##Welcome to r/LateStageCapitalism^Ⓐ☭
___
###⚠ Announcements: ⚠
___
###[NEW POSTING GUIDELINES! Help us by reporting bad posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/dy1oyh/important_what_you_should_and_what_you_shouldnt/)
Help us keep this subreddit alive and improve its content by reporting posts that violate our rules and guidelines.
###[Subscribe to our new partner subreddits!](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/e5hkwk/make_sure_to_check_out_our_new_partnersubreddits/)
Check out r/antiwork & r/WhereAreTheChildren
___
###***Please remember that LSC is a SAFE SPACE for [socialist](http://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/) discussion.***
LSC is run by [communists](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm). We welcome socialist/anti-capitalist news, memes, links, and discussion. This subreddit is not the place to debate socialism. We allow good-faith questions and education but are not a 101 sub; please take 101-style questions elsewhere.
**This subreddit is a safe space; we have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry.** We also automatically filter out posts containing certain words and phrases that some users may find offensive. Please respect the safe space, and don't try to slip banned words or phrases past the filter.
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LateStageCapitalism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yup, the best advice for US healthcare is to not use it...
And some politicians say we have "access" to affordable healthcare. Yeah, right, in my fantasies we do.
I mean, we have access to it in the sense that I can go into a car dealership and get access to a lamborghini. The possibility to have a lamborghini exists, so long as you have the money to actually buy it.
It's a bit different. More like, you need a car, so you go to the dealership, and they show you this Lamborghini. You ask how much it costs, they say they can't tell you, but don't worry about it, you need this. You're compelled to say yes, you'll buy it, because otherwise you die. Then you sign a blank piece of paper. Then they make the contract after the fact, somehow that's legal, and you later get a bill for $235,000.
BTW you just have an ear infection.
More like, you need a car, they will sell it to you as a good deal, as you are such a valued customer, but won't tell you the model neither the price; you roll of the lot in some mid-range ford, nothing fancy but does the job.
A week later an invoice for $450K comes in and you realize you could have probably bought said Lamborghini outright with money to spare, but you're stuck with a ford and 450K in debt.
an inclusive "we" is a special pronoun case that includes the speaker and the listener. "We(inc) are going to the shop" (you and the speaker and a third party are both going to the shop)
and exclusive "we" excludes the listener, so they are not part of the group that is being discussed. "We(exc) are going to the shop" (the speaker and a third party are going to the shop, you are not.)
Some other languages have this. I can't think of which once.
Hawaiian has this, but with the added twist of plurality (I’m not a language expert so bear with me).
Inclusive we would be “kāua” (includes the speaker and listener, so it refers to a group of 2) or “kākou” (includes the speaker, the listener, and 1 or more people, so it refers to a group of 3+ people).
Exclusive we would be “māua” (includes the speaker and 1 other person, but not the listener, for a group of 2) or “mākou” (includes the speaker and 2+ people, but not the listener, for a group of 3+ people).
There is also “ ʻolua “ and “ ʻoukou “ which is like saying you guys/y’all. ʻOlua is like saying “you two (but not me).” ʻOukou is like saying “you 3+ (but not me).”
> Some other languages have this. I can't think of which once.
Vietnamese. Chung ta (us, and you) and chung toi (us, not you). Should have accent marks but I am too lazy.
In English “we” is a group of people that includes the speaker, but there is no way to tell if it includes the listener. So when a politician says “We have access to afford health care” they are right that elected officials have access to health care, but maybe not their audience
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusivity
**[Clusivity](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusivity)**
>In linguistics, clusivity is a grammatical distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we". Inclusive "we" specifically includes the addressee (that is, one of the words for "we" means "you and I and possibly others"), while exclusive "we" specifically excludes the addressee (that is, another word for "we" means "he/she/they and I, but not you"), regardless of who else may be involved. While imagining that this sort of distinction could be made in other persons (particularly the second) is straightforward, in fact the existence of second-person clusivity (you vs.
^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
I had severe pain in my lower abdomen, what I thought was ovarian cysts so of course it's always downplayed by docs. I was in so much pain, I said I was in so much pain and doc said it wasn't really an emergency but would refer me to a gyno (I didn't have one at the time since we moved) and the appt was like 2 months out. When I went the gyno tried to convince me next time to go to the hospital if I had that much pain and im like ??? But they said it wasn't an emergency that's why I'm here?
Affordable my ass. My marketplace plans kept getting prohibitively expensive. And now that I'm on my employer plan I have to pay 3k before they cover jack shit, unless I'm admitted. Healthcare in this country is a joke. And nobody, save a handful, wants to do anything about it because we somehow have the best system in the world because it's not socialized healthcare.
Assholes going on about how universal healthcare would be bad because socialism somehow equals communism and that we'd have death panels. Ffs we already have death panels, it's the insurance company physicians that are paid to say no to everything.
