- Sumir Beaspal, a 36-year-old father, is one of the millions of people who lost his job and his
health insurance because of the coronavirus pandemic. - Beaspal's wife, Arti, 32, is seven months pregnant and waiting on her citizenship application.
- She won't be able to qualify for Medicaid until she gives birth in June, meaning that if anything goes wrong before that, the family could face large out-of-pocket medical bills.
- Their story illustrates the healthcare challenges facing millions as they lose work amid the pandemic.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Sumir Beaspal and his wife, Arti Beaspal, haven't received their coronavirus stimulus check yet, but they already know what they're going to do with it.
Sumir recently lost his job and private health insurance because of a pandemic-related shutdown. Arti's not working because she's pregnant. And as for the stimulus check? They'll be setting it aside for medical bills.
Their situation is similar to millions of others who've lost their earnings and benefits following state lockdowns and stay-at-home orders to protect against the coronavirus.
Thanks to a provision in the Affordable Care Act, Sumir, 36, and their three-year-old son were just able to sign up for Medicaid. They're both US citizens.
But Arti, 32, who is more than seven months pregnant, hasn't lived in the US long enough to qualify for public insurance.
Arti has been a permanent resident for four years and has started her citizenship application. Sumir suspects there's a backlog of applications because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Because of state and federal laws, Arti will be covered by emergency Medicaid when she gives birth, but until then she's uninsured, opening the family up to large out-of-pocket medical expenses.
"This could not happen at a worse time," Sumir said when he first emailed Business Insider about his story.
You can tell Business Insider about the healthcare costs you're facing by emailing senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard.
The loss of job and insurance came all at once
Sumir's family immigrated to the US from India when he was 2-and-a-half years old, and he became a US citizen in 1991. Six years ago, he married Arti in Punjab, India, and she moved to the US two years later. They made a home in Sparks, Nevada, a suburb outside of Reno close to extended family.
Sumir had just started a new job in February with Monin Gourmet Flavorings, a syrups supplier, when the coronavirus pandemic capsized his family's life.
He'd recently returned from a three-week training in Clearwater, Florida, where he learned how to be an inventory coordinator at the company's new location in Washoe County, Nevada.
Then, the coronavirus pandemic shuttered restaurants and bars across the country. That caused Monin to take a direct financial hit, and on March 20, Sumir was among employees who were laid off. He was also laid off from a second job as a server at a restaurant.
He said the
By March, Arti had already taken leave from work ahead of her delivery because she wasn't supposed to lift anything heavy. Until mid-February, she had been working 35 to 38 hours a week at a hospital. Because her hours were technically not full time, she's not getting paid during her leave.
Sumir's biggest worry is about his wife's health insurance coverage, but he said he tries to stay positive. He's been able to clean and reorganize his home, and to spend far more time with his son than when he was working two jobs.
There are some ways for the uninsured to get coverage, but Arti falls through the cracks
Sumir has been unemployed for about a month now. He's been able receive unemployment benefits and starting this month his family will get food assistance. They're expecting to receive their coronavirus stimulus check in the mail soon.
Sumir and his son also were able to sign up for Medicaid, a government program that pays for healthcare for low-income people.
To keep his wife covered, Sumir looked into continuing his workplace health insurance via an option called COBRA, but that would have cost him more than $2,000 a month. In the Affordable Care Act's marketplace, a plan would have cost $857.75 a month at a minimum, according to documentation he shared with Business Insider.
Sumir and his son can qualify for Medicaid because eligibility is determined based on monthly income. Subsidies in the ACA's marketplaces are based on annual income, meaning the family would get less help.
Right now, Arti isn't able to enroll in Medicaid like her son and husband because she only moved from India to the US four years ago. Typically, people who are uninsured can sign up for Medicaid at any point in their pregnancy, and can stay on the program until 60 days after they give birth.
But lawfully residing immigrants have to wait five years before they're eligible for certain benefits, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or ACOG. Some states waive the requirement, but Nevada isn't among them.
Nevada also hasn't enacted a provision available in 16 other states known as the "unborn child" option, which offers Medicaid coverage from conception until age 19. It's one way to indirectly give non-citizen pregnant people prenatal care.
For women in Arti's situation, emergency Medicaid only starts when they arrive at the hospital ready to give birth, according to ACOG. In the meantime, the Beaspals are working on a payment plan with Arti's doctor to cover her checkups.
A close call while uninsured
The Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services determines eligibility for emergency Medicaid using a few criteria, including if people have an ongoing medical condition that requires them to seek repeated emergency care.
"A pregnancy by itself may not be considered a chronic ongoing condition unless there was a need for reoccurring emergency medical services," a spokeswoman at the agency said.
One way non-citizens can get discounted care is by going to a federally qualified health center. Hospitals have to treat people who comes through their doors in an emergency until they're stabilized, and some people can work out discounts or qualify for charity care.
But it's not always easy to determine when to go to the hospital. The family knows how expensive it can be to seek medical care even with health insurance coverage. Sumir recalled spending hundreds of dollars from his paycheck on premiums every month to cover his family with insurance from a previous job, but still facing large bills at the hospital when he sought care for his son and his wife.
Each time, he came up with a payment plan with the hospital and was able to negotiate costs down a little. But the idea of facing such costs now, when the family doesn't have income, is even more harrowing.
"This whole situation has put a lot of stress on me, especially being pregnant without any insurance," Arti, whose third language is English, said in an email interview. "Sometimes I have to hold down myself depending on the severity of the pain, knowing that I don't have any insurance. I can ask him to take me to the ER or hospital, I know he won't say no, but I have to balance out the severity of it."
The family faced that fear earlier this month when Arti grew concerned after she couldn't feel her baby moving. Her obstetrician had given her a chart showing that the baby needed to be moving several times every few hours, and she'd been diligent about keeping track.
The Beaspals weighed whether to go to the emergency room, calling the hospital to assess whether they should be worried. When they called Arti's cousin, a nurse who also recently had a baby, she suggested drinking fluids, saying the baby might be sleeping. The suggestion worked — the baby started moving and when they called the hospital again it sounded like they were in the clear.
"We could have potentially gone to the hospital on Saturday without any insurance," Beaspal said. "I'm not sure how much that bill would have been."
Are you among the millions of Americans who have lost their health insurance due to the coronavirus pandemic? Share your story with senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard at kleonard@businessinsider.com.
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