Intro
When you play outdoors, injuries happen. And all too often, these injuries result in significant out-of-pocket medical bills that make the whole situation even worse — and sometimes keep us from getting the medical attention we need. We launched BLISTER+ to address this, and here, our reviewers share some of their personal stories to illustrate why this BLISTER+ injury coverage is so valuable, who will benefit from it, and how it works.
Jonathan Ellsworth
Last year, I was near the end of one of my go-to mountain bike rides in Crested Butte. I was past all the techy gnar stuff, was just riding it out to the road. But out of nowhere, I slammed to the ground. I couldn’t breathe, I was dazed and confused, and I thought I had dislocated my shoulder.
So I had a friend drive me to the emergency room, where they ran a number of tests, took x-ray and MRI images — but didn’t perform any surgeries or give me stitches or put me in a cast or anything like that. They just ran tests. And those tests revealed that I had broken four ribs and torn all the ligaments in my shoulder.
I got a bill from that hospital visit for $12,894.70. And even with my expensive monthly insurance (I pay $563.31 a month), I still had to pay about $8,000 out of my own pocket to meet my deductible.
With BLISTER+, I would have paid $0.
Dylan Wood
I pulled my adductor in the terrain park earlier this season, and I was not going to get my leg checked out on the chance that doing so would leave me with a fairly hefty bill for the doctor’s visit (even if the doctor said the injury wasn’t too serious). Then I remembered that I have BLISTER+, and I’d be covered for a trip to the doctor to make sure I hadn’t done some serious damage.
So I went and got my leg checked out. I was prescribed physical therapy, and BLISTER+ covered that, too. I went as often as I needed to, not having to worry about the cost of each session and whether or not it was “worth it.”
Without BLISTER+, I wouldn’t have gone to see a doctor, I wouldn’t have gotten physical therapy, and I probably would have limped my way through my early season, perhaps even missing a big upcoming ski trip I have planned. BLISTER+ allowed me to get the proper care I needed without worrying about the cost.
Luke Koppa
One instance a few years ago is a great example of why I signed up for BLISTER+ as soon as I could. On a late-fall mountain bike ride, I ended up taking one of the worst crashes I’ve experienced on a bike; in short, an OTB directly into a bunch of blocks of granite.
Once I hobbled home, I knew I’d done at least a bit more than just scrape and bruise myself. After some nervous WebMD-ing, I figured I’d likely broken some ribs.
But that’s basically where things ended — no doctor visit, just limping around in pretty substantial pain for a couple weeks. The reason for that was simple: I didn’t want to pay for an X-ray or, god forbid, a very pricy MRI.
However, I know that would’ve played out very differently had it been after I’d enrolled in BLISTER+. While I mostly signed up with catastrophic injuries in mind, this sort of scenario has been way more common in my life: I have a somewhat minor injury, try to be an internet doctor, then just deal with the consequences on my own.
Kara Williard
Soon after I got off my parent’s insurance plan, I opted for a “catastrophic” insurance plan with a low monthly bill and very high deductible, seeing as I rarely get sick and was an overconfident 26-year-old. That same year, I was backcountry skiing in Japan in what turned out to be some very grabby, breakable crust. I ended up getting caught up in the thick crust, had a twisting fall, and heard my ACL pop. Not good.
I then mostly just tried to ignore how bad my knee actually was — particularly since I was in the middle of a ski trip; my summer MTB guiding job required a functional knee; and I knew even just getting it checked would be expensive. So I finally caved and ended up paying $3,000 for an MRI, which then led to a $10,000+ ACL reconstruction surgery. With a $10,000 deductible at the time and having to then go with an out-of-network physical therapist, the bills quickly added up.
If I had BLISTER+ at the time, the MRI, surgery, and physical therapy all would have been covered, and I would not have ended up paying anything.
David Golay
A catastrophic knee injury in 2019 cost me not only most of a mountain biking season, but also a pile of money. BLISTER+ would have saved me close to $10,000 and very likely meant that I got better physical therapy to help with the recovery.