RedReact:

If you hadn't said you weren't a medical personnel, would have said you were telling my story.
Just what happened to us. Despite wife being a medical personnel, she was just crying around.
Seeing a little one subject to such pain is something one would never wish for his/her enemy.

May God keep and bless those children. Parental waka is not a small thing .

your wife is me. I cried like no man’s business. My husband kept telling me he was going to be fine, but seeing my little boy hooked up to monitors and IVs and tubes really broke my spirit. I expected same with my second child cos they’ve told me to expect it, but it still didn’t make it any easier. May God keep these kids safe for us.

gingalady:


Yes dear, I know EVERYTHING there is to know. I am a medical person too and this was blood group incompatibility cos I'm blood group O and he is B. My daughter had it too and few days exposure to sunlight and very frequent feeding she passed the bilirubin out.

Thank God you do. My kids had the same issue as yours. ABO incompatibility due to blood type incompatibility. I’m blood type O and the kids are B (compliments of my husband)

I’m not a medical personel but I had to learn as much as I can about the subject because it caused me a lot of grief. My first son had to get airlifted by Medical helicopter to a children’s hospital two hours from us because his jaundice levels at 2days old was 21! These kinds of jaundice does not go down fast enough on his own without medical intervention. And by the time it goes down enough kernicterus and brain yellowing/damage might have occurred? Should we take that risk to save on cash? I personally wouldn’t. But maybe that’s just me. I won’t ever advise anybody who’s kid has jaundice to take them home unless the doctor okays it. And I’ll tell them to make sure they’re being monitored closely by a pediatrician. Maybe I’m just too paranoid and lily livered Sha

gingalady:
Hello... Long Post alert on missionary journey
I had earlier shared my Visa application story and POE details

We (my 20 month old daughter and I) arrived Canada on the 25th of Jan. We stayed with a family friend in Mississauga

First was getting a hospital and doc to birth the baby, my host drove me to credit Valley which was the closest to us but their fee was CAD 4000/ night for mum and CAD 2800/night for baby.
We headed off to Oakville (Trafalgar memorial hospital) and their fee was CAD 3800/night for mother and CAD 2860/night for baby.

I had already called Scarbrough medical and gotten their bill which was CAD 1800/night for mother and CAD600/night for baby but it was quite a distance from me so we decided to head to Brampton Civic hospital

The lady at the registration desk was super friendly and helped me collate all doctors that take cash and international patients so I called them to get their fees.

I finally decided to go with doctor Nayla Khan, her office was just beside the hospital in the same building with Doc Ayodele
Her fee was CAD 3500 (normal delivery or CS) fee was Including all prenatal visits, delivery, epidural, pediatrician and post delivery visit. You pay this full amount at first visit. She however did not accept my tests from Nigeria so I had to redo them again at Dynacare lab and that cost me CAD67. She saw me every week till delivery since I came in at 34 weeks.

I had my baby on the 5th of March by Csection and it was a very fast and painless sugery. I had begged her to acess me after surgery and let me go after 24 hours and she agreed.
12 hours after birth my baby was jaundiced and they insisted he had to be taken to NICU. My heart sunk!! He was in NICU for 2 days but I was discharged after 24 hours and was given a complementary room in the NICU unit for the rest of the 2 days so I didn't have to pay for that.

I applied for the 4 in 1 birth certificate bundle for CAD 60 which arrived after 10 working days, I made a mistake on the form so it took longer to process.

We applied for the expedited passport and got it the next day. Thank God for Hotstepper who was very ready to guarantee me even though she had never met me before.

My contact at immigration proceseed the Visa On Arrival for baby and sent approval letter same day. Reach out if you need help with this

We have added baby to our ticket and are leaving this weekend.

Summery
Hospital 2000/night mother and 2500/night baby because he was in NICU
Doc: 3500
Dynacare: 67
Birth certificate: Long and Short: 60
Passport(expedited): 107
Transport to and fro Brampton: 150
Circumsion: 175
Baby ticket: 77

Overall, it's been an amazing journey. I just wished they treated jaundice with less severity cos it eventually wears out on it's own. So baby alone cost me CAD5000 but he is hale and hearty
So choose a hospital close and cheapest to you to accomodate unforeseen expenses. Thank God it ended in Praise

Concerning the bolded part, please don’t say that again sister. If you know the damage jaundice causes you will willingly allow them to keep your child as long as they can.

