Form E112 (IE)/EU/EEA And Fill It Out In Triplicate

What could be better and more efficient than government running the health care system?

Like a good citizen seeking treatment in the proper way, Judi Costello filled out form E112(IE) and submitted it to Ireland's Health Service Executive. Her son Adam has severe medical problems, and treatment for his common variable immune deficiency requires regular injections.

Those injections are, as luck would have it, only available in the United States. Remarkable that the States would be on the cutting edge, considering how dreadful their privately run health system is said to be.

Ms. Costello filled out her forms, submitted, and brought her son to Newark, NJ, for his vaccinations, and has done so for the past seven years. The HSE then paid for the trip and the treatment.

The lad is showing signs of improvement and his immune system appears to be improving.

Sadly, it was all a vast bureaucratic error. The HSE can't pick up the tab after all. The U.S. doesn't recognize Form E112(IE) as it is not a EU/EEA signatory.

Ms. Costello's son is no longer eligible for the expensive treatment and the HSE has informed Ms. Costello that her most recent submission has been denied. All those previous reimbursements for the past seven years? A mistake. So sorry.

No medical facilities in the EU or Switzerland, where Form E112(IE) allows for treatment abroad to be paid through HSE, has the necessary injections.

Only in America.

The group that lobbies for Irish interests might bring Ms. Costello's son to the halls of Congress during the health care debate and push for the U.S. to sign on to Form E112(IE) and save the young man's life. The prognosis without the shots is pretty grim and wouldn't it be grand to put a face to a matter of life or death?

Just don't let it get out that a government-run program denied life-saving treatment to Adam Costello-Doherty because of cost. That would only fuel the opposition, and proving them right wouldn't do at all.