When 55 year old former US Olympic gold medallist Mary Lou Retton, fell seriously ill with a rare form of pneumonia in the fall of 2023, it was more than just a serious health issue that nearly cost her her life ....
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| Mary Lou Retton - 1984 Olympics |
..... it was a serious finances issue as well.
This second issue would seem to be surprising, as after her win in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where after she was the first American woman to win the gymnastics all-around gold, she was nicknamed "America's Sweetheart". She appeared on Wheaties cereal boxes and was named Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportswoman of the Year, later being inducted in to the hall of fame .... so fame and fortune seemed assured.
However life isn't that straight forward, and after a divorce in 2018 and the Covid-19 pandemic by 2023 she was struggling financially, and like millions of less famous Americans she did not have any health insurance. In fact, it was only her previous fame that allowed one of her daughters to launch a campaign on crowdfunding site Spotfund to pay for her medical bills .... this campaign managed to raise $460,000 (£360,000) prior to her finally being discharged from hospital.
Fortunately just before she was about to be put on life support, she started to recover ..... and after 2 weeks in intensive care she was allowed home and she is now breathing with the help of a nasal oxygen tube, but is unsure if she is going to have lasting issues with her lungs.
On her financial predicament Retton said "I couldn't afford it. But who would even know that this was going to happen to me? That's the bottom line, I couldn't afford it."
Now when you consider that she was once famous and a celebrity, but just a few decades later she was relying on that former fame, to get public donations to pay her medical bills, it suggests that for those who couldn't call on that celebrity to get them out of debt, they would be facing either no treatment and death, or a lifetime trying to pay an impossible debt, or simply declaring bankruptcy and ruination in their old age.
When its so easy for someone with all advantages that Ms Retton started with, to fall in to a position of having no health insurance because they 'couldn't afford it' anymore, then the US health system really needs serious reform ....
In 2023, approximately 25.3 million people aged 0 to 64 in the US were uninsured, representing a 9.5% uninsured rate for that population.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fairly constant figure. A shame on our country.
Steve. I have to admit that it surprises me that the US doesn't adopt the health care model that most of the rest of the world have. Thanks for the comment.
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