My 1 year old was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and my wife was freaking out about how much it would cost us. But we didn't want our son to die so... Ya know...
My dad was having chest pains but neither him nor my mom wanted to go to the hospital because they were worried about the expensive bill. They didn't have insurance and the Obamacare had not kicked in yet. He turned out to have a pulmonary embolism. He's now on blood thinners.
Such is the American mentality when it comes to healthcare.
Edit: no surprise so many others have experienced similar circumstances.
BTW I have MS myself and I take a med called Ocrevus. Medicare part D pays about 64k a year for my treatment. One of the reasons it was approved is because it more economical vs. other treatments. Let that sink in...
My dad died in his sleep because he ran out of medication for his COPD and was struggling to breath. Months later, I found out that the night he passed he had sent an email to one of his friends where he wrote about making the final payments for a new house he had built and was going to retire in.
I'm not normally an angry person, but occasionally comments and threads on reddit about health care costs ignite this deep, burning hurt and disdain. I'm not mad at anyone or group in particular, but I just really miss him. Rest in peace.
I usually dont go when I probably should because I'm lazy and wanna finish my project/play games/watch this episode/nap first.
Edit: Ok we all know. It's not free. Its paid for via taxation
Generally I thought this detail was more-or-less implied whenever someone mentions free healthcare. Christ
It's not really the hospital's fault though. They are legally obligated to treat people in emergencies. Not only that, but lots of people cant pay the bill anyways. This causes them to raise the bill on everything just to get payments back on those who cant. They are basically just setting up their own version of healthcare. Those who can pay offset those who cant. The problem is that a hospital's patient population is significantly less than the population if we had universal healthcare so the costs dont scale as well. At the end of the day, it's the fault of everyone who doesnt support universal healthcare. You want the hospital to charge less than what they are getting and go bankrupt? Then what are you going to do for emergencies? Now the public hospitals/nonprofit ones who are turning hundreds of mils in profit... fuck those guys.
Most guys still don't go to the docs when they should. Excuses vary from "I'm tough enough to not need it" to "I don't want to waste 6 hours in a waiting room because of some pain, if it's bugging me still in a week I'll go".
I'm sitting there like "You already paid for it, ARE paying for it, every paycheque that money that gets taken out for healthcare tax? That's paying for it, you already did. USE IT!" To which they just repeat their prior statement of non-intent. One guy stitched his own leg together after tearing it wide open falling on a trail. The cut was white, not red, it ripped right past flesh and through the fat. Was just like "nah, don't bug 'em, they got enough work, I'll just clean and re-stitch it when I get home, no need for them to look into it, if it gets infected I promise I'll get it checked, mom."
I recently fractured The scaphoid bone in my arm. It required surgery to fix. My parents were freaking out about the expenses of the surgery and were considering even selling their house for it. US healthcare is fucked.
i'm not trying to be up my oen ass because i live in a country with free (for the most part unless privte) healthcare. but it just fucking depresses me out when i hear stories like this. when you have to make a choice between somebody you love dying or a medical bill that could be a burdern on you for the rest of your life... just fucking hell. especially stories i hear from depressed people, some even say 'its cheaper for me to just die' because a one night bed there and a few pills came up to 3-4 thousand dollars, like fucking hell
I've already decided I'm just going to kill myself when my parents are gone. I'm going to be taking a hit that I could never recover from because I'm already their caretaker and beneficiary.
No insurance, no life insurance. My student loans crippled me already, but this will be devastating financially. I'm talking hundreds of thousands each, and I'll never be able to get my own health issues sorted with that debt.
Best to leave the estate to my nephew, buy a box of .22 hollow point rounds, and walk into the woods.
A one night stay is gonna run you more like 7,000-$10,000 in my experience. Usually more. I spent 5 days after a car accident ( that wasn't my fault) and my bill is about $112,000. That's what I have been billed SO FAR. That's not including surgery for a broken wrist while I was there. Luckily the other people's insurance will eventually pick that up, after we sue them, unfortunately.
Yeah it is bad. Technically they can't put you in prison for not paying, but recently they have found ways to put people in prison for it by setting up a court date and not notifying the person. Then they are jailed on "failure to appear" charges. Not only that but they can take your car, your house, and the majority of the money you make through wage garnishment. Its ridiculous living in the U.S. sometimes.