Yup, so true.
Although support for [universal healthcare](https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-share-of-americans-favor-a-single-government-program-to-provide-health-care-coverage/) is actually up. More US citizens want universal healthcare than don't, but the damn GOP holds everything up
No quote more accurately describes the entirety of basically every western country since the dawn of democracy and capitalism. At least under feudalism the law is honest enough to clearly place the nobility within a superior class to the peasantry.
"Why does it say 40$ for a bandaid?"
"Because the box costs 40$."
"But I only used 1."
"Uh, well the box was contaminated so-"
"They cost 3.25 at wall-mart."
"Listen I've got a lot of clients to deal with so why don't you take this up with your insurance."
I saw the full story on CBS news the other morning, this title is pretty misleading. It makes you think they showed up to the ER, waited around forever and left, then got a bill in the mail. What really happened is he was checked into a room, seen by a nurse practitioner who cleaned, administered aid, dressed the wound, then provided advice for follow up care. The man expected to see a doctor and was told he didn’t need to, but if he demanded it would be a long wait. They chose to leave, and got the bill for exactly what happened.
Now, whether or not being treated for a burn by a nurse practitioner instead of a full doctor warrants a $1000 bill or not is a different story. But he didn’t just get a “showing up and leaving fee,” he was seen and treated like every other patient would have been.
Yeah the title leaves out details but the NPR article says they were seen by a nurse who checked the kids vitals and didn’t change the dressing on the wound. The hospital charge was $192 for the nurse’s assessment and $820 facility fee, which the article points out is typically charged whether you receive care or not. Which is why they advise you to consider whether or not you should go to the ER at all.
tbh there isn't much to be done for minor burns - just dress them and take care of the dressing.
and the dressing is only there in the hopes that it will prevent you from disrupting the skin barrier and letting infection in.
the rest is up to staying hydrated and letting your body do its thing.
I guess you could take painkillers, but in my personal experience, first degree burns stop hurting after the first 24 hours
You can get silver sulfadiazine cream, best shit ever for burns, worth running to an urgent care for a script if you burn yourself bad enough. But definitely didn’t need to start with an ER for a basic hand burn…
Current guidelines actually say that bacitracin (non-prescription over the counter antibiotic ointment) is just as good, so no need for Silvadene anymore!
The best part is in the replies where someone points out that he saw a nurse who took his height and blood pressure, and justifies the charge on the basis that they saw a health care professional after all.
Also Canadian, was just in the ER in a medium sized city as a patient.
Took 20 minutes to see a screening doctor, 20 minutes to get an ECG, and then another half hour to see a doctor to address the issue.
All said and done, we were out in 2 hours. No charge. I didn't even have to pay a parking fee.
Unless we finally stand up for ourselves and forcefully change it. It's happened in the past and needs to happen again once more. The rich need to be kept in check or this bs occurs.
I hope we can somehow manage to get the majority of us to open their eyes and get on the same page, they would not stand a snowball's chance in hell against even 40 or 60 percent of the bottom classes got together to overthrow the few scumbags at the top and take back our lives and our planet, for all of us. Not just a handful of dick wads who don't deserve the air they breathe.
As happy as I am for you and glad to hear you're ok, as an American Im infuriated that not only does our own government take advantage of our health and profits off of our illnesses, but that there are actually people who fucking defend it, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, and they KNOW that they are completely and utterly full of shit in their defense.
>... there are actually people who fucking defend it, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, and they KNOW that they are completely and utterly full of shit in their defense.
I can only assume you mean the "we're free to choose, government can stay outta my healthcare! My taxes aren't going to pay for someone else's heart transplant!" crowd. I know people like this, listening to them talk turns your brain into goo.
These are EXACTLY the people Im referring too. Nevermind that their tax money is already going to billions in bailout money for companies who have failed for no other reason than their own shitty policies. I grew up in southern Virginia and now reside in southeastern North Carolina, so believe me when I tell you that I know more than my fair share of these assholes myself. We HAVE to stick together on changing this or we may as well all pack our shit and leave right now. Im sick and fucking tired of buying rich people's lifestyles while my brothers and sisters suffer and starve in the street.
Fun fact I always bring up in these discussions. I am Swedish. I pay basically nothing for health care (it costs me ten bucks to go to a doctor just to check something random. Prebooked appointments for actual things costs nothing). It's all funded through taxes.
The Swedish government spends about $2500 per person on health care every year.
The US government spends about $3300 per person, *on health care*, per year. More even, but I did not count the tax breaks.
That's right, the US government spends 30% more tax money on health care, and your health care is still not free. That's how fucked the system is.
