Kim's Story - Setting The Record Straight

Paying the rent had never been a problem for 28 year-old twin sisters, Kim and Karen, until Kim was laid off from her job at the local lumber company and they had to survive on Karen’s salary alone.

Unwilling to ask their disabled father for help, the girls trimmed their budget to the bone, while Kim looked for a new job. And their plan was working—the girls were squeaking by—until Kim woke up in the middle of the night with severe abdominal pain and the reality that she had no health insurance to pay for medical care.

Terrified by the prospect of running up huge medical bills, Kim refused to go to the emergency room, until after Karen called the hospital, explained their financial plight, and was assured that Kim would be eligible for financial aid.

The ER was a blur of tests, paperwork and painkillers, resulting in an inconclusive diagnosis, but, blessedly, an end to Kim’s pain. As instructed, the sisters filled out the application for financial aid, and thought that was the end of it. So imagine their surprise when a month later, they received a letter from the hospital denying their request for aid, accompanied by a bill for over $11,000.

Repeated letters and phone calls to the hospital had no effect. Then, the notice arrived saying the bill had been sent to collections. In desperation, the girls called the Oregon Healthcare Helpline, which is staffed by Health Advocacy Solutions.

Convinced that there must be some kind of billing department error, HAS agreed to take on the case. As suspected, they discovered that Kim’s ER room visit had been miscoded, and that was why she had been denied financial aid. Over the next 6 weeks, HAS advocated to get the coding error corrected and the collections process stopped.

End result: A $11,000 medical bill which would have ruined Kim’s credit and pushed the sisters over the financial edge was reduced to $0—thanks to HAS and the compassionate donors whose gifts help support advocacy services for clients in extreme financial need.