Employee Mark Murray and his wife, Melinda Williams, were featured recently on a PBS “Frontline” special on U.S. health care after Microsoft benefits covered nearly $1 million in medical bills for the complicated pregnancy and premature birth of their son, Rees.

By Jennifer Warnick Rees

Murray Williams is a million dollar baby.

This is on paper, of course—the kind of paper medical bills are printed on. After a complicated pregnancy, Rees arrived nine weeks early and spent the first eight weeks of his life in neonatal intensive care, hooked up to wires and tubes.

It’s important to note, however, that the now-rambunctious one-year-old boy has a million dollar smile to match the two-inch stack of medical bills from his birth.

Rees and his parents, 13-year Microsoft employee Mark Murray and his wife, Melinda Williams, were recently featured on PBS’s “Frontline” as part of the investigative program’s special report on the U.S. health-care system, exploring its current state and ideas on how to fix it. 

Murray, general manager of corporate communications, said “Frontline” first approached Microsoft to be part of the program on health care because of the company’s outstanding health benefits. “Frontline” wanted to be able to show a “best-case example” of how the health-care system could work when a private employer offers its employees full coverage.

Turns out Murray and his wife were a keen example of the full range of medical challenges families can face, as well as the relief that can come from working for a company that provides complete coverage.

After trying to have a baby for eight years, Murray and his wife conceived, but then she nearly lost the baby and was confined to bed rest for four months of the pregnancy. Then, she was in the hospital for six weeks, and Rees was born nine weeks early and spent two months in intensive care. In the midst of all of that, Murray was diagnosed with a congenital hip defect and had to have a full hip replacement.

“When the bills started to roll in, I remember getting a bill—a single piece of paper—that was for $326,000. This was after we’d received two inches of bills already. I thought, ‘How can this possibly be?’” Murray said. “Then I scanned over to right hand side to see how much I owed, and the number was zero dollars and zero cents.” Microsoft health insurance covered every penny of the family’s medical problems: Rees’s care, Melinda’s pregnancy, and Mark’s hip replacement.

Murray said just about every day during the ordeal, and every day since, he and his wife look at each other and marvel at how fortunate they are.

“How do people that don’t have this kind of health insurance cope with this kind of situation?” Murray asked. “We didn’t have to stop and pull out a calculator and say, ‘Can we afford this test that could be absolutely critical to the baby’s health?’”

“Frontline” traveled across the country talking to people and families all over the health-care spectrum, and most of the others profiled were not as fortunate. “They paid a terrible price in terms of their health, their families, and their lives because they didn’t have quality health insurance like Microsoft,” Murray said. “It’s really shocking to me that our experience is so unusual.”

Murray said he knows how complicated the issue is but feels strongly about health care nonetheless and hopes for a comprehensive solution. He called it a national scandal that 45 million Americans don’t have health insurance, that 11 million Americans who have health insurance still spent over one-quarter of their income on health-care costs, and that more than half of the personal bankruptcies in America are due to medical bills. “I don’t pretend to be an expert. All I know is that nobody should have to go through these kinds of health emergencies without the kind of support that Microsoft gave me and my family,” Murray said. “It feels almost criminal that in this day and age, in this country, there are so many people who are without health insurance and quality health care.”

Murray said it wasn’t just the health insurance that made the experience bearable—it was the flexibility shown to him by his managers and peers, especially during a period when the baby could have been born any moment. “I slept at the hospital on a little cot. I would get up, get my wife breakfast, and then drive into Microsoft. Several times I’d get a phone call in middle of the 520 bridge telling me to turn around; the baby might come now. I’d get off at the first exit, whip it around, and head back to hospital,” Murray said. “The way everyone helped me roll with those punches is something I’ll never forget.”

Rees turned one year old on May 30, and apart from being a bit small, he is doing beautifully. He chirps and talks constantly and enjoys crawling and cruising furniture at top speed, climbing stairs, ripping up junk mail catalogs, knocking down block towers, slamming his fingers in doors, and terrorizing the family’s two large, infinitely patient dogs. “He’s a wild man. It’s such a great change from the first few months of his life when he was this tiny, struggling little guy,” Murray said. “There are absolutely no signs of any long-term or developmental challenges. He’s a completely normal baby boy, and if his behavior is any indication, he’s going to err on the side of being an incredibly busy baby boy.”