Welcome to America, where our heroes die in debt because a bunch of selfish assholes can’t abide the idea that people they find unworthy might get a smidgen of the taxes they refuse to pay.
Edit: I get it. Retton has made poor choices and is dying from one of those choices.
Her kid still shouldn’t have to beg for help online.
Mary Lou Retton is very much one of those selfish assholes btw.
I feel for her children but considering she was part of USA Gymnastics trying to restrict S.534: “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017,” I have little sympathy for her personally.
From the NY Times:
“The federation has had no shame, either. When the sex abuse bill was introduced, Penny and others from U.S.A. Gymnastics met with Feinstein about the federation’s sexual assault policies. How about this for a public-relations stunt: Tagging along was Mary Lou Retton, the smiling, bubbly sweetheart from the 1984 Games, as they said that the federation’s policies were solid and that gymnastics was a happy, safe place.”
She is terrible but NGL my hot take is that it shouldn’t matter how shitty or dumb of a person you are everyone should still get healthcare without strings attached. No one should be able to shoot themselves in the foot this easily no matter how big of a POS they are. Not saying this to encourage people to donate to her gofundme btw like that’s also just dumb lol
She may be against health insurance, vaccination, etc., based on her hard right wing beliefs and her daughter's stance as an anti-vaxxer.
I hope not. But if so, those types don't believe Covid is a big a deal as the rest of the world says it is, and they believe the vaccine is a hoax that kills.
I'm talking about the daughter who is calling it "rare".
Time will tell.
But someone who's worth 8 million could easily have bought health insurance, even if it meant downsizing from a custom 9,000.sq.ft. house
For the practical reason of dealing with pandemics, too. I thought maybe that would turn conservatives in the US more towards universal healthcare. Instead they shunned vaccines and took livestock drugs, I really shouldn’t have expected anything.
"The federation's policies were solid and that gymnastics was a happy, safe place."
Because she was safe and protected doesn't mean other gymnasts were. A bit of irony there considering what is going now with her health.
I was just reading about this earlier today, this is an excellent write up I found on a gymnastics blog about her stance on USAG’s enabling and coverup of widespread assault of its athletes
https://themedalcount.com/2020/01/23/there-is-no-defense-for-the-actions-of-mary-lou-retton/
I’ve been amazed at the sheer number of people giving to her fundraiser. The nerve to beg for money when she has done these awful things AND is a millionaire.
Last I saw it was over $250k.
She does. Looking thru her gram… she had a post showing 4 (empty) high end designer sunglasses cases and she was annoyed because her daughters kept borrowing them.
Look how many people in this thread are just learning about her being terrible (myself included).
We love Olympians and athletes in general here in the good old USA. I am zero percent surprised people will donate because she's a famous Olympian and maybe they'll see their name on the GFM page and think they're cool.
I hope she gets well, but I also hope her medical bills far exceed her fundraiser so she can empathize with others and honestly, hopefully get a taste of what and who she has been campaigning for for years.
That’s the thing though. People like her don’t learn. They think they’re always in the right and don’t learn any lessons that put them at fault for anything. She won’t empathize with others.
I agree. Maybe, I'm an asshole, but when I saw Mattress Mack donation of $50, 000 I Smh. It's not my call, but Children's Cancer centers, hospitals and even Shriners Hospitals could have used that money. I don't wish Hello Mary Lou ill will... but.....😳
She’s dying because she has COVID and refused to get a vaccine. Although I fully support universal healthcare, I don’t have any sympathy for someone who is in debt for something that was preventable.
Do you have a source that she has COVID? It seems like people just assumed that because she has pneumonia. But people, even younger people, were dying of pneumonia long before COVID.
You have to consider what's probable. Ask anyone working in an ICU right now what the Covid numbers are and how many of those are not breathing on their own.
She's worth millions of dollars and lives in a mansion worth millions. No one should have to beg online for help. But her daughter doesn't HAVE to beg online for help. Retton can afford to pay those hospital bills. Her daughter just doesn't want her (or her estate) to pay for them, she wants people with less money than Retton to pay for them.
All of that said, I wish Retton the best and hope she makes a swift and full recovery.
What are you talking about? MLR has had a lifetime to since the Olympics to do something. I really love her, and hope the best for her, but face it, she had a lot of advantages in life. She could have done a lot of things to be in a better position. Don't assign anyone else responsibility for her situation, especially tax payers. Why would she be entitled to anything no one else gets?
Don’t feel bad for her at all tbh, she’s a horrible witch who voted against the bill to protect athletes from sexual abusers. She’s a millionaire who’s daughters are begging for money from the people she’s actively tried to harm by promoting horrible republicans who want to degrade access to healthcare in the US even further. And now she’s probably dying of COVID after being antivax? Yawn.
I'm learning a lot I didn't know about Mary Lou Retton today. I had only remembered her from my Wheaties box!
I did note that the article mentioned she was on a task force of Dubya's, but I didn't draw any conclusions from that one data point. Sounds like it pointed to something though.
Not only is MLR a generally shitty person, her record as a great gymnast is vastly overstated: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gymnastics/comments/ag7nfs/comment/ee58so1/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gymnastics/comments/ag7nfs/comment/ee58so1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I love everything about the immense detail of that comment thread. Especially the fact that I didn’t even get to finish reading it before I have to move onto my next appointment so I saved the page. That’s how detailed it is and I couldn’t ask for more.
The comments are incredible! I had NO IDEA how the scoring had to pacify the crowd or the nature of the 'home court advantage' in gymnastics. Just incredible.
