When it comes to personal finances, a heart attack + no insurance = learning a few things~or at least it should. Before I scare anyone, no, neither Hubs or I have had a heart attack, and even if we did, we do have insurance in place to cover the lion share of whatever expenses might come our way. Today, I am talking about my good friend Beth.
Beth and I go back about 11 years. We actually met on the now-defunct Dave Ramsey forums. That was when I first entertained the idea of getting out of debt. Unfortunately, just like my good friend Beth, I too fell off the wagon. Oh how I wish I had stayed with it, but I can’t go back, only forward. Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20. While I was led to the water, at the time I wasn’t entirely ready to drink it. Thankfully Hubs and I wised up, and now we can’t seem to get enough of it!
More about my friend, Beth. Sad to say, but she is the subject of the heart attack + no insurance equation. How I wish it were a friend of a friend of a friend, kind of thing, but it isn’t. Beth is someone I know on a personal level. Although we live in different parts of the country, we connected because her husband also travels extensively for work. She gets this crazy thing we call life.
So, Beth had a heart attack. She also has no insurance and now also has a new $50,000 debt (her best guesstimate as not all the bills are in) to tackle. Health insurance has been one of the things Beth has always felt wasn’t affordable. From the start of our friendship, I’ve always told her just the opposite. Not having health insurance is like playing with fire. The thing is, she didn’t only hear it from me, she also heard it from many, many other reputable sources.
What makes me do a facepalm is that, even after having a heart attack, Beth still says she won’t get health insurance! As for how she intends to pay this additional debt, it will just get added to the list, or at least that is what Beth has told me. She feels the money spent on premiums is still better off being added to her snowball. My, oh my, oh my!
What Hub’s take is that, based on Beth’s seemingly nonchalant attitude, she and her husband may file for bankruptcy. He bases this on their history, as 8 or 9 years ago, they lost a house to foreclosure. I hope Hubs is wrong but time will tell. While I can understand using this option for extreme cases, I don’t agree with going this route just because of personal irresponsibility.
Sadly, everything I say to Beth seems to fall on deaf ears. Because I care about my friend, I will continue to try. Although none of us can change our past mistakes, we should at the very least learn from them lest we repeat them. But, as they say, you can lead a horse to water…and you know the rest!
This is sad news, for both Beth and you.:-( I can’t think of what to say. I mean, it’s just . . . ugh.
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I know. I just can’t wrap my head around her way of thinking. Like you said, it is just so…ugh! 🙁
So in this world of ACA how does she go around w/out health insurance? Are they still paying a big penalty(is that still an option?)at tax time instead?
I’m sorry your friend had a bad health event and continues to make bad decisions. 8-(
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They used to pay the penalty for their kids (who are all now of legal age) and she claims they have insurance on her husband, although a few things have she has said makes me question whether or not that is true. As for herself, she has a small disability via the VA which (according to her) covers anything related to her feet. She says it is thanks to this that she herself is not fined for not carrying insurance. I think this loophole (if it is true) is crazy as only having “insurance” for part of a person’s body doesn’t equate to truly being insured. The entire situation is nuts.
Sadly, I think there are probably many in this world of ACA going without……….because they just can’t afford it. If you don’t qualify for a subsidy it’s ridiculously expensive. I’m paying almost $600 a month just for my DH, for the crappy, bottom of of the barrel bronze plan, basically what amounts to catastrophic plan with the high deductible I can’t imagine how I would afford it if I also still had kids to cover. I can barely afford just his premium.
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I honestly believe the ACA did far more harm than good. So many now (like your DH) having to go with crappy insurance with an insane price tag or those no longer even able to afford it. With what Hubs and I now pay for our premiums, not to mention the high deductible, I view the ACA as a receiving a pay cut.
Health insurance is one thing I won’t go without, even though it costs way too darn much. We have some friends who haven’t had insurance either. He is self employed and she didn’t work, up until recently. Once Obamacare went into effect they just couldn’t afford it anymore so have been playing roulette the past 7 years or however long it’s been now. At least she did just recently get a full time job and she is now covered by insurance through her employer. I worry what a serious illness could do to them financially.
