A California couple is celebrating today after winning a battle over insurance coverage for their toddler’s heart surgery.
Briggette and Johan Schilling’s 14-month-old daughter, Aria, was born with a hole in her heart and a deformed valve. The girl was scheduled to have open-heart surgery Oct. 11 at Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland. But Western Health Advantage, the family’s insurance provider, denied coverage for the surgery since the hospital and cardiologist were out of network.
The Schillings tried to appeal the insurance company’s decision but were denied. So they took their case to California’s Department of Managed Health Care, KXTV reported, and found out Friday that an independent review panel took their side and overturned the denial.
“It was surreal,” Johan Schilling told KXTV of the moment he heard the news. “I actually had to pull off on the side of the freeway, and I was crying because it was a tremendous sense of relief.”
“It was a tough road, a long, tough road,” Briggette Schilling told KXTV. “But it made me realize that we shouldn’t have stopped.”
Source: Yahoo News
