A message from AJ Markow who lost an eight month old child called Bennett four years ago, and was then faced with the nightmare of complicated and exorbitant bills, while grieving.
Markow is now pushing for a Nevada legislative bill which would make revisions governing Medicaid eligibility and enrollment for certain infants.
"SB 138 means meaningful change for infants in the NICU. Simplifying the process to access Medicaid benefits can have a great impact.
Many are unaware of the criteria and do not realize their infant qualifies.
SB 138 makes the path to coverage easier.
Our baby, B, was born weighing under a pound. We both make decent salaries and never considered he was eligible when the social worker dropped off Medicaid paperwork. He was covered under my wife’s insurance, so it didn’t seem necessary.
Especially considering our focus was on B and hoping with all our hearts he would survive. Until you are in the stress and trauma of a situation like this, you have no idea what your baby may require and the great effect this coverage has.
Reading the paperwork and learning that his low birth weight would qualify him based on SSI Disability criteria was far from our minds. We spent our time trying to find any moment to be near B and love him.
Then, B needed an emergency flight to UC Davis. We were assured the flight was covered and were told to head to Sacramento. It was not.
The bill was over $70k. We had no idea how we would pay but our only focus was his health and the potential negative outcome. If he had Medicaid prior to this, it would have been covered and a huge stressor gone.
At Davis he got Medicaid. We learned that we could apply to have his coverage backdated, but despite countless hours on the phone over the course of several months it never happened. It was too difficult.
We lost B after just 8 months. The entire time he was at Renown or UC Davis and the entire time, we fought, and stressed over calls with insurance and Medicaid/SSI to no avail. We fought several months after his death and still nothing. That time was so precious. It could have been spent caring and loving on B. It could have been spent taking care of each other as we grieved. SB 138 will prevent this from being one more trauma families face and prevent that time from being stolen.
Please pass SB 138.
We're hoping to get this bill as much attention as we can to garner positive public support and comments to make sure this bill gets passed."
Photos provided previously by the family. The primary sponsor for the bill is Senator Nicole J. Cannizzaro.