Sergio Branco, 33, Dying, Dropped From COBRA Over 26 Cents

Sergio Branco was hit with a horrific one two punch when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia and lost his job for taking time off for treatment.

Like many Americans, Sergio Branco was forced to choose between regular expenses and the often prohibitively costly COBRA coverage — the only way many jobless or downsized employees are able to continue necessary coverage while between jobs.

Branco was also unlucky enough to live in America, where sickness can get you fired. And so in addition to the loss of income, Branco and wife Mara paid $518 for COBRA so the young man could receive life-saving treatment and live.

But when Mara wrote the check to COBRA’s third party payment processor, she left off 26 cents. An important 26 cents, it turns out, because that small sum allowed the company to deny a bone marrow transplant to Branco.

Paychex, the COBRA payment receiver, didn’t not cash the check, so the Brancos were out the $518 premium. They also didn’t inform the Brancos that they were in a 26 cent debt, making it so no options were available for the dying man to continue his treatment nor even obtain health coverage at all.

Russell Reid, the company contracted with Paychex to provide coverage, directed Mara Branco to human resources rep Rich Gross — who she says fielded her complaint but did nothing else to help the terrified family:

“The whole time he said Paychex is giving me false information… I told him if he’d just make a phone call everything would be alright. He said he’d see what he could do.”

Magically, when the press got involved, clauses were invoked, small debts forgiven, and the transplant allowed to go forward with days to spare. Gawker quotes Mara as saying:

“The Department of Labor said the company will reinstate him from May till now. They said the company did it wrong. I am super happy. It’s like a weight has lifted off my shoulder.”

Which is fantastic news for Sergio Branco and his small family, young child and wife. However, the circumstance in which an administrative error allowed a young man to receive a temporary death sentence is one with which we should all be fairly concerned.