I went through the envelopes one at a time, right there in that waiting room.
I’m not a lawyer or an accountant. I’m a woman who’s made lattes for eleven years. But I raised three kids and buried a husband, and I’ve fought with enough insurance companies to know when somebody’s trying to take advantage.
The first envelope was from the medical center’s patient accounts office: an “Estimate of Patient Responsibility” for Elijah Thibodeau. ICU care was running about $13,800 a day. He’d been there four days, and there was a line for “Self-Pay Balance.”
“He doesn’t have insurance?” I asked.
Bernadette shook her head. “He was on MaineCare when Danielle was alive. That’s the state insurance for kids. But when he came to live with me, there was some paperwork. I didn’t understand it. They sent a letter saying his coverage ended.” She wiped her eyes. “I meant to fix it. I just didn’t know how.”
The second envelope was worse. It came from a collection agency in Portland called Coastal Recovery Services. They were demanding $31,240.17 for “the outstanding medical balance of Danielle M. Thibodeau, deceased.” It was addressed to Bernadette, and it said: “As next of kin, you may be responsible for this obligation. Failure to respond may result in further collection action.”
“They’ve been calling me for two years,” Bernadette said. “Every week. Eli told me not to answer, but I worry. He’s been paying them fifty dollars a month out of his lumberyard money so they’ll stop calling.”
My hands went cold.
“Bernadette, did Danielle leave anything when she died? A house? A bank account?”
“She rented a trailer in Hermon. She had about four hundred dollars in the bank and her car. That’s all.” She hesitated. “And a little life insurance policy through Walmart. Twenty-five thousand dollars. The probate court put it in a special account for Eli. Nobody can touch it until he’s eighteen. A lawyer helped me set it up for free, through Pine Tree Legal.”
The third envelope was the one that made me want to throw something.
It came from an insurance company called Granite State Mutual and was addressed to “The Guardian of Elijah Thibodeau.” Inside was a two-page letter and a single-page form titled “Full and Final Release of All Claims.”
The letter said that Granite State Mutual insured a commercial delivery truck owned by North Woods Freight LLC of Old Town, Maine. It said the truck had been “involved in” the accident on Route 9 on Monday night. It offered “$15,000 as a full and final settlement of any and all claims arising from the incident, in exchange for a signed release,” and it said the offer would expire in ten days.
At the bottom of the release form, there was a line for Bernadette’s signature.
“A man from the insurance company called yesterday,” Bernadette said. “Very nice. He said fifteen thousand dollars would help with the hospital bills. He said I should sign it quick, before the offer ran out.” She looked at me with frightened eyes. “Should I sign it? Fifteen thousand dollars is so much money.”
I looked at the form, then at the hospital estimate showing $13,800 a day.
“Bernadette,” I said, “don’t sign anything. Not one thing. Not until we talk to a lawyer.”
Sophia Rivers is an experienced News Content Editor with a sharp eye for detail and a passion for delivering accurate and engaging news stories. At TheArchivists, she specializes in curating, editing, and presenting news content that informs and resonates with a global audience.
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