Advocate resolves medical debt for mother of three

When Jenna was pregnant with her third child, she received startling news. The hospital where she was to deliver her baby said she owed $6,000, and her insurance company was refusing to pay it.

Jenna worked with her husband at a dry cleaners, but the unexpected medical bill was more than they could manage. A social worker at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center suggested Jenna meet with an attorney at the center’s Medical Legal Partnership.

“I didn’t know there were lawyers there,” Jenna said. Even more surprising was that their services were free.

Katie Condon Grace, a staff attorney with MetroWest Legal Services, assured Jenna that the debt wasn’t her fault and she could help her. “It just wasn’t fair. And I knew with the proper intervention, we might be able to get her the correct coverage and help eliminate the medical debt,” Grace said.

Jenna was thrilled. “Everything was solved,” she said. With the legal issue behind her, Jenna was able to focus on raising her three daughters and furthering her education.