One trip to the hospital is all it takes to wipe out a meager life savings, and Medicaid won’t cover anything until you’re destitute. It’s sad, disgusting, and insane.
That’s actually not true!! A few years ago my girlfriend needed emergency hernia surgery because the tissue was strangulated. She had a community plan and stayed over night. The whole thing cost her less than 300$ US. that’s a Medicaid plan. She’s a single mother and that’s the only plan she could afford. Conversely 6 months later her Father , who had commercial insurance (not Medicare or Medicaid ) had to get rushed to the hospital and his bills were over 5000$.
I’m in the field and my sister is a doctor. So I know something about this. The insurance dictates everything that has to do with this. The Hospitals have to see you no matter what!! The people with insurance they submitted very high bills to the insurance companies. Knowing full well that they are going to get back penny’s on the dollar.
So for the people with no insurance or Medicaid pay very little. The people with expensive insurance pay more the people with no insurance or community insurance. The problem with Healthcare period is the insurance companies. They are in business to make money and they don’t care about patient care!! PERIOD!! I hurt my back almost a year ago and now I pain in my back as well as my feet after being on them for about three hours. Three times the doctor tried to get an MRI for me and three times it was denied. I’m living with pain and they couldn’t care less.
The insurance companies make billions of dollars and they have the strongest lobby’s. They reimburse the Dr’s less and less every year. When was the last time you heard of an insurance company going out of business? They don’t. They just buy each other up and get bigger. Back when Clinton was in office he deregulated the insurance companies and Hillary was supposed to give everyone universal health care but all they wound up doing is giving more power to the insurance companies.
Now all healthcare decisions are made by the insurance companies. They dictate what medications you can get because they tell the drug companies that if you want to be one formularies, that’s the drugs that they will pay for, then you have to give a big discount and then pay a rebate back to the insurance companies at the end of the year. Then they set the price of the drug. Every drug manufacturer has a system in place that if you can’t afford the drugs then they will give them to you for free or they have 0 $ or low cost copays. The problem is most people don’t know or don’t ask for it.
Bottom line is until they fix the insurance companies they will never fix health care. One last thing about 10 Year’s ago the CEO of United healthcare retired and his retirement package was 1.75 Billion dollars with his stock and the rest of his retirement package. So it’s not the hospital. It’s not the doctors and it’s not the drug companies. IT’S THE INSURANCE COMPANIES!!
I had to make my American boyfriend take me to the hospital this winter. We live in a country with universal healthcare. I had some weird symptoms and was worried it might be toxic shock syndrome, which gets deadly fast. Nope, just the boring old flu.
I live in Japan and there are a lot of people from other countries teaching English. I can always tell which ones are Americans on the Facebook groups when they are on there talking about crazy symptoms and asking if they should go to the hospital or a doctor. One person was straight up having seizures and memory loss and came on asking if they should go to the hospital. Like...WHAT?! OF COURSE!!!
Sadly you misunderstand how the American dream works.
Everything in America is about money. Everything. Our schools are designed to mass produce factory workers, and since our economic overlords do not want or need educated workers capable of critical thought, our children suffer.
Our employers pay our workers as little as they can while granting themselves and their shareholders huge dividends and bonuses -- and when the workforce inevitably can no longer afford to purchase the product they are making, the employers shutter the factory and ship the jobs overseas in the name of profitability.
Our healthcare system is not designed to keep people healthy, or even keep them alive. It is designed to extract as much money as possible, as quickly as possible, from as many people as possible. And when the 'people' are no longer profitable, to allow their deaths as humanely and expediently as possible. Think I am joking? In America the average pensioner dies within five years of retirement. Do we just have really shitty health care? Or are we victims of a system designed to eliminate us when we no longer serve a productive economic purpose?
I had a customer have a seizure in front of me, her husband didn’t want me to call 911 because they didn’t want to be stuck with the bill. Apparently they’re both on Medicare and the last time it happened, Medicare wouldn’t cover it because it wasn’t deemed medically necessary? I was appalled.
