Carlos' Story
When COVID‑19 left Carlos unable to work, uncertainty quickly took over—about his health, his income, and what the future would hold. In this video, Carlos shares his experience navigating that difficult time and how disability insurance provided critical financial support when he needed it most.
This story is a reminder that illness doesn’t just impact your health—it can affect every part of your life. Having the right coverage may help provide stability, peace of mind, and the ability to focus on recovery when the unknown feels overwhelming.
Worrying about the unknown and how I was gonna pay for it really scared me. You don't know the value that big pharma or the hospital's gonna put on it.
From the start of signing on the dotted line to become an American Fidelity policyholder, I felt valued.
One of my roles is to find resources for the students and their families, whether it's food banks, medical resources for them. And one of the things that we love is serving our students, serving the families, because they are our stakeholders. Kern High values its employees and we give a lot of ourselves and the district makes it possible for us to never feel like we're going on empty. In twenty twenty, I was able to look at the benefits that American Fidelity offered and I decided to add certain benefits.
And I'm glad I did because in twenty twenty one, I, along with a lot of people in the world, contracted COVID. I had the original strain, which hospitalized me for three months. Being in the hospital, I began to worry, am I gonna get better? Will I make it out unscathed?
We saw everything on the news that, you know, you in fourteen days, you were either gonna make it out okay or you weren't gonna make it at all. The first week I was in the hospital, thought, okay, I got one week to go. That second week came, there was no change in my condition. Third week rolls along, I'm thinking, okay, this isn't good.
So it wasn't until two months after that I began to see some progress. When I was hospitalized, one of the first things that came to mind was, how am I going to pay for the medical bills? Everything that I was given as part of my treatment was experimental. When I get out of the hospital, I'm not going to be at work right away.
The average person does not have a couple thousand for your medical bills, let alone a couple of millions. So for me, I experienced my first panic attack in the hospital when I saw the bill. But knowing that I had signed up for this benefit with American Fidelity that I could put in a claim and my paycheck was protected, not only with my health insurance but with supplemental insurances through American Fidelity. I never felt like I was a number.
I never felt like I was someone that they saw on the list. I always felt valued as a person. For me, American Fidelity is just, you know, a friend. You never know when you're gonna draw on it.
You never know when you're gonna need it. But it's great knowing that if something does happen, you have protection. You have something to fall back on. You don't have to stress or worry.
I want to let COVID know in twenty twenty one to try to kill me and it missed, and now I'm back.
There may be inaccuracies in an auto-generated transcript.