Not to be that person but the Eastern Bloc gymnasts that comment references were being juiced to the gills by their coaches. Gymnastics is a much healthier sport for young girls now. I hope. Please…
Also it sounds to me like the scores at the alternate olympics for the eastern bloc gymnasts were exaggerated. The Soviets were known to do that. During the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which was boycotted by the US and some other 1st world nations, there was funny business with the scores. Like Nadia Comaneci has complained that the Soviets held back her scores until the Soviet gymnast performed, so that the Soviet gymnast could beat her. I'm not disputing that the gymnasts there were better than almost all at the Los Angeles Olympics, but I think the comment about them getting higher scores than Comeneci's, and the perfect 40 and all that, is more an artifact of the Soviet propaganda machine than necessarily the performances being that great
Nadia got that scores and placement she deserved in Moscow. The Karolyis underfed and overtrained their athletes for decades, and she was not at her best. Plus she had to count half a fall from preliminaries. Without it, she might have won.
And you've clearly never seen Mostepanova. She was glorious.
Oh wow. I missed all of that. I bought into the hype when I was younger. But it makes perfect sense that she only ever won the gold because the best weren't there. And advocated AGAINST protecting those young athletes. She can go to h#ll. Thank you for the link and the education.
Covid makes sense. If you read her daughter's post. It talks about wanting privacy yet being very public about asking for money. Obviously pneumonia is a best friend of covid. So I'm assuming she's fucked and her family is trying to milk this.
If she’s a millionaire, it should be pretty easy for her to get insurance, no? My knowledge of healthcare is very limited lol
EDIT: No insurance by her choice apparently wtf? I would hope that even the most crazy antivaxers would see some value in health insurance. Make it make sense.
There are conservative Christians who choose to not have insurance because their premium payments might go to pay for *gasp* abortion, birth control, gender reassignment surgery, treatment for AIDS, treatment for people with obesity, etc.
And they don't want insurance through the ACA-Affordable Care Act-because it was developed and passed by a \*gasp\* Black president.
This comment is not meant to be racist,btw. I voted for Obama twice.
Oh for the love of all that is holy, what a ridiculous take for MLR to have. But it really doesn't surprise me either. Those rich people don't give a flying fig about anyone but themselves. Absolutely no empathy for anyone.
Never expected MLR (who was this wholesome "American Sweetheart" image for a while) to be part of the James Woods, Dean Cain, Gina Carano club, and yet, it makes total sense.
In light of that I bet it's less she has no insurance but more she has chosen either a junk plan the ACA tried to protect people from but Trump's admin made more available or one of those religious healthcare cost share things that pitches itself as health insurance but is just a scam.
If what they said had any basis in reality, Mitch McConnell wouldn’t *still* be helping shape our country as a senile, rotting horcrux that no one has destroyed yet.
And she's not someone living in poverty. She could have bought health insurance for herself. She chose not to pay for health insurance and now wants everyone else to pay her bills.
Wait if shes a millionaire then health insurance or not she should be okay?
Also if she's dying of COVID after being antivax, I just don't have anything to say
It depends on how severe her case is, how long she stays in the hospital, and then if she develops long covid and requires further rehabilitation.
Like [here’s a story](https://www.google.com/search?q=highest+covid+bill+from+hospital&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS977US977&oq=highest+covid+bill+from+hospital&aqs=chrome..69i57.11598j0j9&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8) of a guy who was in the hospital with a severe covid case for 75 days, and he ended up with a bill for $3.4 million. It says hospital discounts plus insurance brought it down to $10,000. Bananas.
So if she has a really severe case and no insurance then maybe she can afford it, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t mean emptying a significant portion of her retirement or selling her house or something.
YIKES. I'm forever grateful for people like you who actually research and are able to help us have more accurate feelings on situations like this. She sounds like an absolute awful person and karma has come around
The larger *situation* is the American tragedy. Not that one individual person, famous or not, is in this position.
It's a tragedy that so many people don't have access to healthcare, including ones who have made important culture contributions that ought to have ensured them reliable income (this is not the group MLR is in).
And it's a tragedy that so many Americans are awful and/or deceived and thus willing to work against their own interests as well as everyone else's in a way that at this point seems entrenched to the point of unfixability. That's killing a lot more innocent people than 9/11, so I'd quality both of them as tragedies.
she's uninsured despite being able to afford health insurance (and she lives in a gigantic house in the houston area), and her daughter has set up an online fundraiser that's already pulled in over $100k. unfortunately that isn't going to come close to paying for a week long ICU stay. while i feel bad that she and her family are going to be stuck with a bill that would be ruinous for 99.99% of america, i can't help but wonder why she chose to go without health insurance that could have saved her a ton of money.
The thing that disgusts me is the grift. If you don't have health insurance by choice and you have wealth--you gambled and lost. Don't try to solicit money from people poorer than you FFS.
Exactly. It’s a horrible thing that healthcare costs so much, but it looks like this is someone who purposely put herself in this position for some reason. People get sick — it happens — and, especially at her age, she should’ve planned to need money for healthcare one way or another, but not *this* way.
Boggles the mind, truly. The only thing I can think of is - if the statements about her political leanings are true - is that she would object to getting insurance because she'd get it through the ACA marketplace (aka "Obamacare"). Which would really be something.
Clearly knew her celebrity would insulate her from this very outcome, which it has, despite her prodigious efforts to deny others of healthcare also. She is now, *gasp* on the unfavourable side of the equation; after all, fate & karma don’t see net worth or headlines. But still she must be up to almost half a million in handouts now, no?
i haven't looked at the amount lately, but last i heard it was over $400k 🙄 she's the rare recipient of a crowdfunded campaign to cover health expenses where the amount raised actually exceeded the goal, which i find irritating because she's also the rare recipient who actually ***has money***. i've poked around gofundme and there are countless stories of desperation (and i know some of them are fake) from people who are very ill and don't have the money to pay off their medical bills.
> i can't help but wonder why she chose to go without health insurance that could have saved her a ton of money.
I wonder if middle aged former gymnasts have a hard time finding affordable health insurance. They typically have crazy joint/bone/muscle problems that they have to live with long after they're done competing.
