The Injury That Ended Corey Koskie's Career Spurred His Post-Baseball Calling

A concussion Corey Koskie suffered while playing for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2006 ended his career. He was two years from his final season with the Minnesota Twins, where the 6’3”, 215 lbs. third baseman from rural Manitoba hit .280/.373/.463 from 1998 to 2004.

The Twins welcomed Koskie into their team Hall of Fame on Sunday. It was a fitting tribute to a player most Twins fans remember, but few recognize nationally. One of Us, only he grew up 500 miles from the Twin Cities.

However, his celebration is a reminder that he ended his career with a head injury and a large medical bill.

“When I dealt with my concussion, I had $250,000 in medical bills that nobody’s paying for,” said Koskie, who Baseball Reference estimates made over $26 million in his career. “I went through health insurance. They’re like, ‘No, it happened at work.’ Work comp said, ‘No, you have exercise-induced anxiety. You don’t have a concussion.’

“So, I’m going to these doctors. I keep paying the bills, and nobody’s paying the bills for me.”

Koskie said he eventually reduced his healthcare costs. Still, his experience in recovering from his concussion inspired him to create the Elevate Advisor Group, a foundation that makes healthcare affordable for everyday people.

“I think it was under six figures,” he said. “Still, I had to write that check. But who can do that? I had played nine years at the big league level. If I were at a different point in my life, who knows what that story would have been?

“But this is what real people deal with. It’s overwhelming, and it sucks.”

Koskie became a serial entrepreneur after retiring from baseball. “After my playing career, I started and ran a few different companies,” Koskie writes on Elevate’s website.

“As those companies grew and we started hiring more people, I wanted to provide my employees with health insurance. I was presented with either outrageously expensive plans or plans that didn’t provide the coverage my employees needed.

“I will be part of the team that fixes healthcare.”

Elevate works through companies, rather than insurers, to help employees. “We help companies,” he explained. “We come in through companies, because that’s who can really navigate [employee healthcare] and help, and really give us the access that we need to tackle it.”

Koskie said many families of four with a household income of less than $120,000 per year are eligible for reduced medical costs under Minnesota’s charity care law. “Anybody who makes under X percentage of the federal poverty, if they go to the hospital, the hospital should put that under charity care,” Koskie explained. “Nobody knows about that.”

His concussion ended his career in 2006 and wreaked havoc in his life.

“That was probably the lowest point in my life, because I had a concussion,” he said. “I [was dealing with] basic OCD, anxiety, depression, all going through the stages of recovery from a concussion. Now, on top of that, you [have] all these medical bills.”

However, he turned a devastating moment into a post-career vocation.

Koskie earned a spot in the Twins Hall of Fame because of his play on the field. He was an integral part of the 2002 team that beat the Moneyball A’s, the last Twins team to win a playoff series until 2023. He was part of teams that won the AL Central in his final three seasons in Minnesota, but they never advanced past the ALDS.

Still, Koskie’s accomplishments in a Twins uniform turned him into a fan favorite. However, his efforts to make healthcare accessible may eventually earn him national name recognition.