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The ACA was an utter disaster~although my friend completely disagrees with me on this topic! Sure, it helped some of those who couldn’t afford it, but then it made it totally unaffordable for so many others. Our premiums and deductibles went through the roof, but like you, we don’t dare go without coverage. Another part of my frustration is that she said prior to her heart attack, they had a really good snowball. My suggestion to take part of that snowball and use it for health insurance also fell on deaf ears. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Meanwhile, all I can do is shake my head.
Health insurance is just a necessary evil in this country. The ACA didn’t do us any favors, as our costs quadrupled, and the deductibles are anything but affordable for our family. I’m already drowning in medical bills after insurance, I can’t imagine what they would cost me without it. I have friends like Beth. No insurance, recently diagnosed with a neuro-related disease. All our advice went in one ear and out the other. The entire health industry needs an overhaul. I hope your friend recovers well.
Frustrating, isn’t it? The attitude is what I find equally as frustrating. Almost like, oh well, someone else can clean up my mess. Ugh!
You are a good loyal friend to have! I’m glad she has you in her life. With such a good example there is always hope she will get it too someday. I often wonder when I read blogs about getting people who are not successful out of your life, how will they ever have a good role model if all the good role models dump them?
Thank you. Our differences of opinion can be challenging. I can only hope she will eventually come around and make better choices.
My dh recently retired and me being 7 years younger needed health insurance. It would have been $ 2000.00 per month for me and our two kids on Cobra but $1530.00 for private health care. I am a two time breast cancer survivor and ACA was not going to work. Most of my doctors wouldn’t accept it and the high deductibles would have killed us. We are all going to pay for your friend’s health care because how will she ever be able to pay it back?
Sorry for the delay in my reply. Your comment ended up in spam which I am just now seeing. You are right about us all paying the cost for my friend’s health care. I highly, highly doubt she will ever pay it back. Like with most things, the rest of us will end up paying for it. My husband is also older than I am and paying for health care when he does retire is a huge concern of mine. Prayers for continued good health for you!
Unfortunately I know a family that did have health insurance and still lost everything. Their daughter had cancer from age 2 to age 10 when she passed away. Their insurance only covered 80% and they racked up almost a million dollars of unpaid bills. They lost their house and daughter. They have filed for bankruptcy since her passing to get rid of the rest of the medical debt. I wish your friend good luck.
How very sad. It is situations like the family you know that my heart really bleeds for. It is also situations like these that I completely understand bankruptcy.
As you know, we got royally,,,,well, you know the word I want to use…..because of ACA with the IRS, but I would pay that ANYDAY over not having health insurance. I’m betting after all the bills come in, it will end up being much more than $$50,000 – I pray it won’t, but we all know the cost of a major medical issue. I hope and pray she changes her mind about getting insurance – I really think she would regret that decision.
Yes, you paid dearly for the mess the ACA made of things. You are probably right in that Beth’s bill will exceed $50,000. An expensive lesson that she still doesn’t want to learn from. Sigh.
Don’t even get me started about the ACA. My health premiums skyrocketed, but still I pay them because I can’t afford to self-insure.
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Those that self-insured got majorly screwed. Years ago (before the ACA) Hubs and I took a major medical plan to cover a two week period of time we would otherwise be without insurance. I remember paying around $200 or so for the policy. We didn’t dare take a chance even for two weeks. I can’t even begin to imagine what a plan like that would cost us now. Yet, it is still better than going without.
Oh my goodness. If she is a Dave Ramsey fan she should know the value of health insurance. I cannot imagine not having health insurance. That is my biggest fear about retiring early- access to health insurance.
That is another thing that gets to me. She has heard about the importance of health insurance countless times, so she really has no excuse. Knowing that she will likely have someone else clean up her mess infuriates me.
I worry about health insurance, too. My Hubs and I differ by 5+ years (him being older) so I’ll need some type of insurance when he retires. No matter what though, one way or another, I will obtain coverage!
It would be better for your friend to get health insurance now, even if they have to eat rice & beans.
Once a person has had 1 heart attack, their risk for another one in the next few years is greater.
She doesn’t want to be left with a worse disability that would prevent her from ever working again, if she can’t afford all the drs’ recommendations.
I agree, but getting her to do it has been the challenge! I can’t even imagine going without insurance, especially after a heart attack.