A lot of sickness has hit my family recently, and it has struck me how an illness or disability, even in someone relatively well off, could so easily lead to financial ruin. My father-in-law has cancer, and since he can’t work while he’s being treated, he’s only receiving 60 percent of his salary. Once he’s out of work for six months, his employer won’t pay for his health insurance anymore, and it’s going to cost him $1700 a month. And he’s one of the lucky ones; what if his job didn’t offer any long-term disability benefits?
Meanwhile, my father just got hit by a car. He was on his bike and a drunk driver swerved out of control and slammed into him. That’s not even the worst part. The kid drove my dad to the hospital at about 17 miles an hour, taking the longest route possible, apparently so he could sober up. (My dad didn’t realize at first that the driver was drunk.) My father is okay; he has a broken collar bone, some broken ribs, and some pretty bad nerve pain, but no internal bleeding or head injuries. Still, the few extra minutes this kid took to get to the hospital could have made the difference between life and death.
The kid (he was 20 years old) had a suspended license and no insurance. Meanwhile, my dad can’t work.
He’s a builder, so having an intact collarbone is pretty important. (“All I want for Christmas is my clavicle back,” he says.) And he can’t collect unemployment checks because he’s self-employed. There is one bright spot, however–he has uninsured motorist coverage. His own car insurance covers his losses if he gets into an accident with an uninsured driver. So once he knows the extent of the damage (Will the pain last six months? Is it permanent?) his insurance will compensate him for lost wages.
Again, we’re lucky. My parents have savings. My mom works. We have well-off family members who could help us if we really got into trouble. We have insurance that will cover the lost wages. If any of these things were not true, however, we could be in big trouble.
Has anything like this ever struck your family? How did you deal with it?
2 Comments
December 8, 2008 at 12:50 pm
[...] Monogamoney presents Save Money: Don’t Get Hit By a Car. [...]
December 23, 2008 at 2:56 pm
[...] my dad got hit by a car. He broke his collar bone and several ribs, and since he’s a builder, those bones are pretty [...]