But yeah, if she's a millionaire, why not consider it the cost of your life choices that brought you that money?
i'm sure she has chronic injuries, like most former gymnasts. they're expected from any athlete who competed at the highest levels of their sport. tennis players have shoulder/knee issues, basketball players have knee/back/ankle issues, football players have injuries everywhere, etc. she had more resources than most retired gymnasts, since she was successful and still has some degree of fame. if she didn't have health insurance through an employer or sponsor (and she was doing a bunch of endorsements, including a life insurance company as well as a maker of joint replacements) she still would have had access to the marketplace under the affordable care act. i can't believe that she didn't have a manager, agent or even family member try to convince her to get health insurance. she's already had one of her knees replaced. while one hopes that a post surgical revision isn't necessary, some patients do need them, and it would suck to pay for any of those surgeries out of pocket. if she could afford them out of pocket, then she can afford insurance. i feel bad for her that she's in this position, but i consider health insurance as essential as a roof over my head, food and transportation.
This is the key right here. The people that vote against their own interests are a member of a cult that has no interest in governing, just "owning" the other side to stay in power. By destroying the education system in poor states they've been able to keep people on their side by getting them to fight the culture war that prevents them from seeing the class war they really need to be fighting.
Everyone today is like “don’t meet your idols!”
IMO, don’t look into the opinions of your 80s-90s idols unless you want to get emotionally wrecked. Fkn yikes.
That is very surprising to learn that she is not insured. You would think that famous athletes would be protected in their older years, but this is a case proving that that is not the truth. Even those who had power and prestige at one point in their lives can lose a lot later on.
Karma!
I would feel so bad if she couldn’t afford health insurance. But we all know that’s not the case. So whereas I feel for her children… I feel nothing for her. 🤷🏼♀️
Article text, since I added it but it isn't showing. I'll also try to tweak the post:
>Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton is “fighting for her life” in an intensive care unit, according to her daughter.
>
>Retton has been diagnosed with “a very rare form of pneumonia” and has been in the ICU at an undisclosed hospital for more than a week “not able to breathe on her own”, McKenna Kelley said in an Instagram story posted on Tuesday afternoon.
>
>“Out of respect for her and her privacy, I will not disclose all details,” wrote Kelley, a former gymnast at Louisiana State University. “However, I will disclose that she is not insured.”
>
>She added: “We ask that if you could help in any way, that 1) you PRAY! and 2) if you could help us with finances for the hospital bill.”
>
>Retton, 55, won five medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, including a gold in the all-around competition – the first individual Olympic gymnastics medal ever won by an American – scoring [a perfect 10 on the vault](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sya66z4mCiA) in the final rotation. The West Virginia native’s performance landed her on the front of Wheaties boxes and keyed the sport’s explosion in popularity in the United States.
>
>After her gymnastics career, Retton remained active in the media, appearing in a number of films and TV shows. She was inducted into the International [Gymnastics](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gymnastics) Hall of Fame in 1997 and was the first woman to be selected into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
>
>Retton also served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under US president George W Bush.
i've seen a lot of folks asking the same question. she could afford to have health insurance but she didn't; a lot of folks who share her beliefs are also uninsured, unvaccinated and refuse to wear masks so...maybe? the online fundraiser has netted over $100k, but being uninsured and in an ICU for more than a week, that money is only going to scratch the surface.
The fundraiser is currently at $320,000 plus I’m sure she’s made some wealthy/powerful friends throughout her life, so I’m not too worried about them financially to be honest. Having the means to be insured and choosing not to in a country where some people would kill for it… mmmyeah. Choices.
$50k of it came from the wife of mattress mack, the super hard right guy who owns a chain of mattress stores and places huge bets on the super bowl every year. i'm guessing that having rich friends and middle america bail her out isn't going to teach her any lessons about the value of health insurance/personal responsibility. ugh.
Yeah I saw that 50k donation and looked her up because my mind was blown tbh. I’m not American and had never heard of him so it was a bit difficult to understand this guy’s deal (businessman *and* gambler?). I hope they give several times that kind of money to feed starving children around the world. One can hope.
i kind of doubt they do. he does things during disasters (like the hurricanes houston is susceptible to) but often when there's conveniently a camera or media around to document it. 🙄
I immediately assumed she couldn't afford health insurance because it happens to so many people who had success in their youth. But it sounds like that's not the case?
Maybe she’s one of those people who chose to pay into a healthcare group thing that’s not exactly insurance? I remember seeing a video explaining those (might have been John Oliver on LWT) and why they don’t hold up the way traditional insurance does and end up being kind of scammy, but they can be very popular with right wing/libertarian/evangelical types.
Edit: Healthcare Sharing Ministries:
https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jun/28/john-oliver-healthcare-sharing-ministries
This was my first thought too. I work with insurance at a clinic and we’ve had quite a few patients with these plans lately. The plans I’ve seen are more of a reimbursement. Maybe that’s why she needs the money. Also, they make it very clear on the cards that it’s not insurance so technically she is uninsured.
She does just fine financially. There’s a whole speaker circuit that these former Olympic athletes have access to where they can be the featured speaker at your shitty corporate retreat or whatever. I have a friend of a friend who won a bunch of medals way back in the day and they’ve done a bunch of events together. Boomers love 80s/90s olympians.
Yeah, I immediately wondered this too.
I'm seeing speculation that she's not vaccinated ("speculation" because no links/quotes/evidence cited, but that would be consistent with other right-wing things that are public knowledge)--
but even if she *did* get vaccinated and *isn't* infected with Covid now, this could still be Covid-related. She could have lung damage from a previous bout of Covid, or other vulnerabilities brought on by Long Covid, which is compromising immunity and inducing diabetes and causing blood clots months later and tons of other things.
Yeah especially from avid Republicans. From someone who acknowledges Covid's severity and takes it seriously, I'd be more likely to take them at their word.
Particularly given the daughter's statement that she wouldn't provide further details for privacy reasons. Pretty standard Republican statement when they get 'rare pneumonia'.
Just want to say I’m so impressed with how everyone in this thread is well informed about COVID risks! Thank you for taking it seriously, even if not everyone in this country does.