Both my babies stayed in the NICU for at least two weeks due to extreme jaundice! Instead of it to wear down as you said it would it kept jumping up until it peaked and eventually SLOWLY started going down. Jaundice can be deadly, depending on which type it is and cause kernicterus and trust me when I say I don’t wish that condition on anybody’s kids. (Google it for more info) The effects of the condition is so sever that eventually someone will wish they had spent the extra money and time at the NICU

NothingDoMe:
Even at that, there's something about this insurance story that doesn't add up.

I don't want to be a killjoy but this story just arrived at a very convenient time.

I am just saying we should be careful. Whenever something is too good to be true then it probably is.

Bloop! In this era of deny visas for any smallest reason.

.

oyin3:
I am not aware of any maternity Insurance for non residence, that you pay 1500 premium.
Its almost non existence, getting insurance for an "existing condition " which pregnancy is considered as...
One we eventually opted for was paid for in full(premium &deductible; $24k) before policy was issued.
However, I might be wrong.

Pregnancy is NOT a preexisting condition anymore. The ACA (Obamacare) got rid of that. Which insurance did you buy that has a premium and deductible of $24K? That’s not insurance anymore. The worst deductible I’ve ever seen is about $5K and those have very very low premiums. As in ridiculously low.

The rule of thumb is, the lower your premium the higher your deductible, the higher your premium the lower your deductible.

Mcaudrey:
Congratulations, I am happy that the TRUTH prevailed.

However, this one that people are now asking for the insurance details rather than pay their bills, I am getting concerned.
why do we just want to keep spoiling things for ourselves.
Once one thing works for someone, others want to follow, next thing now the VOs will start rejecting everyone on insurance.

Haba, let’s think things through before we follow please, if you want to go to their country and they frown at freebies and insurance, just peacefully avoid it.

Let’s not make them to constantly look down on us as a charity case.
We already know they want us to be able to afford and pay up our bills, so let’s do just that.

If they had ran their country the way we run ours, I’m sure it would have been in a bigger mess now.

May God bless you. I meant to talk about this issue of people asking for insurance details and I composed the post like twice but deleted it cos I didn’t want to be attacked or labelled an hater.

Why? Why? Why for the love of God do people think it’s cool to get visa for childbirth get to the US and go and buy insurance of about $1500 and have it cover their bills? Isn’t that fraud? Does that even sound right? People are finding it hard to renew visa with low bills, people here are looking for ways to even compound their woes further by buying insurance. You claimed to have the money for birth during interview, produced account statement and all, yet went to go and buy insurance.

Olamie’s case is different. She had an emergency. Buy the insurance o, and when it’s tine to renew go and explain the reason why you did to the VO. I just tire for my people.

GFavor:


Congratulations Olamie. Yours is truly the case of THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE. You had nothing to hide and it was all in good faith.
Please what private insurance did you use. I am planning to go back with my kids on a studying visa but would like to have an insurance in case will need to take the kids to the hospital. I had both of them in the US. Or can they access health care with their SSN.

Please house any advice?

If you’re going to the US on an F-1 visa, the school most likely will sell you health insurance cos it’s mandatory that international students have health insurance through the course of their studies. Most likely you can put the kids on that insurance. The premiums aren’t that bad too.

jericho2006:
No visa officer believes these stories about complications. No sensible person travels at such an advanced stage of pregnancy unless they are hoping for a medical emergency. The bottom line is that you couldn't pay your bills, and now your ability to fund your international travel and comport yourself correctly are sorely in doubt.

Twoods, is this you? Long time no see. Welcome back. Oshisko PLC

olamie:


Good morning MamaOO.

Please I need your thought on this. I didn't stay beyond 180days.

Is it wrong to obtain an insurance as a non immigrant?

