For Florida’s uninsured, hospitalization for COVID-19 can be a $35,000 sucker punch

Norma Duarte, a 46-year-old stay-at-home mother of three, does not have health insurance. Neither does her oldest son, 19, nor her 42-year-old husband. The family resides in Mendota, a small rural town west of Fresno, California ⁠— a state that is now one of the epicenters of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the United States.

Duarte’s husband used to work for a pesticide company and made around $40,000 a year ⁠— just “enough to pay the bills”, she said. He lost his job a little more than a month ago. She worries about what might happen if someone in the family falls sick.

McClatchy DC