When Mary Lou Retton’s family announced in October she was hospitalized and gravely ill with a rare form of pneumonia, many fans were dismayed to learn that the 1984 Olympics champion, who supposedly earned millions from endorsement deals over the years, had no health insurance.
During an interview on the “Today” show Monday, Retton, 55, revealed that she couldn’t afford insurance before she was hospitalized. The retired gold-medal gymnast explained that it was simply too expensive for her to buy insurance as a newly single woman with a history of surgeries.
“When COVID hit and after my divorce and all my pre-existing (conditions) — I mean, I’ve had over 30 operations of orthopedic stuff — I couldn’t afford it… That’s the bottom line: I couldn’t afford it,” Retton told “Today” host Hoda Kotb.
“But who would even know that this was going to happen to me?” said Retton, who also explained that she is now “all set” with insurance.
Because of her lack of coverage when she was checked into an unnamed Houston hospital, Shayla Schrepfer, the oldest of Retton’s four daughters, said the family had to start a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the bill for her treatment. Over the next few weeks, the Spotfund campaign raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Retton, a star medalist at the 1984 Olympics. As of Monday, the campaign had raised a total of $459,000.
Retton’s hospital bill probably was massive. She revealed Monday that she spent a month in the hospital, much of that time in the intensive-care unit. At one point, she said, her situation became so dire that doctors considered putting her on life support and her four daughters said goodbye to her.
Among people on social media, the idea that Retton’s family needed to ask strangers to pay for what was expected to be an enormous hospital bill incited a range of questions and reactions in October. At the top of the list: Why didn’t Retton have health insurance? And, what kind of country is the United States if even a legendary sports figure like Retton — once dubbed “America’s sweetheart” — can’t pay for an emergency hospital stay?
When Retton’s daughters refused to comment on their mother’s lack of insurance, “out of respect for her and her privacy,” people online were left to speculate on whether the retired athlete chose to forego health insurance, or if she somehow lost coverage or wasn’t able to obtain coverage.
They also noted that she had recently been living in a Houston mansion, citing a May 2022 report that she was selling her “luxury” 9,000-square-foot Houston home, which boasted six bedrooms, six bathrooms and a swimming pool.
During Monday’s interview, Retton revealed that she had been staying with her daughter, Shayla Schrepfer, since leaving the hospital. Schrepfer also joined her mother for the interview.
When Kotb pointed out that many people assumed that Retton could afford health insurance, the gymnast replied that “life goes on and things happen” in a person’s life that could make it suddenly difficult for someone like her unable to afford insurance. One of the things that happened is that she split from her husband of 27 years, as she revealed in a 2018 interview.
It was also noted during the interview that it had been almost 40 years since the won the Olympic gold medal. The bottom line: Retton said she could not afford it.
A 2022 Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that roughly 10.2% of Americans under the age of 65 don’t have health insurance; Retton could qualify for Medicare, federal health insurance, when she turns 65. The study said that the number of uninsured in the United States actually decreased by about 1.5 million people from 2019 to 2021, mainly due to policies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The policies were designed to help low-income people gain and maintain coverage during the pandemic, and they included enhanced subsidies in the marketplace and the requirement that states maintain continuous enrollment for people on Medicaid, which provides insurance to low-income people.
Most of America’s uninsured are people in low-income families in which at least one family member is working, the study said. Generally, people of color are at higher risk of being uninsured. Some 64 percent of adults surveyed said they don’t get insurance because the cost of coverage is too high, even with policy efforts to make coverage more affordable.