Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170362
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Travelers Insurance Co. is putting the aspiring teacher back on the health insurance policy she left after graduating from college last May, Dave Wert, her father, said.
That means the Werts won't be on their own when it comes to paying for the operation Kelly is now scheduled to undergo in three weeks. Her dilemma was profiled in the Feb. 3 edition of Neighbors.
Kelly Wert needs surgery to correct a movement disorder that worsened last fall.
The disorder causes Wert's right arm to jerk uncontrollably if she doesn't constantly hold it down and has exhausted her and made employment an impossibility.
Until recently, 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.
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.
Dave Wert and Lenore Jackson, a fund-raiser, said they are not scheduling anymore benefits because the insurance has been restored. The efforts garnered more than $20,000 before a Feb. 6 dinner at Christiansburg High School.
Jackson said money from the fund, held at First National Bank of Christiansburg, will be used only for Kelly's medical expenses and the family's travel expenses to and from New York University Medical Center.
Even with the coverage, though, 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.
Once the medical expenses have been covered, fund organizers will have to decide what to do with any balance, Jackson said.
Meanwhile, Vickie and Dave Wert pursued restoring their daughter's coverage under Travelers. On Jan. 19, Vickie Wert said, the company notified them that it was denying coverage.
But now, after study by the company's medical review board, Traveler's has 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.
by CNB