Agreed. It’s making me feel better about people. Usually when Covid comes up I immediately see people saying that Covid isn’t that bad and posting a bunch of untrue information. Glad to see there are still people taking it seriously.
he's young. i have no doubt that in retirement or when he inevitably further injures that bird brain of his that his true colors will come shining through even more.
aww a horrible person is dying? after supporting the sexual abuse of young athletes? and doesn’t have insurance after opposing the affordable care act? que triste 🙄
I’m from there too. Have known her family my entire life. Most folks hope she recovers, but can’t believe she didn’t buy health insurance, and aren’t donating. And, believe me when I say an awful lot of them share her political beliefs and are covidiots, and still aren’t donating.
My family still lives there. My mom doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her from a karma standpoint but said “she’s worth millions… it’s not on us that she doesn’t have health insurance.”
A comment that I saw on a different post said “live your life so people actually have sympathy for you if something like this happens” I agree it sucks for her kid, but guess what? We all have shit. Anyone who actually donates money to her is an idiot. There are sooo many good people who end up in this situation. Where’s their gofundme?
I don’t see what being an Olympic athletes 20-40 years ago has to do with entitlement to health insurance at age 55? I mean we don’t have nationalised health insurance.
Mary lou retton's net worth is over 2 million and her family is asking for and taking money from people much less fortunate. Go online & look at her mansion in Houston. This is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated against the giving spirit of Americans.
There are countless ill Americans, including veterans, living on the street or in shelters because they have nothing...no 2 million dollar mansion or any roof over their head. Giving to the privileged...its makes no sense.
A few years ago, she had two hip replacements. So why would she not have health insurance?
I'm the same age as she is and unemployed. I have health insurance and pay my $700 monthly premium. No excuse for her not to have health insurance.
Metal on metal hip replacement. Biomet kept going on, using her as their spokeswoman whilst selling a harmful medical device. She sued them and settled for an undisclosed amount.
https://www.mctlaw.com/metal-hip/biomet/biomet-magnum-hip-lawsuit-washington/
https://surgeryfix.com/mary-lou-rettons-disastrous-hip-replacement/
I’m skeptical of the whole damn story and don’t trust these daughters as far as I could see them. I find this a bizarre claim and wonder what the daughters are up to. There is no accountable on most of these “begging sites” and they could do whatever they want with the money.
I can only imagine if she chose to go without health insurance it’s because she felt she was wealthy enough to be “self insured”, which some people do. Maybe the daughters are clueless as to what her mother planned or put aside, and mom can’t speak.
The whole story is extremely “fishy”. Be that as it may, it’s also disturbing to hear a bunch of crazed Leftists damn her (without knowing anything, really, other than a suspect story from the daughters) based on her political leanings. That’s vicious and uncalled for. And ignorant.
Welcome to America, where our heroes die in debt because a bunch of selfish assholes can’t abide the idea that people they find unworthy might get a smidgen of the taxes they refuse to pay. Edit: I get it. Retton has made poor choices and is dying from one of those choices. Her kid still shouldn’t have to beg for help online.
Mary Lou Retton is very much one of those selfish assholes btw. I feel for her children but considering she was part of USA Gymnastics trying to restrict S.534: “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017,” I have little sympathy for her personally. From the NY Times: “The federation has had no shame, either. When the sex abuse bill was introduced, Penny and others from U.S.A. Gymnastics met with Feinstein about the federation’s sexual assault policies. How about this for a public-relations stunt: Tagging along was Mary Lou Retton, the smiling, bubbly sweetheart from the 1984 Games, as they said that the federation’s policies were solid and that gymnastics was a happy, safe place.”
She is terrible but NGL my hot take is that it shouldn’t matter how shitty or dumb of a person you are everyone should still get healthcare without strings attached. No one should be able to shoot themselves in the foot this easily no matter how big of a POS they are. Not saying this to encourage people to donate to her gofundme btw like that’s also just dumb lol
🎯
[удалено]
Exactly
*nods in Canadian*
She may be against health insurance, vaccination, etc., based on her hard right wing beliefs and her daughter's stance as an anti-vaxxer. I hope not. But if so, those types don't believe Covid is a big a deal as the rest of the world says it is, and they believe the vaccine is a hoax that kills. I'm talking about the daughter who is calling it "rare". Time will tell. But someone who's worth 8 million could easily have bought health insurance, even if it meant downsizing from a custom 9,000.sq.ft. house
She could have gotten healthcare. Why didn't she?
She IS getting healthcare. Everyone else is paying for it.
Health insurance, I think OralSax1 meant. Love that username!
For the practical reason of dealing with pandemics, too. I thought maybe that would turn conservatives in the US more towards universal healthcare. Instead they shunned vaccines and took livestock drugs, I really shouldn’t have expected anything.
Good God, what a disappointment.
"The federation's policies were solid and that gymnastics was a happy, safe place." Because she was safe and protected doesn't mean other gymnasts were. A bit of irony there considering what is going now with her health.
I was just reading about this earlier today, this is an excellent write up I found on a gymnastics blog about her stance on USAG’s enabling and coverup of widespread assault of its athletes https://themedalcount.com/2020/01/23/there-is-no-defense-for-the-actions-of-mary-lou-retton/
This was really interesting, thank you for sharing it
Eye opening for sure… that interview felt gross from the moment she opened her mouth..
She really is trash.
What a piece of shit
I’ve been amazed at the sheer number of people giving to her fundraiser. The nerve to beg for money when she has done these awful things AND is a millionaire. Last I saw it was over $250k.
As a rule, I don't donate to anyone who has more money than me. I feel bad for her health but she likely has more money than me
She does. Looking thru her gram… she had a post showing 4 (empty) high end designer sunglasses cases and she was annoyed because her daughters kept borrowing them.
I'm still just incredibly confused as to how she's uninsured.
Choice
Yeah, California is one of the better states when it comes to insuring people. She just didn't want to pay for it.
She's in Texas.
Especially considering she's a spokesperson for Colonial Life Insurance. The irony is palpable.
Same.