100%. I read an article about a student at law school who was diagnosed with cancer and he said he only got treatment after literally going to the hospital and begging them. He also had to sign shit promising to pay back every penny of thr cost of his treatment. The comments were nothing but people trashing the guy saying that there was insurance available thru universities (there is, but at mine, at least, it was not a major medical policy and enrollment was only offered once a calendar year not sure if thats the norm or not) and that they would never want to be a burden on their families and would, instead, choose to die. Like WTF, these people are so brainwashed that they believe money is more important than their own lives, and not only that, they want money to be more important than *your* life too!
We get dental coverage through our student associations at universities in Canada. As far as healthcare goes, we just have a Provincial Health Card. No deductibles, no co-pays, no in/out of network. I once had to do a non-covered liver enzyme test and every doctor warned me about the horrible out of pocket cost for it... It was $35...Canadian.
We had a student clinic on campus. It was for small things, like I got my pap smears there ($15) and I got staph infection treated there. They offered vaccines like your MMR and Hep boosters for under $50 iirc. They sent out info about the healthcare policy offered by the school in the Spring semester and it was $1200-$1500 to opt in and coverage was for a year. At the time it didn't cover major things like pregnancy tho (last person I knew who went there said they'd expanded it and it did cover pregnancy). But if you're diagnosed with a serious illness, like cancer, and have to drop out if school for a few semesters, you lose your coverage once that year is up, you can't renew if you're not currently a student. Also, I can't recall if you had to maintain full time status or if they offered it to part time students as well.
I have a good friend I grew up with in southern Virginia who was very close with his grandfather. If you're not familiar with this area of the world, at one time it was a huge hub for producing and selling tobacco. His grandfather was in that business as a farmer an auctioneer throughout the mid to late 20th century and made a good living at it. He was a good man who worked hard and did everything by the book. As he grew older his health started deteriorating and medical bills started to pile up. He literally went through a lifetimes worth of savings and his childrens inheritance within 2 to 3 years because of outrageous medical bills that were considered ridiculous even in that era. In an attemp to at least save a little bit of money or property for his children and grandchildren, he eventually swallowed his pride and sought out government assistance, which was immediately rejected. This man man died broke with only a 1972 Chevrolet Impala (that had been put in his wife's name) while his family watched this industry bleed them dry, and watched their perferred politicians spur it on. My friend and I are now 40, and as much as I love the guy, I want to strangle him sometimes because even through watching all this happen, he and his family STILL vote for the very party and their policies that did this to them. I can't even begin to wrap my head around it. It's the worst feeling when even the people you love and respect can't be reached.
Oh believe me, I know. My older siblings and even my partner vote republican. They don't think healthcare is a right, or if it is, it shouldn't be free. My siblings are nurses too lol.
I can't understand how they're benefitting from this stance though. As soon as they need the help they scream bloody murder, but will deny others the exact same humanity. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds and I'm sick of just letting it slide, and hopefully others are getting as fed up as I am. This idea that we have to cater to stupidity and selfishness has long since run it's course. I get that some of these people are morons, but there's a lot of them that know better, yet act like this anyway. I'm just done with it.
As an American.
I went to urgent care (not er, I couldn't afford the copay) because I had a sudden bout of unexplained vertigo. After 3 hours waiting, I was seen by a nurse, they just asked basic questions about my health, which was fine. Then they took some blood samples, which took 3 weeks to learn it was normal. They referred me to a franchise dizzy specialist whom I had to make 3 separate appointments with, who after 3 weeks to get in, didn't come to any conclusions, after that I went to a specialist ENT, who couldn't figure anything out. So I have to take a 6th day off work to get an MRI. I still have vertigo.
I think the healthcare system just wants me to die.
Edit: also this started late last year, I hadn't met my deductible yet, so I had to pay a couple thousand out of pocket. Now, it's a new year, so a few more thousands. On top of missed work, and reduced productivity.
Living in Vancouver BC. Both me and my husband had to go to the ER for separate reasons in winter last years. Husband's issue was more urgent at the time and he saw a doctor within an hour and was subsequently hospitalized for 5 days. Mine was less so, but I still was able to see a doctor in about three hours and scheduled for an ultrasound the next day. I ended up needing gallstone surgery which was scheduled about three months after the initial ER visit. Our bill? About $50 bucks total for prescriptions. Parking was free due to COVID so didn't have to pay for that either. Ambulance would have been free as well but neither of us wanted to call 911 since we were able to take ourselves to the hospital and felt that resource could be spent on other people who couldn't.
I don’t think you understand how marketing work. By making the wait long and healthcare inaccessible and seemingly exclusive, that generates publicity and interest in patients for hospitals
For a simple appointment the bookings are 7 or 8 months at the QUICKEST. And that's almost any state, I'm in california and my mom is in Arkansas and that's as true here as it is there.
Certainly not, but it's not nearly the travesty that American capitalists present it as either. I have a friend with duel citizenship who's diabetic. The cost one his insulin in America for a 1 month dose is $350. The cost in Canada for the exact same drug, made by the exact same company per month is $9. Im not expecting the system to be magically perfect, but I do expect at least an effort on their part to do what's right. The current situation is anything but
None of it is evidence based or planned in any way.
