Abbey Diamond: When You Can't Afford Coverage, You Just Hope for the Best

When Abbey Diamond, a Marion, Ohio, resident, turned 26, she lost the health insurance through her parents that she relied on. Almost overnight, she found herself facing an impossible choice.

As a stay-at-home mother raising two young children, adding herself to her husband’s employer-sponsored insurance plan would have cost between $350 and $450 per week in premiums alone — far more thantheir family could afford.

Because Abbey’s epilepsy medication cost about $10 a month without insurance, she decided to stay uninsured. As she put it, “I’ll just hope for the best.”

Without insurance, even routine care is expensive. The appointments Abbey needs to manage her epilepsy cost $218 every six months, and a trip to urgent care for an allergic reaction cost $200 before she even saw a doctor.

For months, Abbey delayed other medical care whenever possible. Then an emergency changed everything.

While eating dinner in January 2025, food became lodged in her throat. Because she feared an emergency room bill she could not afford, she went to bed hoping it would pass on its own. Instead, she woke repeatedly during the night unable to swallow. When she finally sought care the next morning, doctors at Morrow County Hospital told her she was fortunate the blockage had not become fatal while she slept. She underwent emergency surgery to remove the food and had a biopsy performed.

Soon afterward, the medical bills began arriving.

After spending just one day in the hospital for the procedure, Abbey received a bill for more than $17,000, a bill that remains unpaid to this day.

One medication she was prescribed after the incident would have cost more than $1,000, with the less expensive alternative costing about $300, both far beyond her family’s budget. “I only took one dose of it. We couldn’t afford that,” Abbey said.

Like many families living on a single income, Abbey pays her mortgage, utilities, and other essential bills before her medical debt. “The last time I checked, it was like $1,148 that had gone to collections already, and I don’t know the amount that hasn’t gone yet,” she said.

She fears unpaid bills could eventually prevent her from receiving the care she needs. “I’m terrified that it’s going to get to the point where I owe so much to my seizure doctor that she’s just going to stop treating me.” Without those appointments, she could lose access to the medication that controls her seizures, and even her driver’s license.

Finding a little bit of relief, during her second pregnancy, Abbey qualified for Medicaid, which covered her prenatal care, delivery, and postpartum care. “Everything got covered,” she said.

But Medicaid’s protections only went so far. When Abbey developed heart problems during her pregnancy, she was told the specialty care her doctors recommended would not be covered because it was not considered pregnancy related. “I was unable to get half of the treatment that I needed because I couldn’t afford it,” she explained.

Abbey is concerned about what happens when her postpartum Medicaid ends. “My other biggest fear is, God forbid something happens to me because I’m not going to have Medicaid.” Without coverage, even everyday activities feel risky. “I don’t want to leave my house because I fear like, what if I get in a car accident? I won’t have insurance to cover that.” She worries that if she became seriously ill or injured, her husband would have to miss work to care for her and their children, leaving the family without income when they could least afford it. Both of her children currently receive Medicaid and losing that coverage is a terrifying thought. “If these children do not get Medicaid, that is my biggest fear.”

Abbey believes no family should have to choose between paying for health care and meeting basic needs. “I wish that there was a program for stay-at-home moms to be covered on insurance,” she said. “You should not have to pay that much money to just basically live.”

For Abbey, Medicaid has been a lifeline during pregnancy and for her children. But gaps in affordable coverage have left her delaying care, facing medical debt, and living with constant uncertainty. As her postpartum Medicaid coverage nears its end, she remains unsure what comes next. “I’m just going to pray for the best.”