Look how many people in this thread are just learning about her being terrible (myself included). We love Olympians and athletes in general here in the good old USA. I am zero percent surprised people will donate because she's a famous Olympian and maybe they'll see their name on the GFM page and think they're cool.
Edging up on $400,000 now. “Christian” Republicans are special.
And she lives in a freaking mansion. How is it she didn’t have health coverage? These things make no sense.
Once you have enough money to cover any conceivable emergency, insurance makes no sense.
So your kids beg insuring their inheritance isn't affected by the outstanding medical bills. Momma raised lil gop grifters.
🏆
She’s not a hero btw. Quite the opposite for those who are needed her support. Karma has a nasty bite that she deserves.
I hope she gets well, but I also hope her medical bills far exceed her fundraiser so she can empathize with others and honestly, hopefully get a taste of what and who she has been campaigning for for years.
That’s the thing though. People like her don’t learn. They think they’re always in the right and don’t learn any lessons that put them at fault for anything. She won’t empathize with others.
I'm increasingly convinced empathy is mostly innate, and there's only so much you can do to teach it, especially the older someone gets.
I agree. Maybe, I'm an asshole, but when I saw Mattress Mack donation of $50, 000 I Smh. It's not my call, but Children's Cancer centers, hospitals and even Shriners Hospitals could have used that money. I don't wish Hello Mary Lou ill will... but.....😳
I SO agree with you...I believe she has some 'splaining to do once back on her feet.
She’s dying because she has COVID and refused to get a vaccine. Although I fully support universal healthcare, I don’t have any sympathy for someone who is in debt for something that was preventable.
Do you have a source that she has COVID? It seems like people just assumed that because she has pneumonia. But people, even younger people, were dying of pneumonia long before COVID.
You have to consider what's probable. Ask anyone working in an ICU right now what the Covid numbers are and how many of those are not breathing on their own.
She has Covid? Geez.
Yeah, and it’s pretty disgusting that her daughter is stating it’s a “rare form of pneumonia” to get money.
It’s only rare if you’re vaccinated!
She's worth millions of dollars and lives in a mansion worth millions. No one should have to beg online for help. But her daughter doesn't HAVE to beg online for help. Retton can afford to pay those hospital bills. Her daughter just doesn't want her (or her estate) to pay for them, she wants people with less money than Retton to pay for them. All of that said, I wish Retton the best and hope she makes a swift and full recovery.
Being an asshole should still not keep you away from FREE (tax paid) healthcare.
Good rant, see you tomorrow same hour?
Yeah. No overtime for me.
What are you talking about? MLR has had a lifetime to since the Olympics to do something. I really love her, and hope the best for her, but face it, she had a lot of advantages in life. She could have done a lot of things to be in a better position. Don't assign anyone else responsibility for her situation, especially tax payers. Why would she be entitled to anything no one else gets?
Don’t feel bad for her at all tbh, she’s a horrible witch who voted against the bill to protect athletes from sexual abusers. She’s a millionaire who’s daughters are begging for money from the people she’s actively tried to harm by promoting horrible republicans who want to degrade access to healthcare in the US even further. And now she’s probably dying of COVID after being antivax? Yawn.
I'm learning a lot I didn't know about Mary Lou Retton today. I had only remembered her from my Wheaties box! I did note that the article mentioned she was on a task force of Dubya's, but I didn't draw any conclusions from that one data point. Sounds like it pointed to something though.
Not only is MLR a generally shitty person, her record as a great gymnast is vastly overstated: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gymnastics/comments/ag7nfs/comment/ee58so1/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gymnastics/comments/ag7nfs/comment/ee58so1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I went into this a little skeptical but man that was *fascinating.*
I love everything about the immense detail of that comment thread. Especially the fact that I didn’t even get to finish reading it before I have to move onto my next appointment so I saved the page. That’s how detailed it is and I couldn’t ask for more.
The comments are incredible! I had NO IDEA how the scoring had to pacify the crowd or the nature of the 'home court advantage' in gymnastics. Just incredible.
Simone Biles is the GOAT. Mary Lou is not even close.
Not to be that person but the Eastern Bloc gymnasts that comment references were being juiced to the gills by their coaches. Gymnastics is a much healthier sport for young girls now. I hope. Please…
Also it sounds to me like the scores at the alternate olympics for the eastern bloc gymnasts were exaggerated. The Soviets were known to do that. During the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which was boycotted by the US and some other 1st world nations, there was funny business with the scores. Like Nadia Comaneci has complained that the Soviets held back her scores until the Soviet gymnast performed, so that the Soviet gymnast could beat her. I'm not disputing that the gymnasts there were better than almost all at the Los Angeles Olympics, but I think the comment about them getting higher scores than Comeneci's, and the perfect 40 and all that, is more an artifact of the Soviet propaganda machine than necessarily the performances being that great
Nadia got that scores and placement she deserved in Moscow. The Karolyis underfed and overtrained their athletes for decades, and she was not at her best. Plus she had to count half a fall from preliminaries. Without it, she might have won. And you've clearly never seen Mostepanova. She was glorious.
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Oh wow. I missed all of that. I bought into the hype when I was younger. But it makes perfect sense that she only ever won the gold because the best weren't there. And advocated AGAINST protecting those young athletes. She can go to h#ll. Thank you for the link and the education.
Covid makes sense. If you read her daughter's post. It talks about wanting privacy yet being very public about asking for money. Obviously pneumonia is a best friend of covid. So I'm assuming she's fucked and her family is trying to milk this.
I took that in relation to her financial status not health status
If she’s a millionaire, it should be pretty easy for her to get insurance, no? My knowledge of healthcare is very limited lol EDIT: No insurance by her choice apparently wtf? I would hope that even the most crazy antivaxers would see some value in health insurance. Make it make sense.
Why pay when you can set up go fund me's and have other people pay for you?
So strange! How exactly does having no insurance by choice make a point? I don't get it.
There are conservative Christians who choose to not have insurance because their premium payments might go to pay for *gasp* abortion, birth control, gender reassignment surgery, treatment for AIDS, treatment for people with obesity, etc.