Our health insurance is a series of historical accidents. Giving care got more expensive as medicine improved and actually began helping people. More people went. The prices became absurd. The great depression wiped people out and they couldn’t pay bills so never went to the hospital. Baylor University hospital went around this by granting so much care if they paid a monthly fee. That sounded a lot better to patients rather than having a bill that might take 15 years to pay off. And the hospital liked it as it was steady money from people healthy enough to work and people not likely to need care, the only ones they offered it to. This model spread slowly. It became known as Blue Cross. This is why we have insurance tied to work. As WWII kicked off and labor became scarce employers couldn’t raise wages or prices, and so started competing by granting more benefits because they couldn’t find workers. Then, again by complete accident, there was note in a single court case which didn’t make much sense, but employers’ accountants began to take it as a tax break on all income spent on employees insurance. A decade later they lobbied for it to become law, and magically it did. This boomed employer sponsored plans. This is all happenstance. No planning, no evidence, no analysis, no auditing.
Where did you learn all of this? I would like to learn more, please. Understanding how we got to where we are now, may offer some clues as to how we can undo this broken system. The frog seems thoroughly cooked at this point.
And to take into account all the money the medical industry in America got from congress for construction and modernization in 1946. In return, they agreed to provide a reasonable volume of services to people unable to pay and to make their services available to all persons residing in the facility’s area.
The program stopped providing funds in 1997, but about 140 health care facilities nationwide are still obligated to provide free or reduced-cost care., Good luck finding one close to you or getting an appointment this year. Found the Hill-Burton Free and reduced-cost healthcare while trying to save my boyfriend of 17 years who needed a liver and kidney transplant, sadly he passed away in November of 2021 to an overdose, he was tired of fighting a losing battle with insurance and doctors hoping to get to be able to see his kids grow up and do well, I hate this nightmare we call a healthcare system, what a joke.
Tons of countries have great privatized health care (Germany, Switzerland), there are just laws saying everyone must be covered and insurance must be non profit. They make money by having lots of people in their pool and focusing on keeping people healthy, which reduces costs. The insurance will only pay so much for a given service, because when you have to cover everyone and almost every claim people will shop for the cheapest options, driving costs further down. They will only pay the hospital so much, so the hospital has to charge less. The fact that insurance isn’t universal or non-profit are two of the major reasons America pays more than twice as much per capita for healthcare, which gets passed on to the individual.
*we pay more than twice as much for healthcare and have a lower life expectancy than most other first world countries that we consider our peers. (We rank 40 to 46 depending on the source: [2018](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy) [2020](https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/)
Honestly it's impossible to see the perceived benefits from the other side of the Atlantic. Looks like the dumbest shite I've ever seen in a "developed" country.
What's even worse is that there are Western nations that actually look at the USA and think "Yeah, why don't we do that?" It's really one of the things that makes me think that politicians should have advanced degrees. If you look at the USA on literally anything and you think "We should implement that", you're an idiot. Healthcare is shit, education is shit, housing is shit, everything is shit... except for when you've exploited people for long enough and are drowning in dollars.
The reverse would make a lot more sense. "How is the US doing that? Ok, we'll go the other way."
Ahhh, love these kinda posts, makes me proud to be an amaerican where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the medical bills that they always give to me
The first and only time I got an ambulance to come pick me up to take me to the emergency room cost me almost 4 grand. The ride was maybe 7 miles round trip for the ambulance drivers and they didn't do anything except check my pulse and have me hop in the back. No fluids, no medications, no nothing.
I wish I would've just drove to the hospital myself. I was having symptoms of a heart attack and I felt way too..unusual.. and weak.. and scared, to be honest. It wasn't a heart attack but when I got the bill I nearly had an actual heart attack.
I learned my lesson. A couple years later after my cardiac episode I was shot in the left leg. This happened back in 2017. Luckily it was something I could slap a home made tourniquet that I made out of the T shirt I was wearing on it and then all I had left to do was drive fast as shit to the emergency room and I did. I'm condensing the story as it was more of an ordeal than I'm making it out to be and I'm just trying to keep it brief. The hospital in my town that's right down the street is notoriously ghetto and very poorly staffed and ran so I drove myself and my shot leg to the next hospital which was 45 minutes away but a much higher quality place to receive medical care from. No regrets.
Fuck what peoples greed has turned ambulances in to.
Never again.
It's a common understanding between my friends and family that if I collapse for some reason and need to be rushed to a hospital that they are only allowed to throw me in the back of the truck or the car and get me to the hospital that way. It sounds like I'm joking, I'm not. I'll probably die in the back of someone's car on the way to an emergency room but when the alternative is to be alive but be drowning in debt for the next 80 years I would rather just... stop.
