Gymnastics icon Mary Lou Retton ‘fighting for her life’ as she battles pneumonia, daughter says
Saw that. Unfortunately she does not have medical insurance and daughter has
started a $50,000 fund raiser for her. Surprised to hear that as it’s reported she has a net worth
of around 8 million. Irregardless, wishing her a complete recovery.
Wow, I did not know she didn’t have health insurance. That does not make sense.
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One of the icons of that Olympics, i remember she got on the Wheaties cover. I’m not sure why but at the time the Wheaties cover was a big deal.
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With an $8MM net worth, I am sure she can pay her medical bill.
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Saw an interview with her last week and she didn’t look good then. It was almost as if she had a slight stroke. She must be fighting something even larger than pneumonia.
They’ll bankrupt her if they can.
Why doesn’t she have health insurance?
Doesn’t she have some kind of benefits for being a national athlete?
Mean intensive care unit cost and length of stay were 31,574 +/- 42,570 dollars and 14.4 days +/- 15.8 for patients requiring mechanical ventilation and 12,931 +/- 20,569 dollars and 8.5 days +/- 10.5 for those not requiring mechanical ventilation.
Pretty sure there is no such thing as a national athlete lifetime insurance policy, or that there should be. Maybe when competing for national team something is provided, but don’t really know.
Fundraising forMary Lou Retton
$271,003of $50,000 goal
I thought there was a requirement to have medical insurance or pay higher taxes or something. I don’t know why anyone would not have some form of medical insurance even if it is only the government one advertised all the time. It seems pretty irresponsible to me.
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There was a mandate but that got stripped out of Obamacare as an income tax penalty in 2019
by Congress.
It’s foolish for anyone not to have some type of coverage even if you are moderately wealthy.
But we don’t know if she forgot to signup for it after her divorce in 2018 or what happened.
I’ve had cousins who refused to pay for health insurance too on principle. And one fell out of a tree
he was trimming and severely broke his shoulder. Had to eventually get it surgically repaired at LBJ
after many many months of waiting and living with a bum arm.
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Yeah there is still a mandate, but there is no longer a penalty, at least until 2026.
Mack just donated 50k to the fund. She is divorced. Has 4 kids. If she does not have a job its possible she cant afford insurance. She has ar
rheumatoid arthritis.
If she has low or no income she could have logged into Heathcare.gov and gotten free health insurance.
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If she makes over 50k she gets no assistance. So many forego insurance as a result
That would be more than “low to no income”. According to a calculator I just did though an individual in Texas earning $50K could receive about $450/mo in insurance subsidy. She would still pay $321/mo for a low level policy though which would be 7.7% of her income. That’s a LOT percentage wise.
Our heathcare system is completely effed.
Basic insurance should be free (ie medicare for all) and additional policies covering things on top of available to buy as options just like every senior citizen has available.
Just expand it already.
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If she truly has a net worth over $8 million (that’s the number I’ve heard), then she or a designee should probably sell some of those assets and use the proceeds to pay for her medical care.
Just an idea. Maybe if she’s incapacitated that isn’t practical.
I dunno.
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I’ve seen a 2 week ICU bill for someone on a ventilator (also need some blood transfusions) be $250K, but knocked down to just (sarcasm) $150K for insurance.
If she makes it, she’ll most likely be in the hospital for another 2-6 weeks. Cost will go down if/when she gets out of ICU but it will be ridiculous. If she passes they may go after the estate and muck up the inheritance process. The relatives best course may be to lawyer up then and threaten or claim malpractice. What a system we have (more sarcasm!)
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Is she still married?
I see 2 million net worth. But if 500k is your house and the rest is 401k. You are not rich by any means.
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No she is divorced with 4 kids.