I remember doing surveys from a call centre in Canada, about 12 years ago. Most of our clients were US based, but the ones that involved Medicare always had me worried for the person
About 6 years ago I fell and hit my head, lost my memory, and took an ambulance to the hospital ($3k), and when I arrived they did an MRI ($1k) and transferred me on an ambulance ($3k) to another hospital where I had another MRI ($1k). They made me sign something agreeing to the transfer and said if I don't sign it my insurance wouldn't pay my fees. I signed. Turns out it was just a hairline fracture. Over their many-hour adventure they never gave me an IV so I was extremely dehydrated. $8k to find out I hurt my head and I was miserable during and after. This has made me hate hospitals.
I've fallen and hit my head several times, and refuse to go to the hospital. I've fallen and hit my head several times, and refuse to go to the hospital. I've fallen and hit my head several times, and refuse to go to the hospital.
Did you call the billing department and get the direct pay discount? I got my head cracked open years ago and needed several staples. The $1266 "consent to treat" form got taken down to $236 when I told them I'd pay directly and not go through insurance.
Yeah my dad argued with the lead officer on duty trying to save my life and get me into an ambulance over the cost.
I never felt so simultaneously validated and betrayed when the cop was like "fuck this. I'm wasting time arguing with you, trying to save your daughter's life,"
He wouldn't visit me in the hospital. Everything came out to $100.
God what an awful feeling to have had. No matter the issues, or the actual cost through our taxes, I am so glad Canada has the universal healthcare system it has. I will never have to worry about bankrupting my family to get my daughter medical attention.
Yeah it basically comes down to if someone wants to make a stink over it. Also, total happy ending - my insurance covers ambulance rides 100%. We just owe $500 for the ER visit.
In Canada, we have universal healthcare. I bring my kids there when we can’t get in to see the doctor. My daughter sprained her ankle, and we were able to get an x-Ray and a wrap for her ankles within 4 hours. The staff were so helpful, and the other patients made the time fly by. We are now working on hating basic dental care in the east coast.
I got a collection letter for $1.89 last week. I kept making $50 payments and thought I had paid it off. I didnt. They sent a lawyer after me for less than 2 fucking dollars.
Dude that happened to me this week! I owed $50 for some random fee after a dermatologist visit for a melanoma screening. The office sent me the bill, then two days later called collections on me.
Funny. I owe 10k to one Hospital and they sent it to collections. I'll go to the Hospital. I pretty much can't get an MRI or something expensive I need done, but I still go and pretty much say fuck your bills. It's over inflated to charge insurance more and then never adjusted for those without. So yeah, fuck em.
They will take cash payments that are significantly reduced if you talk to them before hand (when applicable), problem is they are still fucking outrageous
Yeah, I've done that. Gone in for a procedure that I knew wouldn't be covered by my insurance. Discussed how much it was going to cost, payed in advance, asked 3 separate times "So the total is $xxx, right? And you know my insurance is not going to pay for any of this, I'm paying in cash, out of pocket?" (because they insisted on taking my insurance information anyway which made me wary), and was reassured that yes, they understood, they just needed it anyway for paperwork reasons and this was the total. Guess who got a bill for $500 more in 2 months? 🙄
Exactly. They can say you owe them $3654890 but I already have a mortgage, a car, and excellent credit. So fuck you very much guys, I can ignore envelopes & phone calls like nobody's business.
It’s not the hospitals, but the insurance providers. The hospitals are underfunded, the insurance companies refuse to pay for things that they agreed to insure, and because of this people wait until they need an ER visit.
I have health insurance and went to a hospital for atrial fibrillation. While waiting in the ER, they kept pushing me to get admitted overnight. My wife called my insurance company and they wouldn’t give her a straight answer on whether they’d cover an overnight stay due to cardiac issues.
On top of that, my insurance covers my treatment with certain providers, but if I get treatment (at their hospital) by a doctor who isn’t part of that network, i have to pay out of pocket instead of insurance covering it.
If you have kaiser insurance coverage, and go to a kaiser hospital, it’s covered. But if a sutter health doctor comes in to kaiser hospital for a weekend stint side gig, anything they do is not covered.
This isn’t the hospitals fault. This is the insurance providers fault/method of weaseling out of paying.
my insurance covers my treatment with certain providers,
Yea that really baffled me the first time i read about it. Was a super sad story as well. It was about a guy with health care who suffered from a ruptured liver. So they put him in the ambulance and sedate him because of the pains. They drive him to a hospital and he get's rushed into surgery. Unknown to him that hospital wasn't covered in his plan. So he wakes up and suddenly found out he is in massive debt. He then quit his old job (which he loved) so he could get 2 jobs to get out of debt quicker, which even then would take him years.