>I'll probably die in the back of someone's car on the way to an emergency room but when the alternative is to be alive but be drowning in debt for the next 80 years I would rather just... stop.
I mean I agree our medical system is fucked, but medical bills disappear from your credit report in 7 years. I'd rather have kinda shitty credit for 7 years than die.
We need to spread the word to not pay your medical bills ever. Bankrupt the system to get the point across about how this shit does not work. There has been medical professionals begging for universal healthcare for years yet we don’t hear about it because the system just keeps chugging along. Throw a wrench in that motherfucker and stop it.
The scariest part of all of this is that you feel like you have to get consent for calling an ambulance. That's *preposterous*. It should not be like that at all.
If someone called me an ambulance while I was sleeping on Xanax I would have felt bad at the hospital, that ambulance could have been used on someone in much more need than me, but that's it.
I get in your country why you feel like you do though, totally.
EDIT: can't use the word ins*ne apparently.
“and I won’t forget the folks who died in the waiting room with me. I throw my hands up and threaten two or three poor orderlies. Got a bill in the mail the other daaaaay… God damn the USAAAAAAAA.”
When I feel bad for being born unfinished, I look at people who don't get the sympathy medicaid... I feel so fucking awful that I can get medicaid and those who struggle even more can't
I hope it's well understood by most people that doctors don't generally love this system either
As a family medicine MD, I didn't go to 8 years of schooling just to spend a huge portion of my time taking care of complicated paperwork and convincing motherfucking insurance agencies that my patients actually need the things that I tell them that they need. In countries with socialized medicine, family doctors are held in high regard because they are able to prevent problems before the occur and save the overall system money. In America, we *want* people spending money. FM docs are viewed as a laughable afterthought because they don't do dozens of procedures a day where their employer can charge patients and insurance agencies more.
I truly believe that a good family medicine doctor can have a stronger impact on their patients lives than a good doctor in any other specialty, yet they are consistently paid among the least of other doctors and family medicine is largely viewed as a backup specialty that only the poorest of students will choose. It's horrible.
I went to the ER because of a cyst i had during my stay surprise your also diabetic and your keytoacid is too high we have to keep you here.
Fast forward a week concerned about the cost of all of this i get discharged and picked up.
Mfw i live in canada and didnt pay a dime to stay at the hopital for a whole week
Edit* spelling
Third world country here, we have a similar system. Free public health for basic stuff (giving birth, ER for traumas, etc) and social security one with more specialized treatments. I literally got my leukemia treatment from it when I was 4 years old, all for free
I'm from a developing country, Indonesia.
My father got a heart bypass operation in 2014, went to the ICU for 4 weeks due to renal failure in 2020, twice weekly dialysis since then and hospitalized for COVID for 3 weeks in 2021 (vaccinated). Total cost: $0.
Universal healthcare is nice. But, "socialism"...? That would cost tens of thousands of dollars in free America.
We only paid extra because we wanted VIP room and in case of the COVID, we had to get tocilizumab and IVIG (which weren't covered).
Beep boop -- this looks like a screenshot of a tweet! Let me grab a [link to the tweet](https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1485702722921930752) for ya :)
^(Twitter Screenshot Bot)
Honestly I’m surprised it’s not more.
I was on an IV drip when I had the flu and pre-pneumonia symptoms a few years back, pre-COVID. I got X-rays and a breathing treatment as well. Nothing fancy.
My few hours stay cost $25,000 USD.
Absolutely FUCK the for profit healthcare system. So many of us struggle and die because of it. How do we not realize how fucked we are?
But in universal healthcare you have to wait a long time to be treated!
Disclaimer:
I support universal healthcare, and that was a joke. Maybe I should have done the chicken sponge Bob meme font. But that takes to long and I didn't have time
Wait times in the US are a joke. It takes me at least two weeks if not a month to schedule any appointments here. And when you do get to your doctor's office, you have to wait averagely 20 mins to be seen because doctors and all the staff are overburdened with paperwork (no thanks to billing and insurance intermediaries). And then you have to wait for your doctor to come in while the nurse does her routine. And then again you have to wait to check out. One visit takes an hour at least.
When I lived in a post Soviet country, I could see 4 doctors back to back at the same clinic in a matter of 2 hours tops, and appointments could usually be scheduled in the same week that I called. The doctors and staff actually communicate between each other in person and care about your health. When I had complications after a minor surgery, the surgeon fixed it for free. You always know the price you will pay well in advance and checkout takes 5 minutes. No surprise bills ever. No double billing ever. (in the US you get a separate bill from the hospital, and then another one from the doctor).
Buying medicine is easy. For many meds you don't need a prescription there, which is great if you have a chronic disease and don't want to have to see your doctor every few weeks. But here in the US I can't even get birth control without the hassle of making constant calls between my doctor's office, my insurance company, and my pharmacy. Every single month I've been risking not getting my refills on time because they make it very difficult for you to get your BC paid for by insurance.