The hospital gave me "uninsured courtesy discount" for the balance not covered by insurance.

Now I have been asked to appear for an interview.

I'm more than worried.

Waiting for your response.

Thanks

Honestly, it’s not looking good. Everything drafrican wrote is true. The biggest red flag I see there is the insurance. I know you got the insurance during open enrollment and all that but truth be told you still cut corners. Massive ones. Correct me if I’m wrong but you’re not resident in the US, don’t work or live there, why are you buying insurance to pay for services that should have been paid for out of pocket? That’s kinda like insurance fraud and some VO might flip out depending on who you meet.

Then the issue of charity taking care of part of the bills and the rest.... it’s just a lot going on. My advise though will be to come clean and not lie during your interview and hopefully you meet a good VO who is ready to listen.

How much was the total you paid out of pocket?

jericho2006:
As for documents, make sure you have:
*all correspondence with the hospital and doctors
*all the billing they gave you, including the breakdown of services and charges
*copies of the flight tickets you purchased and the boarding passes for the airplane
*receipts from the hotel you stayed in and if you rented a car
*a notarized letter from your pastor saying that are a lady of honor and strong faith

Collect all these and organize them neatly in a binder.
Then go to trash heap and throw them all away, because you are never going to get a visa ever again.

Hian! You be God? Or are you a VO?!

maternal:


Only the few elites enjoy those luxuries. But you can say that about every country. Brazil is a 3rd world shithole. Whoever is planning to have their baby there better just stay in naija. This is like someone with one leg bragging about his mobility to someone with no legs. Both are still disabled. Brazil is slightly better than naija, but make no mistakes both are shithole

Please don’t waste your breathe on someone using their alternate account to talk to themselves. I gave up when he/she said Brazil has the best healthcare in the world

Semisolasola:
Busy body,I said what I said your body just dey do you like say make them end birth tourism now now..God pass all of una

No vex, I should have known better than to engage with you, Aunty Sparkle. No vex, you hear?

Pearl05:



Wow, 12 -18 months? With pay? By the time one resume work another one don enter nau. Which country be that please?

Lmfaoo at bolded part . It’s most likely Canada

rabluk:

Thanks mama. Was told same when she had dem at one week. But keeps clearing n coming back. Each time more than the previous. Plus i heard the doc mention to her colleague (when i showed her the white patch) "this is what yorubas call eela" she didn't know i understood yoruba...that's y i got concerned.

You’re right. It might also be eela. My first had it bad and the only thing that got rid of it was agbo eela that my sister had to bring for me. But for now, just watch it, it might only be baby acne.

Liftedhands:
Aww poor child! Please let her skin breathe!! And stop all products. Looks like baby acne which clears on its own after a while. Avoid using hot water and excess clothing too! The heat these days is terrible.

You’re right sis. It’s baby acne and it clears without using any thing. Using any steroid or ointment might actually aggravate it.

rabluk:
Good morning mamas. Please come to my aid. See pix of rashes on baby's face. She's 5weeks plus. Her head also have the dry scaly thing like dandruff. Been using cocnut oil n combing that. But I'm very concerned abt the face especially the whiter part that keeps spreading. Started baby tribotan on doc prescription but it's not changing the whiter part.
Pls sabi mamas advise pls.

From the look of the rashes, it looks like baby acne. My 6 week old has/had it on his face, back and shoulders and his pediatrician initially said it was heat rash. I stopped wearing too many clothes for him and it persisted and that was she we discovered it was baby acne. Leave it alone, it will clear on its on in a few weeks or months. Mine is already almost gone. Adding ointments might aggravate it as it did with my first child.

As per the white flaky substance on the head like dandruff, I would guess and say it’s cradle cap. My first also had it. I tried so many things and what eventually cured it was bathing him with agbo. No kidding. But you can also try some anti cradle cap shampo like Selsun blue, Mustela or the likes. You can also use olive oil to saturate the scalp and tru combing it out gently. Pele.

