Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
WESTFORD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Erica Kahn went stargazing at Horseshoe Bend in Arizona with her dad last year, hoping to snap some sight-seeing photos of the stars one night. Instead, she was met with a bat between her face and camera. When she screamed, the bat shot into her open mouth for a brief moment, but that was enough.
“I don't know what part of it went in my mouth – maybe the wing, maybe the head,” Kahn said.
The Westford woman knew she'd need the rabies vaccine, but the timing was uniquely bad. The unusual incident happened when Kahn was unemployed and without health coverage for more than a week last summer. She tried buying last-minute insurance post-bat encounter, but was eventually refused coverage.
She now faces around $20,000 in out-of-pocket medical bills, and followed up with WBZ NewsRadio about what flaws she found in the healthcare system after being left to pay off the debt.
One question that crossed her mind was, “Why is our healthcare tied to a job?”
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The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act allows workers and families to continue their health coverage for an extended period of time despite job loss – a decision Kahn said she regrets not taking because it appeared to be the costlier option at the time and she didn't have any income.
Still, it surprised her to see an expensive price tag attached to the seven rabies shots she received.
While Kahn has since returned to the workforce as a biomedical engineer, she created a GoFundMe to alleviate some of this financial burden. She also said she plans to donate half of the proceeds to the United Nations Children's Fund to help families who need health care.
This was an incident that left a memorable taste in her mouth.
“It [the bat] has an earthy, kind of sweet flavor… which I hope no one ever has to know besides me,” she said.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.