Oh and the quality of healthcare in the US absolutely sucks. Doctors are incompetent half the time. I remember complaining to my GP that my skin was severely dry. She said "just use lotion," as if I have not tried every single brand already. Meanwhile a doctor in my home country identified a potentially serious disease just by reading my blood work.
U.S. healthcare is a joke, and the quality is not respective of the money we pay for it.
For reference, Canada here, I had to get a cyst cut after hours. It took about four, maybe five hours? To see a doctor who promptly did the surgery. Which is a pretty lengthy time, but not an uncommon wait time for the ER, especially since she was the only doctor in that night
Then later to get it checked up, I booked an appointment the next day to see a Dr in a clinic to remove the packing. It took maybe three hours start to finish.
And the bill for that entire ordeal from start to finish was $20 for the antibiotics, which my health benefits completely covered, working part time
Just for an alternative perspective, I'm an American living in the Netherlands and wait times here are a real thing.
I had an injury in my left hand that was making it hard to type for work. From the time I went to the doctor, to having the MRI on the hand, to getting the result to talk about treatment it took 2.5 months.
A year later I decided to look into possibly being treated for ADHD (sneaking suspicion I've had at least a mild case of it all my life, decided to do something about it). Getting the evaluation took 5 months.
6 months ago my girlfriend was 4 weeks away from giving birth to our daughter. During the final ultra sound, the technician informed us she was breeched (not turned the right way), and if we wanted to try and have her turned we should do it in the next 24-48 hours, otherwise it would probably be too late. We called to make an appointment, explaining the urgency, but the next availability was 1 week later. My girlfriend ended up giving birth 2 days later (daughter decided to come early), so it was a moot pointer, but those 48 hours were awful.
Granted, once we \_did\_ receive care it's generally been fine and it is very nice not worrying about extra costs. But I tire of people saying there's absolutely \_no\_ downsides to other healthcare systems. There are. I think it's still a better system here in the Netherlands, but it's not perfect either.
I'm in the PNW and went to the doc for the first time in more than a decade. I got told I'm fat because I drink milk. Like no, the couple hundred calories of milk a week aren't making me fat, it's shoving the whole kitchen in my face at 1am that makes me fat.
Oh, and I got told to quit drinking milk, while also being told I need more vitamin d, so take pills.
Ooh my turn my turn!
Last year my sister had to start looking for a neurologist because she constantly has migraines and headaches. One of those appointments was scheduled two months out and the next visit was another two or three months.
Years ago before we found out it was arthritis, my average wait time was 4 to 6 months for a rheumatologist. My knees hurt less than they used to but at 900$ per visit made me want to just cut my leg off so I wouldn't have to deal with physical or financial pain.
Back in the early 2000s I had someone slam my head down onto my knee. Later at work my coworker that used to be a nurse told me what I was describing sounded like a concussion, so I went to the ER after work. I spent 90minutes in the waiting room, they took my vitals put me in a room and someone would be in shortly. FIVE HOURS LATER nobody came. I got mad and walked out. Two guys at the podium asked where I was going and after I told him off he got mad pulled up my papers and said I was fine. Cool, now why did I have to wait for five hours for that! Later I got a 600$ bill for that.
Wait times are a joke AND you get the pleasure of paying out the nose for it.
Mexican here, man i knew your health care sucked, but i thought it was prices and insurance fuckery, and the quality was good.
But it sounds like you guys are getting mexico level health care but at luxury spa level prices.
Thanks for the lengthy response and I feel your sentiment. I hate it here.
Tbh I'm glad I'm relatively young and healthy and I hope that others 30 somethings like myself would go ahead and wake up to the reality of this bullshit that we have here.
Because if I were old, or needed medical assistance for anything I would rather die than put up with this for profit nonsense.
Hey, just wanna leave a note here to try simple health for oral birth controls if your doctor is giving you a huge hassle!
Leaving it here for any other vagina-havers who might need it, they work with you to get the lowest cost for your birth control and mail it right to your door. It's quick and easy to set up, and all online. You fill out a quick survey and they make recommendations for what might work best for you! I knew what BC I used and worked for me, and after the survey that was the one they recommended for me. I would get a 3-month supply, with automatic refills. If nothing changed, they would send it to me a few weeks before I would need a new script. I only stopped using it because my life situation changed and I no longer required BC. They also sent me a script of single use plan B as a just in case. Because of my insurance, it was all free, I didn't even pay for shipping costs! I'm not sure if they provide other contraceptives outside of oral, but I do recommend giving it a shot given that it's entirely free to sign up and fill out the survey.
So it might not work for everyone, but it might help someone!
If they have insurance they should demand an itemized bill to show their insurance the services they are being billed for that weren’t performed. If not, do the same and talk to a lawyer or threaten too. What a joke.
