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Over the previous three months, 8,319 donors have given Olympic great Mary Lou Retton nearly half a million dollars — $459,324 to be actual — after her daughter went on social media to announce that Retton was “fighting for her life” with “a very rare form of pneumonia” and was not insured.
Also over these previous three months, USA TODAY Sports has been in touch with Retton, her daughter McKenna Kelley and two pals of the household by way of quite a few textual content messages and telephone calls, making an attempt to get solutions to questions that, as of Monday afternoon, stay unaddressed.
Asked in a number of textual content messages and a voicemail on Monday about her lack of medical health insurance till not too long ago, her monetary state of affairs and why she refuses to disclose the place she was hospitalized or the identify of her physician(s) greater than two months after she left the hospital, Retton, 55, declined to answer.
Retton’s unwillingness to reply essentially the most primary questions on her well being care is receiving elevated scrutiny for one easy purpose: the choice by Kelley and her three sisters to hunt public donations for his or her mom on the crowdsourcing web site spotfund.com. Had they not accomplished that, Retton’s sickness possible would have remained a personal matter, by no means bursting into public view and engaging so many strangers to ship cash.
While nonetheless refusing to speak to USA TODAY Sports, Retton did conform to an interview with NBC’s “Today Show” Monday morning. She appeared with an oxygen tube in her nostril, describing a harrowing, month-long hospital keep, together with a second when “they were about to put me on life support,” she mentioned. But she was in a position to go house in late October, she mentioned.
MORE:Mary Lou Retton received $459,324 in donations. She and her family won’t say how it’s being spent.
NBC mentioned Retton didn’t need to reveal the identify of the hospital, which is per how she, her household and associates have dealt with the matter with USA TODAY Sports.
When requested by NBC why she wasn’t lined by medical health insurance, Retton mentioned, “When Covid hit and after my divorce (in 2018), and all my pre-existing (conditions) — I’ve had over 30 operations of orthopedic stuff — I couldn’t afford it.”
She then exclaimed, “But who would even know that this was going to happen to me?”
Regarding medical health insurance, she mentioned, “I’m all set now,” confirming she has medical insurance coverage now, “Yes, yes.”
USA TODAY Sports requested her Monday if the spotfund.com donations are paying for the medical health insurance, however there was no reply.
When requested in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports why her mom wasn’t lined by medical insurance coverage, Kelley, 26, mentioned that Retton couldn’t get reasonably priced well being care due to pre-existing circumstances, which she mentioned embody “over 30 orthopedic surgeries, including four hip replacements. She’s in chronic pain every day.”
Said Kelley: “Due to her medical history and the amount of surgeries she has endured from gymnastics and just life, it’s unaffordable for her.”
When advised that an insurance coverage agent contacted by USA TODAY Sports discovered two plans charging $545 and $680 per thirty days for which somebody along with her mom’s medical historical past would qualify, Kelley mentioned that Retton had as soon as been lined by medical health insurance however “because she was not able to work and give speeches for two years due to the pandemic, she gave up her insurance.”
Retton was “about to get (health insurance) again but didn’t, and then she got sick,” Kelley mentioned.
In a textual content message to USA TODAY Sports Saturday, Kelley wouldn’t touch upon how a lot of the almost half-million {dollars} has been accounted for, however mentioned that “all remaining funds” would go to a charity of her mom’s alternative. She provided no timetable or additional info.
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