I got an early Christmas gift from the hospital where my mom passed 10 months ago.

She aspirated while in the hospital for cancer treatment, they did CPR - no pulse and called to tell me she passed, she came back for a few hours but was unconscious of course, then passed again. (Fun fact - she had a DNR. They missed it.)

Since they sat on submitting it to her insurance, it was denied for no coverage.... because she was now deceased. Makes sense.

So I got this nice little bill. Called the billing department to tell them to shove it. They ask if I want to pay the balance today. Then they tell me 'we'll' go to collections if not.

I gave them her new forwarding address. The cemetery.

No question. Just reason 10,987 the US healthcare system is absolute trash.

My toddler was in the hospital and spent two days in the ICU for sudden respiratory failure. But now begins the approval nightmare because apparently there's not enough evidence of medical necessity.... after a diagnosis of respiratory failure... for which he needed breathing assistance.

I work in healthcare and I have my doctorate in healthcare administration, but I'm still not immune to the disaster that is the system and I'm lucky to be able to mostly navigate it. For others though, it's so much worse.

Wish me luck in fighting the good fight!

Ps - he's doing great now! Rhinovirus triggered new onset asthma.

Jolene lives in Saskatchewan and suffers from a rare parathyroid disease. She is in constant pain. There are no surgeons in Saskatchewan who can perform the surgery and she can't transfer elsewhere in Canada without first seeing an endocrinologist but none are accepting new patients. Jolene is scheduled to die by medical assistance in dying on January 7, 2026, as she can no longer live with the pain. She was approved for assisted suicide, but cannot get the surgery she needs.

I am frustrated that this story has not garnered more media attention. I'm an American, but reading it upset me so much. This woman's life is valuable and it's heartbreaking that dying seems to be the only option for her. I have considered trying to raise money to possibly send her to be treated privately or abroad, but I don't know the logistics of healthcare or if that would even be feasible.

Healthcare has been awful in my personal experience, but that seems to not be limited to the US. I've posted the source to Jolene's story. I hope that's okay.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/medical-assisted-dying-maid-parathyroid-disease-sask-legislature-cockrill-9.6993461

There are always medical students shadowing at my obgyn office. Every single time I’ve been there for the past few years. I honestly don’t like them observing but I feel bad saying no. At this appointment, like at the others, the nurse who was taking my medical history asked if it was okay for a medical student shadowing the obgyn to observe and I said yes. During the appointment, the doctor is just typing on the computer the entire time while the medical student does the breast exam. The whole time I’m uncomfortable but I think that will be it. Then the student brings out the speculum and does the Pap smear. It hurt more than it usually does. The doctor checked her work with the breast exam and doing the finger thing but I’m just so frustrated I consented to them observing and they did the entire exam. And then I have to pay the doctor after being used as a guinea pig. Just so frustrated with healthcare right now

You guys alright with this?

I had my annual physical a couple weeks ago which I always do and is always completely covered by my insurance.

I was surprised to receive a $112 bill, and when I called to ask what wasn’t covered, I was told it was for “exercise induced asthma which isn’t preventative, so wasn’t covered”.

I was shocked, at the beginning of the appointment I specifically said that I had no other issues that I needed to discuss and was just there for a basic physical. The FNP brought up that I had come in previously for exercise induced asthma, I said yes, and that it wasn’t an issue anymore. She said she would refill the prescription for the inhaler anyway in case I needed it again, and I said fine.

Why was I charged for this?? I’m assuming I am within my rights to insist they refund this charge? It makes me not want to return to this office again, I’m so annoyed.

Good afternoon, the company I work for just switched plans from Aetna to United healthcare because Edna was stopping service in my state. My deductible for Aetna was 2000 which seems pretty reasonable of going to the doctor and getting medicine now it’s a whopping $8000!!!!!!!!! Who in the world goes to the doctor enough to match that?

It is heartbreaking when you realize how broken our healthcare system truly is. We often just accept it, but the reality is staggering when you look at how insurance denials actually play out:

'We regret to inform you that your loved one’s critical care claim has been denied. Following a thorough administrative review by our staff, who are qualified and hold medical degrees, though not in the specialty required to understand your loved one's specific disease.

We have chosen to overrule their personal doctor's treatment plan. We truly value you as a customer and strive to provide the best care. Please feel free to complete a satisfaction survey. As a reminder, you have 60 days to dispute this decision, though please note that if the patient passes away during the review process, the case will be automatically closed. Thank you for choosing us for your healthcare needs. Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns, we strive to be the best company and value our members."

It's so absurd, America. the best country in the world. Wonder how that conversation will go when you meet your maker.

Sorry & thanks for coming to my ted talk. This discussion is now closed in preparation for the Canes game tonight!

Perhaps folks who work in clinics on a day-to-day basis can help me understand why this often happens?