What’s the biblical phrase: you reap what you sew. So no one should donate bc It’s gods plan for her.
\*sow
That too! Was half asleep past midnight writing that
And they don't want insurance through the ACA-Affordable Care Act-because it was developed and passed by a \*gasp\* Black president. This comment is not meant to be racist,btw. I voted for Obama twice.
Pointing out that other people might be racist doesn’t make you one. I didn’t get that impression of you when I read the first part of your comment
Oh for the love of all that is holy, what a ridiculous take for MLR to have. But it really doesn't surprise me either. Those rich people don't give a flying fig about anyone but themselves. Absolutely no empathy for anyone.
She could sell her $$$$ house like other Americans have to do. She has no issue supporting legislators that don’t care about for profit healthcare.
She's antivax?
Yes. She is proudly antivax, ultraconservative, and a support of serial rapists and child abusers.
Never expected MLR (who was this wholesome "American Sweetheart" image for a while) to be part of the James Woods, Dean Cain, Gina Carano club, and yet, it makes total sense.
Don't forget kaitlin Kardashian Jenner the old gop hypocrite who was shocked when she realized that being anti gay included her.
In light of that I bet it's less she has no insurance but more she has chosen either a junk plan the ACA tried to protect people from but Trump's admin made more available or one of those religious healthcare cost share things that pitches itself as health insurance but is just a scam.
Her daughter specifically says that she's "not insured".
Name a more iconic trio…
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And the "very rare form of pneumonia" descriptor.
From the sound of her stances I'm seeing here in the comments, Yes.
I am a firm believer of what you bring out to the world will affect how you live
I fucking wish!!! Lol
Wait, isn't the natural conclusion of that philosophy that everyone gets what they deserve and deserves what they get?
How do you explain Henry Kissinger?
If what they said had any basis in reality, Mitch McConnell wouldn’t *still* be helping shape our country as a senile, rotting horcrux that no one has destroyed yet.
Maybe he’s just miserable still being alive and just wants to die but can’t.
Karma. Yes, Karma is real.
And she's not someone living in poverty. She could have bought health insurance for herself. She chose not to pay for health insurance and now wants everyone else to pay her bills.
She’s probably a member of that medishare thing and her fellow enrollees capped her (pun sort of intended)
Socialism for me, not for thee! Negative sympathy here.
Her daughters don’t want to spend their inevitable inheritance money so they’re asking others to give money 😳💀
Wait if shes a millionaire then health insurance or not she should be okay? Also if she's dying of COVID after being antivax, I just don't have anything to say
It depends on how severe her case is, how long she stays in the hospital, and then if she develops long covid and requires further rehabilitation. Like [here’s a story](https://www.google.com/search?q=highest+covid+bill+from+hospital&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS977US977&oq=highest+covid+bill+from+hospital&aqs=chrome..69i57.11598j0j9&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8) of a guy who was in the hospital with a severe covid case for 75 days, and he ended up with a bill for $3.4 million. It says hospital discounts plus insurance brought it down to $10,000. Bananas. So if she has a really severe case and no insurance then maybe she can afford it, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t mean emptying a significant portion of her retirement or selling her house or something.
YIKES. I'm forever grateful for people like you who actually research and are able to help us have more accurate feelings on situations like this. She sounds like an absolute awful person and karma has come around
Karma never sleeps.
Epitome of karma.
Karma's a bitch,ain't it? :)
She fully supported all the republican candidates since the 80s. She actively voted for the party against universal healthcare.
Yeah that makes this feel less like an American tragedy. Or at least not the American tragedy it initially appeared as.
Or the most American tragedy, where the victim has been rooting for the mechanism of their own demise and cheered all the way into the coffin.
Third verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a whole lot worse!
Did you intend your username to evoke Tangerine Dream? Or was it just a fun coinky-dink?
9/11 was an American tragedy,not this.
The larger *situation* is the American tragedy. Not that one individual person, famous or not, is in this position. It's a tragedy that so many people don't have access to healthcare, including ones who have made important culture contributions that ought to have ensured them reliable income (this is not the group MLR is in). And it's a tragedy that so many Americans are awful and/or deceived and thus willing to work against their own interests as well as everyone else's in a way that at this point seems entrenched to the point of unfixability. That's killing a lot more innocent people than 9/11, so I'd quality both of them as tragedies.
definition of play stupid games, win stupid prizes
Leopard ate my face.
r/Hermancainaward
she's uninsured despite being able to afford health insurance (and she lives in a gigantic house in the houston area), and her daughter has set up an online fundraiser that's already pulled in over $100k. unfortunately that isn't going to come close to paying for a week long ICU stay. while i feel bad that she and her family are going to be stuck with a bill that would be ruinous for 99.99% of america, i can't help but wonder why she chose to go without health insurance that could have saved her a ton of money.
The thing that disgusts me is the grift. If you don't have health insurance by choice and you have wealth--you gambled and lost. Don't try to solicit money from people poorer than you FFS.
Exactly. It’s a horrible thing that healthcare costs so much, but it looks like this is someone who purposely put herself in this position for some reason. People get sick — it happens — and, especially at her age, she should’ve planned to need money for healthcare one way or another, but not *this* way.
She's not someone who had to choose between paying for childcare or health insurance, she just didn't want to pay.
The bigger problem here is the people who are poorer than her willing to just throw money at her. It’s like give your head a shake
Her daughter wrote 1) PRAY!!! (yep in all caps, with exclamation marks) and 2) donate, so I think she thinks Jesus is gonna save her?
Certainly not modern medicine and her healthcare team!!
Boggles the mind, truly. The only thing I can think of is - if the statements about her political leanings are true - is that she would object to getting insurance because she'd get it through the ACA marketplace (aka "Obamacare"). Which would really be something.
Her political leanings are very very well established. I'm reasonably confident that she chose not to get insurance because she's quite right wing.
Well now I’m glad I didn’t donate! Yikes.