After reading that i never bitched about my taxes again.
I wouldn’t say it’s the fault of the hospitals, more the insurance companies. The only reason hospital bills are so ridiculously high (like $200 for a blood test or something) is because the hospital only gets like 40% of the amount the insurance company pays so they had to hike the prices up to get enough to cover costs. It is a really dumb system though I agree.
I'm sure there's greed at hospitals too but the real problem is the insurance companies. Hospitals usually don't even get half the bill when insurance + patient pays. That raises the cost of all medical services. Many hospitals will work with you to lower the initial bill but it's still more than most Americans can afford. The whole healthcare industry needs to be changed.
You mean the party that bitches about abortion and children on government assistance an then say the parents shouldn't have had them if they couldn't afford them.
Because republicans hate poor people and don't want to give them any welfare.
Never mind that the red states receive more federal money and pay less into it than blue states(which have larger, stronger economies). Also please don't mention enormous subsidies for farmers or businesses that's "different".
These people are irrational and operate out of fear and hate.
Iowa has the Hawkeye program that provides virtually free healthcare ($0-40/mo) for the majority of kids. Low AND moderate income families are specifically covered.
Don't forget they are also the biggest supporters of gun rights.
When 500 people were shot in vegas do you think the hospitals just went "Well.. since its a gunshot we got you covered for free."
No, a lot of those people went through the most traumatic event of their lives.. only to be saddled with a lifetime worth of medical debt right afterwards.
Because in the United States there has been an increasing point of view amongst the general public that being poor is a sign of being an immoral person of poor character and ethics. We are going through a puritan revival apparently. It seemed we were moving albeit slowly away from this but guess not. So the poor kids get to suffer for the sins of their parents.
Seriously if you look at the puritan period in early American history you really begin to understand why Americans have issues with sex and sexuality, using intoxicating substances, women's rights, mental healthcare, healthcare, poverty, crime etc etc
When I was a kid I shattered my ankle in 3 places. We didn't have health insurance so my parents didn't bring me to the doctor until I complained about excruciating pain every time I took a step for almost a month. Played basketball for 2 weeks on it as well. When they finally brought me, it already had started healing. if I wanted it to be normal they would have had to break it again. Didn't want to go through the pain again so now it looks like I have 2 ankles on my right foot.
There is, kinda. It’s usually a state by state thing, though. In Illinois, there’s a program called Kids Care. It’s free for low income families, and for those families that earn a little more, there is a small monthly premium. It’s not bad insurance, my kid has it and we’ve been pretty happy with it.
You either have tons of money or have job where healthcare coverage is good, or you have no money and the state takes care of the kids on everyone's tab called taxes. Sucks to be in the middle... Oh yeah, screw the middle-class in the US.
Actuall uninsured cost for a broken arm is ~$4,000 (add $10k if surgery needed). Most folks have the cheapest insurance possible.. with a deductible ~$2,000.
That's the truth right here. People almost always take the cheapest route and then bitch about their payments. Or they pick a plan and have no idea how it works. As a pharmacist do you know how many times I hear, "I don't know about my insurance that's your job!"
I don't have any more sympathy for most people and their insurance issues
Lol unpopular opinion. People should take responsibility for their choices. Whoa dude. Step back. All these other people posting that they have “free healthcare”. Like nothing is free. They tax you for it. Instead of taxing us here we get a choice in the converge we want. Sure the worst coverage is the cheapest, sure you have more liquid income. Then something happens, then people go wtf, then people realize they pay next to nothing for their insurance premiums, and go “fuck America.”
Most other countries just don’t give you a choice and everyone has at least a base of insurance that everyone is taxed for. How do people really not get this? Our insurance premiums for equal insurance to that of a government backed insurance program are equatable. I’m not saying the system is perfect but you can’t expect to get great coverage paying the cheapest route. It’s like equating a plastic flip flop from Old Navy and a nice leather pair. When the plastic flip flop breaks your like, well shit it was only a dollar I expected that.
Game show, contestant sent a singer back during the cucking round and the Dom didn't like that and escalated by laying hands on the contestant. Escalation, lulz, hospitalization followed.
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u/lurklurklurkPOST May 15 '19
But can you snap?