HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL – FEBRUARY 21: Mary Lou Retton, former Olympic Gold Medalist in Women’s Gymnastics, looks on during the 2009 Tyson American Cup at the Sears Centre on February 21, 2009 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Retton landed in the intensive care unit of a Texas hospital last October with what her family described as a rare form of pneumonia that left her “fighting for her life.” On spotfund.com, Retton’s daughter McKenna Kelly revealed that her mother was not insured, but Kelly would not say more. Appleby said that Retton could have purchased insurance through Obamacare: Under the Affordable Care Act, which has offered coverage through state and federal marketplaces since 2014, insurers are barred from rejecting people with pre-existing conditions and cannot charge higher premiums for them, either. Appleby also reported that for people with higher incomes, premium costs are capped at 8.5% of household income.
“It’s not what it used to be at the height of my fame years ago,” she said. “I was just, you know, doing enough to pay my bills.”