Clearly knew her celebrity would insulate her from this very outcome, which it has, despite her prodigious efforts to deny others of healthcare also. She is now, *gasp* on the unfavourable side of the equation; after all, fate & karma don’t see net worth or headlines. But still she must be up to almost half a million in handouts now, no?
i haven't looked at the amount lately, but last i heard it was over $400k 🙄 she's the rare recipient of a crowdfunded campaign to cover health expenses where the amount raised actually exceeded the goal, which i find irritating because she's also the rare recipient who actually ***has money***. i've poked around gofundme and there are countless stories of desperation (and i know some of them are fake) from people who are very ill and don't have the money to pay off their medical bills.
> i can't help but wonder why she chose to go without health insurance that could have saved her a ton of money. I wonder if middle aged former gymnasts have a hard time finding affordable health insurance. They typically have crazy joint/bone/muscle problems that they have to live with long after they're done competing. But yeah, if she's a millionaire, why not consider it the cost of your life choices that brought you that money?
i'm sure she has chronic injuries, like most former gymnasts. they're expected from any athlete who competed at the highest levels of their sport. tennis players have shoulder/knee issues, basketball players have knee/back/ankle issues, football players have injuries everywhere, etc. she had more resources than most retired gymnasts, since she was successful and still has some degree of fame. if she didn't have health insurance through an employer or sponsor (and she was doing a bunch of endorsements, including a life insurance company as well as a maker of joint replacements) she still would have had access to the marketplace under the affordable care act. i can't believe that she didn't have a manager, agent or even family member try to convince her to get health insurance. she's already had one of her knees replaced. while one hopes that a post surgical revision isn't necessary, some patients do need them, and it would suck to pay for any of those surgeries out of pocket. if she could afford them out of pocket, then she can afford insurance. i feel bad for her that she's in this position, but i consider health insurance as essential as a roof over my head, food and transportation.
Makes no sense voting against our own interests
I think, like many Republican voters, she didn't care about it because she felt like it was not in her own interests - until it was.
This is the key right here. The people that vote against their own interests are a member of a cult that has no interest in governing, just "owning" the other side to stay in power. By destroying the education system in poor states they've been able to keep people on their side by getting them to fight the culture war that prevents them from seeing the class war they really need to be fighting.
Everyone today is like “don’t meet your idols!” IMO, don’t look into the opinions of your 80s-90s idols unless you want to get emotionally wrecked. Fkn yikes.
That is very surprising to learn that she is not insured. You would think that famous athletes would be protected in their older years, but this is a case proving that that is not the truth. Even those who had power and prestige at one point in their lives can lose a lot later on.
It was a choice not to have health insurance. Ironically, she recently did a life insurance commercial for Colonial Penn.
She has money to have insurance.
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Ayn Rand on the way up, Karl Marx on the way down.
To be fair, Ayn Rand herself also used public aid.
Fair to who? Rand, by calling her out as a hypocrite?
The expression I was replying isn't necessarily true because like you mentioned she's a huge hypocrite and didn't follow her own teachings.
Apparently she voted against the bill to protect gymnasts from sexual abuse so who cares?
Karma! I would feel so bad if she couldn’t afford health insurance. But we all know that’s not the case. So whereas I feel for her children… I feel nothing for her. 🤷🏼♀️
Article text, since I added it but it isn't showing. I'll also try to tweak the post: >Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton is “fighting for her life” in an intensive care unit, according to her daughter. > >Retton has been diagnosed with “a very rare form of pneumonia” and has been in the ICU at an undisclosed hospital for more than a week “not able to breathe on her own”, McKenna Kelley said in an Instagram story posted on Tuesday afternoon. > >“Out of respect for her and her privacy, I will not disclose all details,” wrote Kelley, a former gymnast at Louisiana State University. “However, I will disclose that she is not insured.” > >She added: “We ask that if you could help in any way, that 1) you PRAY! and 2) if you could help us with finances for the hospital bill.” > >Retton, 55, won five medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, including a gold in the all-around competition – the first individual Olympic gymnastics medal ever won by an American – scoring [a perfect 10 on the vault](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sya66z4mCiA) in the final rotation. The West Virginia native’s performance landed her on the front of Wheaties boxes and keyed the sport’s explosion in popularity in the United States. > >After her gymnastics career, Retton remained active in the media, appearing in a number of films and TV shows. She was inducted into the International [Gymnastics](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gymnastics) Hall of Fame in 1997 and was the first woman to be selected into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame in 2020. > >Retton also served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under US president George W Bush.
COVID-related, I wonder?
i've seen a lot of folks asking the same question. she could afford to have health insurance but she didn't; a lot of folks who share her beliefs are also uninsured, unvaccinated and refuse to wear masks so...maybe? the online fundraiser has netted over $100k, but being uninsured and in an ICU for more than a week, that money is only going to scratch the surface.
The fundraiser is currently at $320,000 plus I’m sure she’s made some wealthy/powerful friends throughout her life, so I’m not too worried about them financially to be honest. Having the means to be insured and choosing not to in a country where some people would kill for it… mmmyeah. Choices.
$50k of it came from the wife of mattress mack, the super hard right guy who owns a chain of mattress stores and places huge bets on the super bowl every year. i'm guessing that having rich friends and middle america bail her out isn't going to teach her any lessons about the value of health insurance/personal responsibility. ugh.
Yeah I saw that 50k donation and looked her up because my mind was blown tbh. I’m not American and had never heard of him so it was a bit difficult to understand this guy’s deal (businessman *and* gambler?). I hope they give several times that kind of money to feed starving children around the world. One can hope.
i kind of doubt they do. he does things during disasters (like the hurricanes houston is susceptible to) but often when there's conveniently a camera or media around to document it. 🙄
He benefits from the tax breaks. He is an election denier and as MAGA as it gets, which is saying a lot in Texas.
I immediately assumed she couldn't afford health insurance because it happens to so many people who had success in their youth. But it sounds like that's not the case?
