San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Alexis Joel Hernández, a Puerto Rican medical student who suffered severe burns while studying in Mexico, is asking for help to pay a $ 1.7 million medical bill for treatments received at Brooke Army Medical Center military hospital in San Antonio (Texas, USA) that his insurer does not pay.
the Calvary of Hernandez begin on January 19, 2019, when before starting his medical studies at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara he went to light a heater in the courtyard of the apartment he rented, when due to a gas leak exploded, as he recalls this Friday in Efe.
“It was the first time I used the heater, because it was my first day in the apartment. I tried to sink the heater and it exploded,” Hernandez recounted.
The explosion caused Hernandez’s head to collide with the heater and skate second and third degree burns in 70% of your body.
He never lost consciousness
Despite this, Hernandez said, he never lost consciousness. “I was always aware and I remember almost everything that happened“, He said.
“If the heater had been inside the apartment, it wouldn’t have survived,” he argued.
After the outbreak, several of Hernández’s neighbors, including other Puerto Ricans who were also beginning their university studies in medicine, helped him.
“I did what I could to get out of the apartment, until I managed to jump a wall. A neighbor who listened to my footsteps and punches was the first to help me“Before other comrades managed to rescue me,” he said.
“I really didn’t understand he was on fire and I don’t know how he went out,” he added.
After these people helped Hernandez, they contacted medical personnel to take him to the nearest hospital, Where he was induced into a coma.
Mexican hospital was not ready to treat him
“The hospital in Mexico was not ready to attend to a case like mine. I did not have the resources to attend to me and the doctors recommended that I be transferred,” he abounded.
Hernandez was transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center military hospital in San Antonio (Texas, USA) to continue their treatment.
He recalled that his parents wanted him to be moved to Puerto Rico, but that the nearest hospital that could handle his case was the one in San Antonio, so the island’s Department of Health, through the local government , was in charge of doing all the paperwork.
Twenty days in a coma
“I was in a coma for almost 20 days and when I left I didn’t react or wake up. It was a very worrying situation. Then I gave signs of life, ”he explained.
“My first memory was seeing a nurse looking at me and my parents with me. I knew what had happened to me, but I was confused. I didn’t know where I was and I started saying I had to pay for the internet and I had to call a business because they brought a dryer, ”he said.
“Just holding on to the pain I felt is a miracle“Said Hernandez, who was incarcerated for seven months in a military hospital until he returned to port Ric.
During his seven months in the military hospital, Hernandez was operated on 19 times. The first operation cost $ 100,000 and the second $ 120,000.
However, on his return to his homeland, he began another ordeal when in December 2020 he received the first bill for his $ 1.3 million treatments.
According to Hernández, he had until April of this year “to reach an agreement with the hospital to pay“But the deal was to pay $ 35,000 a month for three years and pay off the debt and get in touch with your health insurance, at that time First doctor, Which refused to face the sum.
“I did my best to contact health insurance and, for being a military hospital, as the debt was carried to the U.S. Treasury Department, ”he lamented.
At that time the Corporation of the State Insurance Fund to agree with Hernandez to cover the physical therapies to him, Although later the Governing Board of the public corporation did not approve the agreement.
“They never explained to me why they refused,” he said.
The bill reached $ 1.7 million for surcharge, Indicated Hernandez.
“What I find unfair is that the health insurance tells me I had no coverage after I received the bill,” he said.
“I feel like they’re going to be unfair, because they had to be more honest with me. There were hundreds of times I tried to contact them and the times I wanted to talk to them and they told me yes they were going to cover me, but it wasn’t like that. They were not transparent, “he added.
Hernandez then chose to apply for the Vital Health Plan of the Government of Puerto RicoBut as he assured “many doctors do not accept the plan, because the Government does not pay them.”
The congresswoman of Puerto Rican origin Nydia Velázquez paid attention to the case and on Thursday asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to consider “full and just“Hernandez’s appeal to have his millionaire debt forgiven in the American public hospital.