Having a high-risk pregnancy and no medical coverage is a clear recipe for disaster. Latisha was doing everything that was required of her, or so she thought, to deliver her baby safely earlier this year.

“My pregnancy was complicated, so I went on medical leave before having my baby. I was on bed rest and attending all my doctors’ appointments to make sure my baby was ok. Two months before I delivered my baby, I learned that my insurance was canceled,” she stated.

Latisha worked at the United States Postal Service in Miami for over three years. Nobody at her work or in her union could explain clearly to her what had happened with her insurance.  At that point in her pregnancy, she couldn’t change providers; she started to panic. “I immediately applied for Medicaid, but my OBGYN doesn’t accept that, so I was able to make an arrangement to pay 200 dollars per visit, but it got costly very quickly, so I couldn’t pay”.

After delivering her baby Latisha learned that she owes $12,000 dollars to her OB-GYN’s private practice. This medical debt is the source of high anxiety and stress for her and her family. After multiple calls and follow-ups with her employer and union, she finally learned that because she was on medical leave and not working full-time, she was not longer eligible for her employer-sponsored medical insurance. “This could all have been avoided if I received the right information. I feel like everyone failed me. Instead of helping me with the proper information, I could have applied for FMLA while I was on maternity leave. I’m so disappointed and don’t know what to do. I called the hospital, but they are not able to help me because (my doctor) is a private doctor.”

Latisha has explored all possible options, including trying to get a payment plan for her money owed, but the hospital insists she pay $1,000 per month, an impossible amount for her and her family. “This is all impacting my family life because I’ve been out of work; my partner was the only one working and he was taking care of all expenses; when we were paying $200 for each doctor’s visit, it was taking away from the expenses of our house and our kids; so we had to decide if we were going to buy groceries or pay the medical bill; I don’t want to be sued for that money.”

Having medical debt adds layers of stress and directly affects the wellbeing of many families. Close to 100 million people in the U.S. have medical debt, and most cases of bankruptcy are due to medical debt. One essential step to limiting medical debt in Florida is for the state to expand Medicaid. Doing so would give 400,000 uninsured Floridians access to coverage. To learn more, see here.