Semisolasola:
Exactly,she wants to blame us so bad instead of channeling it to the USA govt.all self pay patients get this discounts

Read to understand. Where did I blame you or other self pay patients? I never even appropriated blames, I just pointed out the going rates for childbirth that I know of and if I was to blame anybody, it will be the hospitals but sentiments and bias won’t allow you to understand my post. Smdh

drafrican:
Na wah o

Be like say canada too don cast o
I was hoping they wanted more documents but was wondering why dey returned d passport.

Men Brazil is d new destination but just wondering aint it a third world country too.

Buhari oooo

Maybe we should share application stories to help
Others applying have a better chance.ie was it for holiday,were u applying alone,did u have invite letter,purpose of travel ,travel history etc
Pls lets be kind to those that share ......we can all see d thread is quietly going mute ......

The bolded part.... Brazil is kinda a third world country. I said this the other day and one madam was offended. Smh.

folmus:


Since you work in California, don't you think what you have seen is only peculiar to your company? We've seen people got approve for "some ridiculous low bills"

Not really. We’re contracted through Medi-Cal which is California Medicaid. My company actually pays kinda low compared to health plans in say, LA county because healthcare there is kinda more expensive.

Bear in mind, Medi-Cal administered plans actually don’t pay the providers and practitioners that accept them really well because it’s a government subsidized plan and the money paid out is based on what the government allocates to the health plan per year so a lot of these health plans negotiate the cheapest rates and this leads to why a lot of doctors and hospitals don’t accept patients with these kinds of insurances.

But still the amount paid out is much higher than what I’ve seen quoted here. Much more higher.

Vlesparza:


You said it best, that is YOUR insurance. Not all insurances pay what you think you paid, and Medicaid, which is the benchmark that is used as to what not to bill under, pays even less than the self pay packages that hospital and doctors charge.

I understand how you must feel because you've faithfully been paying your insurance payments only to realize that you could have saved a lot of money just paying out of pocket. If you dont know now how insurance companies in the US "work", Im not surprised that you cant grasp this.

Ultimately you can keep your insurance, pay your premiums, and your deductible, and continue having your babies the way you are doing, this topic is really not for you since you are insured and has nothing to do with you.

Respectfully, you don’t get to decide who this topic is for and not for. This is the World Wide Web and a free forum, hence anybody is free to talk, including myself.

The topic under debate is whether some hospitals pass on payment for these childbirth to Medicaid or not because of some ridiculously low bills that we’ve been seeing and causing innocent people to get denied initial or subsequent visas which is absolutely no fault of theirs.

Yes, not all insurances pay whatever rate my insurance negotiated with my healthcare providers but I’ve said it several times here, I work for a medical insurance company who are contracted under Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid) and I have seen claims for OB services and childbirth, I know what Medicaid pays and it’s not as low as what I’ve seen here.

I would understand your stance tho, you also provide childbirth/medical services and would defend your charges.

Vlesparza:


It's not a loss, the hospital simply bills you the amount that some insurance companies and Medicaid would have paid them if the patient would have applied for this (hospitals don't lose money). The only difference is the hospital now gets it up front (without risk).

Do you really think that the hospital gets paid $30,000 if insurance companies or Medicaid bill that amount?!? LOL.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeDOQpfaUc8

Of course not. They don’t get paid $30K. But neither do they get paid $2500 too! My deductible and co-insurance itself was almost, it not more than $2500. And that’s me with insurance. So how come self pay patients pay what I pay as my patient portion even after insurance has paid their part? How are the hospitals breaking even?

Here’s a screenshot from my insurance portal, to put things in better perspective for you.

Omosholape80:
They actually have a way of getting the discounted rate back from the government. My friend who works in the hospital confirmed this to me. Guess that's why they are more particular about the discount and the honest ones who won't probably have very high price even for self paid.

I’ve heard same too. I honestly don’t know how cheap hospital services are for them to charge $2500, $3500 for birth. I just had an uncomplicated, uneventful and induced childbirth and my insurance was billed $33K. Insurance eventually paid about $19K because of their prior negotiated rates I think. $19K and $3500 is a huge, huge discount, IMO. So something is fishy about the hospital charging super low rates, methinks.

