I have heard many times the adage that many a comedian became a funny man or woman because of painful experiences. Well, it seems to continue to have a grain of truth after watching this video of Molly Shannon – funny woman from SNL. A contributor on my own blog had posted info on September as Life Insurance Awareness Month and he had the link to Molly’s piece as part of it. I had no idea that she had suffered such an awful experience as a child. As a professional that has always promoted overall financial planning savvy and long-term planning to clients over the years the reminder of life insurance is a good one. Just like you insure your home, its contents, and your car – you should insure yourself if you have dependents or to make sure your heirs aren’t left holding the financial bag for you after your demise, be it untimely one or after a long good life.
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Yes Life Insurance is sad fact of life. When you or a loved one dies the entire world surrounds you asking for payment, paper work, and solutions. Medical bills you had no idea about until two months after a death can ruin you. You’re not asking for the bills while some one is dying. Your health insurance covers getting better, not dying.
My wife died at three in the morning at Swedish Hospital. At ten the same morning Social Security called to tell me I owed a refund to them for the last disability payment they had made to her. At three that same afternoon I was informed the hospital wanted a lien on our house to cover medical bills. We both had great Health Insurance policies, neither of which covered some of the “extrodinary” efforts used in my wife’s care her last few months.
It took me six months to sort out the bills from our life together. Every day new bills would come in, some from places I never heard of.
I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your wife. Your story underscores the need for life insurance because many times it can help to have financial resources to help pay off bills that aren’t covered by other coverage. I know with my own father’s recovery from an accident that there will be plenty of items that aren’t covered fully by Medicare, auto insurance, or otherwise and we’ll be either working out long term payment plans or selling my mom’s house to cover some of it. This part is sad to me because there is a lien on the house for medical bills and she would need that money to buy a new house closer to the nursing home where my father is now staying. We may need to get creative…
I couldn’t help but comment on what happened to you David. My heart bleeds for the unfair treatment(to say the least). I am now more than tempted to bash these institutions(I think ‘Sicko’ by Michael Moore will do a better job in explaining ). But all I can say is ,
‘What they reap they will sow’
David,
Thanks for sharing your story. I’m so sorry you had to go through it. I hope your story will help someone who reads it.
Greg Perry