John was admitted to the hospital with a Covid infection on December 26th, 2020.  On January 5th he was intubated and put on a ventilator to try to give his lungs a chance to heal.  He has made improvements, but he still has a long way to go.  The doctors aren’t sure when they will be able to wean him off the ventilator.  Once he’s off, they aren’t sure how long it will be before he is able to return to work.  One thing is certain, just like this awful disease, there are a ton of unknowns and challenges ahead.

Last week I was informed by his employer that they would be transitioning him to short term disability.  That means he will be paid at 60% of his normal salary over the next 11 weeks.  When his short term disability runs out he will no longer be paid because they don’t offer long term disability,  and he does not have an individual policy.  His health insurance should be covered for an additional 12 weeks beyond that under FMLA.  Once he has exhausted health insurance coverage under those two options he will need to purchase a policy through COBRA, or one of the state funds.  

Since he is still in the hospital I have no idea what his actual bills will be, but I can only imagine they will be substantial because he has been there just over 6 weeks.  When he is finally discharged, he will likely need additional care either at home or in a rehab facility to finish his road to recovery.  

I want John to be able to focus all his effort and strength on recovery.  The last thing I want is the stress of worrying about bills, hospital expenses, etc to drain his energy and sideline his chance of getting better.  All funds raised will go towards his bills, medical expenses not covered by insurance, the cost of ongoing medical care and purchasing health insurance etc.