Comment

Comment on Bat flies into woman's mouth in Arizona, costing her nearly $21,000 in medical bills

scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

Kahn said looking back, she should have secured private health insurance as soon as she was laid off.

“I should have done COBRA, even though it was very expensive,” Kahn said. “But yeah, hindsight is 20/20.”

The near-$21,000 burden will probably lead to fewer vacations and a delay in having central air conditioning installed at her place, Kahn said.

She said she hopes others can learn from her misstep.

“It was my fault. I took the risk of not doing COBRA and that’s forever on me,” she said. "But if one person gets covered because they saw this story, then I would be happy about that.

Our system is fucked, that is for 100% sure. There should be no way that someone goes into medical debt because they were laid off, and we should fight to have a better system.

However, viewing the problem at the societal level and the individual level are different things. Societally we need to push for health care for all. Individually though - get COBRA, get on a spouse’s plan, whatever you need to do. Don’t risk it.

source

Sort:hotnew top

davidgro@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Paying literally hundreds of dollars per month as soon as I no longer have income isn’t a reasonable expectation either.

If a freak accident like this happens while I don’t have a job, I’ll just go bankrupt and likely become homeless, then die. I’m counting on that not happening.

source
- philophilsaurus@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Yea people say get COBRA, but how are you supposed to pay for that AND rent/food/utilities? On top of that, you also need to apply and fill out all the paperwork and shit while dealing with actually finding a new job at the same time.
  
  source
  - 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    AND? The US operates on XOR.
    
    source
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
The problem is that COBRA is often unimaginably expensive, and since it’s something you’re faced with while out of work, it’s an impossible option for regular people. The better choice is to get private insurance as soon as you can, but coverage is usually tied to the start of calendar months, meaning you could be uncovered for a time if you don’t take COBRA. To make it even more wonderful, you often lose access to your health care immediately when you lose your job, so COBRA is only helpful retroactively after the fact in the event of a major emergency.

Health care in the US is barbaric.

source
- scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Oh I agree the system is fucked and cobra is equally bad. Being forced into this system though I would urge people to have enough in savings so that if they are dropped tomorrow from insurance they can at least rest easy knowing they have health care. Individually be ready for that rainy day. Societally yes let’s rip down our healthcare system
  
  source
I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
DO NOT GET COBRA! That is NOT the fucking lesson! Look, just use healthcare.gov. it’s not perfect, but God damn it will get 90% of people affordable healthcare.

source
- coralof@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Thanks for reminding me of this. My COBRA coverage was asking $758 a month. I found a 0 deductible plan on healthcare.gov for $370. If I don’t get a job by the end of this month, I’ll sign up for that.
  
  source
  - I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    Glad to help! It really is a lifesaver if you ever lose your insurance, I wish more people knew to use it.
    
    source
coralof@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I got laid off and looked into the COBRA offering. Sorry, but I’m not paying $758 a MONTH for coverage. NOPE.

source
Elaine@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
The times when I was eligible for COBRA it was prohibitively expensive. I don’t know who it’s helping but definitely not worth it when it’s more than half your rent.

source