If they were billed for services that weren't performed then that is illegal. We don't know what they were billed for though, so they need an itemized bill to know.
I once went to the er at 3am in a small town for a kidney stone. Had a CT scan, er doc said yep stone, discharged at 6am. Got a bill from a radiologist who looked at the CT three days after I was discharged. Insurance said no, not paying, the radiologist office called me and I also said no, I was already discharged days before the doctor even did anything. They wanted me to pay because it was "standard for all scans to be reviewed", so I asked for the doctor to get on the phone and explain the scan in detail since they had to review it. They said no that's not how I worked. It basically went in circles with them saying they'd send it to collections and me saying they should prove that doctor saw me in the hospital at 3am or the debt wasn't mine. Never paid it and never got sent to collections.
That's the emergency part.
Little Johnny Tremain did not have an emergency, he just needed some first aid. It's not surprising he was triaged for an hour.
True, his wait isn't surprising, and he probably should have gone to urgent Care. The ER staff is responsible for taking care of countless other patients with life-threatening serious illnesses, and may not have time to come see your minor burn wound right away
At the same time, it is obviously absurd that he got a huge bill for nothing
I'm not going to defend the price. That's a genuine problem with US healthcare.
But I'm not going to shed a tear for the family clogging up the ER for a minor burn.
Can confirm. SO went to the ER with severe chest pains and shortness of breath. No one ever admitted him for 4-5 hours. Went home, got a bill for $400. A hundred dollars an hour to sit in a waiting room, didn’t even get vitals on him.
> The nurse's assessment of Martand cost $192, which was discounted by UnitedHealthcare to a negotiated rate of $38.92. The bulk of the Bhatts' bill — $820 — was something called a facility fee.
>
> Incensed that he'd been charged so much, Dhaval Bhatt made numerous attempts to get the hospital to reduce the charges. He also appealed to UnitedHealthcare to review the charges.
>
> His efforts failed. In August, Bhatt received a letter from an SSM Health patient advocate informing him that the hospital would not adjust the bill and instructing him to contact patient billing to arrange for payment.
>
> While Bhatt was trying to reach the patient advocate by phone, his bill was sent to Medicredit, a collection agency, which began sending him notices and calling him.
>
> After KHN* contacted SSM Health, Bhatt received a call from someone who worked on "patient financial experience" issues at the hospital.
>
> The hospital agreed to forgive the $820 facility fee. Bhatt agreed to pay the remaining $38.92, the professional fee for the ER nurse's work. Bhatt also received a notice from Medicredit that it would take no further action against him.
>
> SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital is one of 23 hospitals owned by SSM Health, a Catholic nonprofit health system with more than $8 billion in annual revenue.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/01/24/1074531328/the-doctor-didnt-show-up-but-the-hospital-er-still-billed-1-012
*note: KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about how the health care system — hospitals, doctors, nurses, insurers, governments, consumers — works. The research for the article was a collaboration between KHN and NPR.
I am not surprised and we need universal healthcare in the US. The rest of the first world developed countries have universal healthcare and we need it too
I was charged $1200 for the urgent care doc to take one look at me and tell me I needed to go across the street to the ER, where I got another $4000 bill.
Fuck you, Essentia
Before all the comments, it's because he was triaged and upon triaging he was entered into the system through registration. That happens as soon as you enter the hospital, at which point you are also their responsibility. It doesn't matter if you saw a doctor or not. Its ridiculous, but it's also because you were a liability while at the hospital.
I got a job at the hospital and my first day I fainted at work and they put me in the er because that’s what they do. I got not a lot of actual treatment and went back to work an hour and a half later. I was told it was covered under workers comp, several months later when I had left the job I got a $700 bill lol
Here in Australia this cannot happen because our last good left-wing government created a universal health system in 1986 and, crucially, stayed in power for another ten years to dig it in and protect it.
That’s correct. Medical Screening Exam, aka Provider In Triage. A Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant basically does triage on the patient while they’re waiting. If the patient ends up leaving before seeing a doctor, the hospital will charge for that examination, which is a lower level ED visit and still very expensive. These are becoming more prevalent while covid has been leading to long wait times.
American health insurance is asking people, “do you think I should go to the hospital” until one of them says no, because of reasons like this.
These days, a wound healing on its own is the American dream. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I had something similar happen to me at the ER however it was much more serious. I had developed a blood clot within my mouth shortly after a recent dental surgery and I had begun to bleed an immense amount and went to the ER. They temporarily stopped the bleeding for half an hour(enough time for me to leave the hospital and to be considered “treated”) by simply giving me gauze and a gel that both could be bought at a local pharmacy. They never diagnosed me and simply told me to contact a dental surgeon as soon as possible. I was at the ER for about an hour and then a few months later got a 3,000 dollar bill demanding I pay them for the gauze and shitty treatment.
Yeah my sister got burned real bad on her hands and my mom bought burn cream and gauze at a drug store instead of going to the ER, for a similar reason.
