're so desperate for a Katrina like event that you wish that people start dying.

[DaVicar8]

"Thousands are still dying and a lot more will die before this will be over."



Dying is usually a result of how sick one is, not how much insurance they have.

[skepticalJM]

The Patient lived but ended up impoverished! It's the disgrace that capitalism created; you can't reconcile a system that embodies "Only I count" with the purpose of society, which exists to minimize the downside of human existence. We have to begin to see the contradiction here, and begin to correct the deficiencies that this perverted economy has created. The gambler's mentality of Capitalism has to be shown for exactly what it is: our own greedy stupidity.