The medical costs of the month story that Early Morning Edition brought you last Monday– half a million dollars for kidney dialysis– has actually been decreased to absolutely no by the business that owns the dialysis center.



STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

All right. We informed you one week ago about a Montana guy, Sov Valentine, who got a costs of over half a million dollars for 14 weeks of kidney dialysis. His costs was decreased by half by the time of our broadcast. Now he’s gotten a lot more great news. Kevin Trevellyan of Montana Public Radio has the story.

KEVIN TREVELLYAN, BYLINE: Late recently, after reports on NPR and CBS, Fresenius, the dialysis business that sent out Sov Valentine the costs, stated they would waive it. He owes absolutely nothing. Valentine is a 50- year-old individual fitness instructor who all of a sudden established kidney failure in January. He stated he felt relief at the news.

SOV VALENTINE: It seemed like a triumph. You understand? It felt exemplary.

TREVELLYAN: However there was likewise aggravation that he needed to deal with prospective personal bankruptcy while battling a dangerous illness.

VALENTINE: So it simply felt actually incorrect from the very start. You understand, like, when individuals – when there’s a cyclone, and they attempt to offer water for $10 a gallon and this type of things?

TREVELLYAN: The substantial costs originated from treatment Valentine got at an out-of-network Fresenius center in Missoula, 70 miles from his house in rural Montana. He and his partner, Jessica, who is a medical professional, stated they had actually been informed by their insurance company that there were no in-network centers in the whole state. The insurance company now states that was a misconception. The Valentines were bracing for a costs, however nobody might inform them just how much it would cost. Then the costs came.

VALENTINE: It was simply boom – $140,000, $145,000 And after that a month and a half or two later on, boom – $540,000 And they desired it in 10 days and had actually currently begun sending us collection notifications.

TREVELLYAN: A Fresenius spokesperson stated the business waved Valentine’s costs since he need to have been dealt with as in-network from the start, and it is working out with Valentine’s insurer now. However Valentine states that’s backpedaling.

VALENTINE: You understand, it’s a slap in the face ’cause we were researching and talking with them, and Jessica would be on the phone for 4 hours at a time on her day of rests.

TREVELLYAN: Now Valentine is getting ready for a kidney transplant. There’s very little he would do in a different way following his billing experience. He felt he dotted all his i’s and crossed all his t’s from the start. For NPR News, I’m Kevin Trevellyan in Missoula, Mont.

INSKEEP: Our Costs of the Month section is produced in cooperation with Kaiser Health News.

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