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Real life stories on the importance of hospital insurance

Art Post - Beyond the Call of Duty
For the more than 90 million Americans who suffer from chronic diseases, health insurance is often an issue of life and death. Art Post, an independent craftsman from Maryland, is one of them. He suffers from Crohn's Disease—an incurable gastrointestinal digestive condition.


In November 1999, when Art needed a new health insurance provider, he turned to Tim Noffsinger, CLU, ChFC, RHU, LUTCF, the principal of Maryland Insurance Services, Inc. Tim went to work and discovered that Blue Cross and Blue Shield * which did not pay agent commissions * had the perfect coverage. "It didn't matter. It was the right coverage for Art," Tim says.

Tim's office contacted the carrier and had them mail the necessary materials directly to Art's house. In December, they completed the forms together, and because the company preferred that no check be mailed with the application, Art returned home to wait the bill for his new coverage.

When Tim called in January 2000 to make sure Art had received his policy, he learned that Art had recently lapsed into a coma and had undergone four operations in ten days. Because of his medical state, no one knew whether or not he had sent the check to the carrier. Through a company contact, Tim learned that while the application was on file, the premium wasn't yet paid. With the deadline only days away, the family overnighted a check. Art's $110,000 medical bill was covered.

Today, Art has recovered and continues working from home as a craftsman, hand-painting model train engines. Without medical insurance, he could have lost everything. "I was self-employed and didn't have a safety net," says Art. "I am fortunate that Tim took the ball and ran with it, and put in place health care insurance that came to my rescue in my time of need."

Though this article is based from the US. However, i sincerely believed that this sad incidents do happens in our daily life & hope to highlight to the people to upgrade their hospital plan as soon as possible to have a safety net against this bad incidents.