OmoBendel24:


Agent number 3 says "you are an he-goat Azuh"! How dare you list these names in your madness? Seye, MamaOO and LadyG? These are people I've not met them but can stake my very self for them as far as this thread is concerned irrespective of whatever shortcomings your mind ministers to you.... Oga, you are a goat and a big time saboteur! This thread will outlive you oh. Taah!!!

Bro, Abeg leave that guy. He has serious underlying issues that’s yet to be identified

AZUH:
oga you and LadyG should stop posting trash please , how can you deceive people like this ?now you are suggesting to him what to do ...... how can you tell people that account statement is not important applying for USA visa ?i have lived with white all my life , they take things easy if they do not ask mr A for his account statement does not mean they will not ask MR B . please before you post .think .

who let you out? Orisirisi. Now you’re living with whites? Wetin we no go see for NL

vibrant99:
This is the truth...

1. Helping out doesn't make you an agent!
2. Some Rejections could be so grave it breaks the person down, it equally affects the person who had helped out.
3. One thing is probably certain with US visa, Rejection could come if what you are going for is still way ahead ... in a case where you will attend a function in September and you applied in February, a rejection is very possible.
4. They have a quota to give out each day, you may fall in the wrong time.
5. Most of the time when you get a rejection without any probable reason given or any thing visibly wrong situation anywhere, allow some time before you apply again, don't rush it .
6. It is not like getting a rejection is the end of the world, but having to go through the processes again is tiring for most people.
7. Most people on this thread react a little to harsh and compelling to issues that is raised by a member, we are having this issues together and the way out could be to make everyone feel good at some point, lets continue to be nice to each other around here.

At this point, I give up! Where do you get all these “alternative” facts? You work for USCIS? The person that had a hunch that you’re an agent is spot on, I suspected same. But by all means, carry on.

jamesbridget13:
pls ma help me confirm Tylenol dosage. I just took one tablet. It was my girl that went to get it n d nurse didn't write d dosage, she was already running late for school so i asked her to be going. Pls confirm dosage asap.

Any other mama can also help me confirm dosage for Tylenol pls

I usually take 2 caplets of the extra strength Tylenol every 6-8 hours.

jamesbridget13:
Hello mamas. Is there anyone that can respond to me? Would be very grateful

I complained of having boil here. This boil has really dealt with me especially for d fact that it's in my vj.
My problem now is my nurse that has been treating me from d start gave me ibuprofen to ease d pain. I already took a dose this evening before i decided to check what google has to say about it. I am 33wks gone n so afraid right now though a nurse administered it.

Pls mothers from experience has anyone had any cause to take ibuprofen in ur last trimester? If yes, i hope it didn't harm ur baby?


We will carry our babies in our arms in Jesus name, amen

Ibuprofen is not safe in pregnancy, especially in the third trimester. Acetaminophen is the safe option during pregnancy, I took Tylenol all through my pregnancy because of severe headache. My doctor okayed it but told me to stay away from Motirin, Advil and the likes cos it contains ibuprofen

blue355:


they closed it because the account was dormant and they sent KYC forms to the US addy and got no reply
i'm in naija now. will it be possible to open an account in wells fargo, without being there in person

I don’t think it’s possible to open an account without being present since you’re non-resident in the US. If you were a US citizen or a green card holder, some banks allow you to open account online. But I don’t think that will apply to you. Best best is to hold on to the check until you have time to come to the US, open an account and deposit it in there.

blue355:
Please Mamas please I need some advice.
the account i opened in BOA when i gave birth in 2016 was shut down this year(2019) and all the money(cheque) sent in a mail. I also used the account in 2017 when i had my 2nd LO.
i have tried to reopen the account but BOA has refused.
how do I get my money back?

NB: Nigerian banks dont allow deposit of foreign cheque

What was the reason given to you as per why the account was shut down? Generally, a bank won’t allow you to reopen an account with them if you had an account that was shut down previously depending on what the reason was. Sometimes for as long as 7 years.

You can try opening another account with Wells Fargo, they’re more lenient with the docs needed to open an account especially for non resident aliens.

.