Erica Kahn was not ready for what happened to her at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona. The Massachusetts woman soaking in the view when a bat flew into her mouth. The incident cost her medical bills worth $21,000, none of which she could pay through her medical insurance. The strange story was first reported by KFF News on Thursday. It was night time when she was sightseeing at the canyon, admiring the night sky, when suddenly a bat flew towards her. It got caught between her mouth and the camera. A part of the creature entered her mouth. “It got kind of tangled between my face and the camera”, she said, adding while it was only for a few seconds, it felt a lot longer. This caused a health scare as bats are know to carry several viruses. Her father, who was travelling with her, suggested she takes preventive measures and not wait for any symptoms to show up. “It was kind of dark out and we were out on a cliff, so I was looking down and at my camera, I didn’t really see it coming,” she told NBC News on Friday. The problem was that she didn’t have any health insurance since the 33-year-old had left her job as a biomedical engineer.
Kahn had declined to continue with her former employer’s insurance which required her to pay $650 a month through COBRA, the federal continuation of health coverage law. She figured she was young and healthy, so she took her chances. When her father pushed her to get care for rabies, she bought a new insurance online before going to the doctor. She then got her rabies vaccinations and treatment in Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts. Kahn assumed her insurance paid for it. However, this was not the case since her coverage did not start immediately. She started getting bills worth a total of $20,749. The 30-day waiting period meant she could not use it for the rabies shots. Medical insurance with most companies almost never starts immediately. Kahn is frustrated about this, just like others. “It should be a human right to have lifesaving care covered,” she said. She cited the example of Europe presumably people can get rabies vaccines for free.
She now regrets not opting for the continuation of her health plan, or purchasing private insurance after she left. “I should have done COBRA, even though it was very expensive,” Kahn said. “But yeah, hindsight is 20/20.” Kahn has almost $21,000 in bills to pay and hopes others will learn from her case.