A Winnipeg mother says she and her teenage son are finally on their way home after spending more than six weeks stranded in Spain following a medical emergency that turned into what she describes as a battle with their travel insurance company.
Christy Anderson said Wednesday that her son, 17-year-old Riley, was discharged from hospital in Manresa, Spain, after being treated for a severe lung infection that left him hospitalized for weeks during a Grade 12 school trip.
Questions over insurance coverage
Anderson said she purchased travel medical insurance before the trip, but claims the company has still not confirmed whether Riley’s medical bills will ultimately be covered.
According to Anderson, she was required to sign documents agreeing she could be personally responsible for medical costs if the insurer later determined Riley was not eligible under the policy.
She says while doctors in Spain cleared Riley to travel by air ambulance more than two weeks ago, she alleges the insurance company she is dealing with repeatedly delayed decisions about coverage and denied requests to return home.
“We have been in contact with the insurance company almost daily, literally begging them to bring him home so that he can get back to school and finish his grade 12 year,” said Anderson in an update. “In the meantime, we had to stay locked away in the hospital in hopes of negotiating a bed-to-bed transfer with the insurance company, even though the doctors in Spain were ready to place Riley in an outpatient situation a couple of weeks ago because he was finally stable. We remained prisoners to an insurance policy while the company delayed and continued denying our requests for medical evacuation.”
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Concerns over medical evacuation
Anderson alleges the insurance company delayed approving transportation because the safest option for Riley, an air ambulance, would be “cost-prohibitive.”
She says the outstanding health issue they were waiting to resolve may never resolve naturally on its own, and Riley will likely need another surgery in the coming months.
“Even still, while I still had some faith that they might do the right thing, they forced me to sign a waiver that claimed I could be ‘on the hook’ for an air ambulance at the cost of $130,000 USD or more, if they would ever deem him ‘stable’ by their standards and arrange for this form of transportation,” said Anderson.
“There is no world in which I could ever pay for that flight-it would destroy me.”
Travelling home by land and sea
Instead, Anderson says the pair have now begun a lengthy trip home by train and cruise ship to keep Riley at sea level while his lung continues to heal.
The family left Barcelona Wednesday and plans to travel through Paris and London before boarding a transatlantic cruise from Southampton to New York City.
From there, they plan to continue by train through Toronto before eventually returning to Winnipeg by Via Rail.
Anderson says they expect to be travelling until June 1 with the goal of getting Riley home in time for his Grade 12 graduation.
“We can’t wait to get back to the life, the people, and the city that we love,” said Anderson. “We absolutely could not have done this without your support.”
With expenses mounting, a friend of Anderson’s set up a GoFundMe campaign to help support the family during their extended stay abroad.
Anderson is asking for continued support and prayers as they make their journey home.