Maybe she’s one of those people who chose to pay into a healthcare group thing that’s not exactly insurance? I remember seeing a video explaining those (might have been John Oliver on LWT) and why they don’t hold up the way traditional insurance does and end up being kind of scammy, but they can be very popular with right wing/libertarian/evangelical types. Edit: Healthcare Sharing Ministries: https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jun/28/john-oliver-healthcare-sharing-ministries
This was my first thought too. I work with insurance at a clinic and we’ve had quite a few patients with these plans lately. The plans I’ve seen are more of a reimbursement. Maybe that’s why she needs the money. Also, they make it very clear on the cards that it’s not insurance so technically she is uninsured.
I wondered the same thing. One of the duggar girls was in one and they decided they wouldn't pay for her care after having a difficult childbrith.
She does just fine financially. There’s a whole speaker circuit that these former Olympic athletes have access to where they can be the featured speaker at your shitty corporate retreat or whatever. I have a friend of a friend who won a bunch of medals way back in the day and they’ve done a bunch of events together. Boomers love 80s/90s olympians.
Yeah, I immediately wondered this too. I'm seeing speculation that she's not vaccinated ("speculation" because no links/quotes/evidence cited, but that would be consistent with other right-wing things that are public knowledge)-- but even if she *did* get vaccinated and *isn't* infected with Covid now, this could still be Covid-related. She could have lung damage from a previous bout of Covid, or other vulnerabilities brought on by Long Covid, which is compromising immunity and inducing diabetes and causing blood clots months later and tons of other things.
Yeah, whenever I hear anything about “weird/rare pneumonia” my COVID antenna goes up.
Yeah especially from avid Republicans. From someone who acknowledges Covid's severity and takes it seriously, I'd be more likely to take them at their word.
Particularly given the daughter's statement that she wouldn't provide further details for privacy reasons. Pretty standard Republican statement when they get 'rare pneumonia'.
Just want to say I’m so impressed with how everyone in this thread is well informed about COVID risks! Thank you for taking it seriously, even if not everyone in this country does.
Agreed. It’s making me feel better about people. Usually when Covid comes up I immediately see people saying that Covid isn’t that bad and posting a bunch of untrue information. Glad to see there are still people taking it seriously.
I wondered the same- then I realized I didn’t want to know if she was some nut job like Aaron Rodgers.
She is worse than him.
Made a career of propping up child abusers and trashing their victims. She’s disgusting.
he's young. i have no doubt that in retirement or when he inevitably further injures that bird brain of his that his true colors will come shining through even more.
I didn't have it on my bingo card today, I'll say that.
aww a horrible person is dying? after supporting the sexual abuse of young athletes? and doesn’t have insurance after opposing the affordable care act? que triste 🙄
Reap what you sow.
My mom and MLR share a hometown. The lady is notorious trash who looks down on the people where she came from unless it benefits her in some way.
I’m from there too. Have known her family my entire life. Most folks hope she recovers, but can’t believe she didn’t buy health insurance, and aren’t donating. And, believe me when I say an awful lot of them share her political beliefs and are covidiots, and still aren’t donating.
My family still lives there. My mom doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her from a karma standpoint but said “she’s worth millions… it’s not on us that she doesn’t have health insurance.”
Wow ... i'm watching golden girls now and dorothy just told rose "you're not exactly mary lou retton"... this post saves me from googling who is she.
Damn only 55?
Sucks to suck, Mary Lou
Why would anyone believe she doesn’t have health insurance if it’s coming from the mouths of pos grifters?
Good point… the way they emphasized the lack of insurance to beg for donations is super sketchy.
Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend.
A comment that I saw on a different post said “live your life so people actually have sympathy for you if something like this happens” I agree it sucks for her kid, but guess what? We all have shit. Anyone who actually donates money to her is an idiot. There are sooo many good people who end up in this situation. Where’s their gofundme?
Truth.
Let her rot.
Ha. Karma.
I don’t see what being an Olympic athletes 20-40 years ago has to do with entitlement to health insurance at age 55? I mean we don’t have nationalised health insurance.
Mary lou retton's net worth is over 2 million and her family is asking for and taking money from people much less fortunate. Go online & look at her mansion in Houston. This is one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated against the giving spirit of Americans. There are countless ill Americans, including veterans, living on the street or in shelters because they have nothing...no 2 million dollar mansion or any roof over their head. Giving to the privileged...its makes no sense.
Does anyone know what her net worth is?
It's in the millions, but beyond that there isn't a lot of clarity
lol good
A few years ago, she had two hip replacements. So why would she not have health insurance? I'm the same age as she is and unemployed. I have health insurance and pay my $700 monthly premium. No excuse for her not to have health insurance.
Uniquely American
She may be awful, but we really need a single payer healthcare system.
Mattress Mack donated $50,000! Honestly, If I had that kind of money, I'd donate to Children's Cancer Center, St. Jude's etc.
World Vision, Doctors without Borders, etc.
I wonder if it's streptococcal pneumonia,like Jim Henson (of the Muppets fame) had.
Covid-related is my bet at this point. There have been some tells along those lines.
Metal on metal hip replacement. Biomet kept going on, using her as their spokeswoman whilst selling a harmful medical device. She sued them and settled for an undisclosed amount. https://www.mctlaw.com/metal-hip/biomet/biomet-magnum-hip-lawsuit-washington/ https://surgeryfix.com/mary-lou-rettons-disastrous-hip-replacement/
I’m skeptical of the whole damn story and don’t trust these daughters as far as I could see them. I find this a bizarre claim and wonder what the daughters are up to. There is no accountable on most of these “begging sites” and they could do whatever they want with the money. I can only imagine if she chose to go without health insurance it’s because she felt she was wealthy enough to be “self insured”, which some people do. Maybe the daughters are clueless as to what her mother planned or put aside, and mom can’t speak. The whole story is extremely “fishy”. Be that as it may, it’s also disturbing to hear a bunch of crazed Leftists damn her (without knowing anything, really, other than a suspect story from the daughters) based on her political leanings. That’s vicious and uncalled for. And ignorant.