{"id":6643,"date":"2026-07-21T15:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6643"},"modified":"2026-07-21T15:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T15:38:07","slug":"nc-family-advocates-for-transparency-after-sons-surgery-denied-by-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6643","title":{"rendered":"NC family advocates for transparency after son\u2019s surgery denied by insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) \u2013 A Triad family is sharing their story of a health emergency and insurance struggles, hoping to effect change and encourage others in their position to get the help they need.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6641\">WNBA enjoys \u2018hypergrowth\u2019 under Commissioner Cathy Engelbert amid strained relationship with players<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just 24 hours out from an essential surgery for their six-year-old Bennett, the Reel family says their insurance denied the operation.\u00a0They spent hours on the phone and their own money out of pocket for a medical advocate to get the care they needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet them do the stuff and pray a lot,\u201d Bennett Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His parents, Lauren and Daniel Reel, say that\u2019s his motto.\u00a0 Six-year-old Bennett Reel is back home and back to being himself just a few weeks after brain surgery.\u00a0They\u2019re grateful for remarkable results, but the Reel family says their overall experience was incredibly difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Brenner Children\u2019s Hospital diagnosed Bennett with a brain tumor this summer.\u00a0 The local hospital recommended an expert pediatric neurosurgeon in Memphis, Tennessee to operate as soon as possible. The family set a date and jumped on a plane. But just before the operation, their insurance denied their request.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found a patient advocate that was given to me by a friend, and we paid him to tell us what to do, to get through these hoops because we had less than 24 hours to make this happen,\u201d Lauren Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Their insurance denied the surgery because the surgeon was out of network.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo the catch to this is our insurance policy does not have a neurosurgeon underneath its blanket,\u201d Lauren Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With hardly any time to spare, their extended family helped, spending hours on the phone explaining the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were on the phone on hold for hours trying to figure all this out. I mean, our phones died multiple times trying to get through this,\u201d Lauren Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They considered admitting Bennett to the ER to try and get his care approved through an emergency avenue. Their determination paid off, and approval came through just as pre-operation work began. For Bennett\u2019s father it was an eye-opening experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6639\">Winthrop soccer team with intellectually impaired players brings light to \u2018the beautiful game\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was concerning to us. It was stressful for us to not know if we were going to get any help,\u201d Daniel Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, the family learned Bennett\u2019s tumor was fully removed and it was cancer free. As Bennett returned home to his normal routines, his partents\u2019 thoughts turned to anyone else in their shoes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happens for the ones that aren\u2019t as blessed as we are that we were able to get it get it handled? You know, so it does kind of raise a few red flags for us that it didn\u2019t come together and mold as quickly as we would have liked it to be able to have all of the best things like we do in America,\u201d Daniel Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Reel family hopes by sharing Bennett\u2019s story they set a precedent for approving urgent treatment for kids with more transparency and communication. Their own story is not over, as they will continue to have follow-up appointments to watch Bennett\u2019s condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll do whatever it takes to help him. But if there\u2019s somebody else in the world at some point that needs this care, hopefully Bennett\u2019s case can help, you know, pave the way so that they\u2019ll know a standard of care of what to expect,\u201d Lauren Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The family travelled as a whole to Memphis, and Bennet\u2019s older brother Brantley said it was both a scary and hopeful time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first, when we went to Brenner, I was really scared because I didn\u2019t know what any of it meant. But when we got to Memphis, I was like, okay, I know what\u2019s going on now. And then I felt a little bit better about everything,\u201d Brantley Reel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He shared advice for other siblings; to pray and have faith that your family will make it through together. The Reels plan to continue to openly share their process to help others navigate any similar situation and advocate for transparency in complicated healthcare.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6633\">SC drug agents charged following \u2018unwarranted\u2019 investigation<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) &#8211; A Triad family is sharing their story of a health emergency and insurance struggles, hoping to effect change and encourage others in their position to get the help they need.&nbsp; Just 24 hours out from an essential surgery for their six-year-old Bennett, the Reel family says their insurance denied the operation.&nbsp;They [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>NC family advocates for transparency after son\u2019s surgery denied by insurance - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6643\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NC family advocates for transparency after son\u2019s surgery denied by insurance - Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) &#8211; A Triad family is sharing their story of a health emergency and insurance struggles, hoping to effect change and encourage others in their position to get the help they need.&nbsp; Just 24 hours out from an essential surgery for their six-year-old Bennett, the Reel family says their insurance denied the operation.&nbsp;They [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6643\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-21T15:38:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=6643#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=6643\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eda87157c0d9ccdbb002a999547a6a60\"},\"headline\":\"NC family advocates for transparency after son\u2019s surgery denied by insurance\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T15:38:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=6643\"},\"wordCount\":735,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=6643#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1de5f009501374e5e11128d9be545adc.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=6643#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=6643\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raleighmovingnews.com\\\/?p=6643\",\"name\":\"NC family advocates for transparency after son\u2019s surgery denied by insurance - 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