Non-profit helps woman left with no teeth after insurance canceled day before approved procedure

A woman spent nearly six months without teeth after an insurance nightmare.

That was until a local non-profit stepped in to help.

“I saw your story online ... and I thought ‘gee, you know, that looks like someone that we can help,’” Barbara Krabec said.

Krabec and Ann Cooper are both on the board of a local nonprofit the Feminist Health Fund.

“We know that the need is here,” Cooper said.

As News Center 7 previously reported, Veronica Ray got all her teeth removed in November to get dentures put in.

Immediately after her surgery, her sister tried to pick up her medicine from the pharmacy to realize her insurance coverage was canceled without her knowledge.

Ray was already approved to get surgery.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Xenia woman left with no teeth after insurance canceled day before approved procedure

For nearly six months, she has lived in limbo with United Healthcare trying to get it sorted out.

“They’re trying to go back through all the records and figure out exactly what went wrong,” Ray said.

News Center 7 reached out to United Healthcare to get an update and has not heard back.

“I’ve already had to take out a loan to get the implants paid for, and then of course, I’ve had help getting the other one done,” Ray said. “So I mean, right now I’m at the point where I really can’t afford much more.”

She said the Feminist Health Fund pitched in $1,300.

“What we did vote was to give her the copay that she needed for the second step of her treatment,” Krabec said.

“The way our funding actually works is direct payment for medical care. So what we do is pay the provider so that the woman needs to not worry about it any further,” Cooper said.

Cooper and Krabec hope that Ray can now continue with her treatment.

The Board of the Feminist Health Fund voted to expand their coverage from women in Greene County to the surrounding counties as well.

More information can be found here.