
She Paid Her Husband’s Hospital Bill. A Year After His Death They Wanted More
“The insurer had paid more than it owed, meaning the health system had to reimburse the insurer and charge the patient more.”
Last summer, Eloise Reynolds paid the bill for her husband’s final stay in the hospital.
In February 2022, doctors said that Kent, her husband of 33 years, was too weak for the routine chemotherapy that had kept his colon cancer at bay since 2018. He was admitted to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, not far from their home in Olivette, Missouri.
Doctors discovered a partial blockage of his bowel, Reynolds said, but she remained hopeful that his treatment would soon resume.
“I remember calling our kids and saying, ‘OK, this is all really good news. We just need to get him kind of bolstered back up and feeling well,'” she said.