How to Survive a NICU stay Financially

My daughter spent over 3 months in the NICU… I will never forget the day, shortly after she was released, when I went to the mail box and saw the WHOLE mailbox was full of hospital bills. I am really not exaggerating!!! I was shocked and a little dumbfounded. I remember having to give myself a little “pep talk” so that I would have enough courage to remove the 6” high pile of envelopes from the mailbox. I went inside and started opening the envelopes… hundreds of thousands of dollars started adding up and so did my anxiety.

Now why have I shared all this with you?

I know that having a child hospitalized is very stressful from many stand points. Once my daughter was released from the hospital and I knew that physically she would be fine, I began to worry about how we would survive this financially.

We did survive financially and I want to share some of the things that I learned with you, and hopefully you can learn something from my experience:

1. My first piece of advice is to take a deep breath… you need to be able to have a clear head in order to sort out your situation.

2. Gather all of your bills together and start a file. Chances are you may be receiving bills from different places like, the hospital, the laboratory, doctors, etc. Separate the bills into folders according to where they come from.

3. See if you qualify for any financial aid. Apply for Medicaid. If you don’t qualify for Medicaid the hospital has a Financial Assistance Program. You will need to turn in a copy of your Medicaid denial letter in order to apply for the hospital’s assistance, so start by applying for Medicaid. The hospital also has financial eligibility counselors who can give you forms and walk you through this process. (The eligibility counselor has a desk right next to admitting)

4. If you have a balance that you owe the hospital set up a payment plan. . If you can only afford to pay $20 a month, set up a plan to pay $20 a month.

5. The key to surviving this process is to be proactive. Don’t ignore the bills or stop opening the mail… this will only make things worse. If the hospital knows that you are making an effort to pay, your bill will not be sent to collections.

All my best,
Lori