I have to admit I'm confused. If he was working, was it for a company that didn't have insurance, or did they drop him because of pre-existing conditions? (Which is supposed to be illegal, but I'm not naive enough to think it doesn't still happen.) Or was it a case of running up a huge deductible, which I can certainly understand, as my own insurance has a $2000 deductible and 8% co-pay in the event of hospitalization.