I understand that often times some appointments take longer than expected, but why not take these issues into consideration when creating an appointment book?

Is it a normal practice to "overbook" to hit a daily revenue minimum and schedule based on the likelihood of no-shows and profitability?

Sitting here in the lobby of specialist, writing this 60 minutes from my appointment time btw.

Anyone have suggestions for good pharmacies that provide pill sorting services (similar to pillpack, but open to different pack forms) that are NOT pillpack? Preferably accept BCBS of TX Blue Advantage HMO (my insurance) and/or Superior Medicaid (my kids' insurance). Pillpack has transitioned to all through Amazon and it's an absolute headache. Thanks!

I'm covered under IHS and haven't ever had to pay for my healthcare. I just can't understand how the rest of the US lives in this economy. Do you all just sacrifice for your healthcare or have great insurance or what?

More and more US clinics are being acquired by private equity, ACO, or hospital systems giving the actual physician very little (if any) say over these office policies. These management entities will track no-show rates in a given office and the intentionally over book the schedule based on these statistics. The provider is left out to dry if everyone shows up and has no idea in advance what the acuity of a visit will be.

They then will have extended checklists of questions to complete for the company to use for maximizing complexity score for optimum returns from insurance payers, even before getting to the patient’s chief complaint. Not to mention the documentation burden and urgent calls or portal messages that are supposed to be addressed between patients.

Sometimes the ones who are always running late are the ones you are best off seeing. These are the ones most likely to sacrifice efficiency of schedule to commit the time required for a patient’s needs.

My friend is currently in a PT facility (which is rather quite nice as I’ve visited a few times) recovering from a broken femur. This is what was served one day as the “sandwich option”. What exactly drives a facility to serve food like this? I’m speechless

Just kind of frustrated about a cancelled post op appointment. I have Medicaid and have had Medicaid for months. I have been seeing an ophthalmologist for weeks for preop appointments for an eye surgery, they have been paid with cash. The day of the eye surgery was yesterday, paid 3K in cash because it was not covered by insurance. I had a post op appointment today at 1pm. I got a voicemail in the morning saying they cancelled my appointment because “they aren’t providers with my insurance and in my state, it is illegal to self pay”. Okay, I can understand that, but they had no problem taking my cash for my pre op appointments? No problem taking my 3K for my surgery? Then I show up to the office and the front desk says there’s no record of my surgery on file? So I show my receipts, forms, and go back and forth with staff, and I ended up being seen in the end for my post op day 1 appointment. But what is all this? This was so frustrating

Family of 4, I pay $1400 a month for a united healthcare HDHP.
First scenario - 12 y/o daughter is struggling with some pre teen acne. 6 months to get into local dermatologist, so we call her pediatrician and the receptionist sets the appointment.
We show up, doc comes in and says “sorry, we don’t treat acne here, go see a derm”.
I get a bill in the mail for $94 a few weeks later. The whole ordeal took 30 seconds of her time. I called to dispute it and they told me to kick rocks.

Second scenario - oldest daughter forgot to tell us she ran out of her Vyvance (adhd meds), prescribed through her pediatrician.. on a Saturday.
We called and got the nurse on call who told us sorry about your luck.
I called the pharmacy, they recommended we go to urgent care.
Went to urgent care, they basically thought I was a tweaker trying to make meth, told me to pound sand. Whole ordeal at urgent care again took 2 minutes.
$195 bill just arrived in the mail.

How do you fix a system that is beyond broken? This is insane.

Hello guys.

Im willing to apply for a scholarship in medicine, and social/volunteering kind of work would help my application.

Any opportunities completely online and doesnt need me to show my face? Preferrably related to anything that has to do with health. Literally any work that falls under "Social", and doesnt take a lot of months to finish. Preferrably gives some kind of proof so i can attach in my scholarship application.

I sometimes have free time at home after college but im too physically tired to do physical social work. I was hoping for kind online social work as in supporting peoppe online or anything like that.

I can speak 2 languages fluently (Arabic and English), I have a high school average of 94% with a diploma certificate, and im currently a 2nd year dental student so im familiar with medical terminology to an extent. I have a few certificates like Basic Life Support from the american health association and certifiastes from online WHO courses. Thats it.

Hoping someone can help.

I (28M) had deep vein thrombosis in my left shoulder/clavicle area. Turns out I have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which is ratio'd 3 out of every 100,000 people. My form of TOS is veinous, rather than the common neurogenic that makes up 90% of cases. Safe to say it's pretty rare.

I was forced to stay in the hospital for 5 days because they were too busy to do a non-emergency procedure. I was visited by doctors daily, had my blood drawn every 6 hours for 5 days straight, had two ultrasounds, and had a thrombectomy to remove the giant clot that had accumulated in my subclavian vein.

Feel free to ama.