Medicare system keeps baby in hospital

AKRON --Nine-month-old Brady Eikleberry needs constant home care.

Doctors say he's ready to go home, but now the family faces a new roadblock.

It's taken several surgeries, around the clock health care and more than a million dollars in medical costs. But, to get Brady Eikleberry home his parents need $17,000 a month. His mom says red tape is keeping her baby from going home.

The people who know little Brady Eikleberry will tell you he's a miracle. It's something his mom Nikki doesn't need to hear, she knows.

"He smiles. He’s a very happy baby unless something is wrong,” said Brady’s mom.

At first he was hooked up to all sort of tubes and machines. It took eight surgeries and more than a million dollars of his parents health insurance money to get him to this point. But their insurance had a cap.

He's now on institutional Medicaid, which costs $16,000 a month.

Nikki says it would be cheaper for Medicaid since she says his hospital stay costs taxpayers about $70,000 a month.

His parents want him home, especially since his dad is an army reservist.

There is a possibility he may have to deploy by the end of the month in the air transportation unit. That is another reason Nikki wants Brady home.

She commutes almost two hours from Cadiz Ohio twice a week. She's a middle school teacher, and has to keep working. She stays at Ronald McDonald house where she can walk to Akron Children's Hospital.

There is a waiver to get the home health care Medicaid coverage, but there's a long wait. In the meantime Nikki cherishes her visit time.