Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994 TAG: 9402080254
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Travelers Insurance Co. is putting the aspiring teacher back on the health insurance policy she left upon graduating from college last May, Dave Wert, her father, said Monday.
That means the Werts won't be on their own when it comes to paying for the operation Kelly is scheduled to undergo in three weeks.
Dave Wert and fund organizer Lenore Jackson wanted donors to know about the restoration of insurance coverage as soon as possible. The effort had raised more than $20,000 before the benefit dinner Sunday night at Christiansburg High School. A tally from that event was unavailable Monday.
Jackson said money from the fund, held at First National Bank of Christiansburg, will only be used for Kelly's medical expenses and the family's travel expenses to and from New York University Medical Center.
Once the medical expenses have been covered, fund organizers will have to decide what to do with any remaining balance, Jackson said. The bank has kept records of the donations, she said, and refunds or donations to another charity are possibilities.
Even with the coverage, the Werts will have to pay thousands of dollars to cover a 20 percent co-insurance payment. Moreover, they expect the final bill to be higher than the estimate of $44,000.
Kelly Wert needs surgery to correct a movement disorder that worsened last fall.
Until the weekend, Wert had been trapped in the pre-existing condition dilemma: She'd obtained a new, short-term health insurance policy after graduation, but it didn't cover treatment of the movement disorder, which a neurologist first diagnosed nine years ago.
The disorder - Wert's right arm will jerk uncontrollably if she doesn't constantly hold it down - has exhausted her and made employment an impossibility.
Because the hospital required a down payment of $12,000 and payment of the balance within six months of surgery, family friends organized a fund-raising drive to defray those costs.
Meanwhile, Vickie and Dave Wert pursued restoring Kelly's coverage under Travelers. On Jan. 19, the company denied coverage.
But, after study by the company's medical review board, Traveler's restored Kelly Wert's coverage as a dependent.
"We're real glad that the insurance came through, but we never expected it to," Dave Wert said.
Last month, Vickie Wert said even if the insurance came through, the donations would help. "We're hoping [Kelly] can get the surgery, go back to work and not be saddled with hospital bills for the rest of her life," she said.
by CNB