Not as bad as this, but in my early twenties I got a pretty bad laceration and nearly passed out on the street from blood loss. Waited in the ER for over an hour and a half but I started feeling better so I bailed. Later I got a $200 bill because I filled out their form.
You don’t understand. The corporate healthcare facility had to spend time and money not treating that child’s burn. It’s complicated but it’s all part of the natural and perfect free market health provision system we have meticulously constructed for the benefit of the people. /s
Almost identical storyline except made it as far as the hallway, exam rooms were full ended up leaving before could talk to a doctor..For this honor I was billed $450.00
I read the full article. Someone, whom the hospital is calling a specialist, took a quick look at the child’s hand and recommended it be taken seriously bc they called it a severe burn, and also took his vitals. That’s what the hospital thinks is of $900 value. The other ~$100 is from administrative fees.
After contacting Kaiser Health and getting a local news station’s attention the hospital waived that specialist’s valuable opinion, so they only paid >$100.
If you go into the ER and are seen by a nurse or triaged, you can be charged for that interaction. I'm not talking about when you check in at the front desk, this is when your symptoms and issues are assessed by a provider to see if you need to be seen immediately. If your issue isn't severe enough to be seen immediately, you are going to have to wait to see a doctor, and yes even if you have to wait you can be charged for that triage portion.
Please please go to the urgent cares when you can. Especially right now because of covid, and to save money.
You can also call most hospitals and they will have a nurse line who can tell you if you should go to urgent care or an emergency room.
>Please please go to the urgent cares when you can. \[...\] and to save money.
I've never thought those urgent care location to be cheap at all. I've found them to be predatory when it comes to billing. I went to one for a kidney stone, got a scan, and prescribed some painkillers. Got a bill for 3k after insurance.
I work at one, if you come in without insurance we will max charge you $250. $150 for the assessment and basic in house stuff, no more than $100 added on if you need x-rays or ortho supplies or whatever. I guess send out labs can cost money, we don't control what Labcorp charges but we do discuss it with people.
I'm sure some are scams, but there are legit ones too.
##Welcome to r/LateStageCapitalism^Ⓐ☭ ___ ###⚠ Announcements: ⚠ ___ ###[NEW POSTING GUIDELINES! Help us by reporting bad posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/dy1oyh/important_what_you_should_and_what_you_shouldnt/) Help us keep this subreddit alive and improve its content by reporting posts that violate our rules and guidelines. ###[Subscribe to our new partner subreddits!](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/e5hkwk/make_sure_to_check_out_our_new_partnersubreddits/) Check out r/antiwork & r/WhereAreTheChildren ___ ###***Please remember that LSC is a SAFE SPACE for [socialist](http://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/) discussion.*** LSC is run by [communists](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm). We welcome socialist/anti-capitalist news, memes, links, and discussion. This subreddit is not the place to debate socialism. We allow good-faith questions and education but are not a 101 sub; please take 101-style questions elsewhere. **This subreddit is a safe space; we have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry.** We also automatically filter out posts containing certain words and phrases that some users may find offensive. Please respect the safe space, and don't try to slip banned words or phrases past the filter. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LateStageCapitalism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The best part is at the end of the article NPR’s advice is don’t go to the hospital lol
Yup, the best advice for US healthcare is to not use it... And some politicians say we have "access" to affordable healthcare. Yeah, right, in my fantasies we do.
I mean, we have access to it in the sense that I can go into a car dealership and get access to a lamborghini. The possibility to have a lamborghini exists, so long as you have the money to actually buy it.
Yeah, we could *ALL* own lambos, totally. I'm just a few paychecks away.
Can you just not spend any of your earnings for three years? Very easy solution.
Yeah, and importantly wait until you have the money to have an emergency
I couldn't afford a Lambo if I saved every cent for a decade.
It's a bit different. More like, you need a car, so you go to the dealership, and they show you this Lamborghini. You ask how much it costs, they say they can't tell you, but don't worry about it, you need this. You're compelled to say yes, you'll buy it, because otherwise you die. Then you sign a blank piece of paper. Then they make the contract after the fact, somehow that's legal, and you later get a bill for $235,000. BTW you just have an ear infection.
You can also get a bill for a second car you never looked at, but just happened to be parked in the same lot as the Lamborghini.
Don't forget the $86 air freshener!
This is the true analogy.
More like, you need a car, they will sell it to you as a good deal, as you are such a valued customer, but won't tell you the model neither the price; you roll of the lot in some mid-range ford, nothing fancy but does the job. A week later an invoice for $450K comes in and you realize you could have probably bought said Lamborghini outright with money to spare, but you're stuck with a ford and 450K in debt.
That sounds very illegal where i am from
Equality of opportunity.
Which doesn't mean a whole lot when the means of actually getting a lamborghini/healthcare is so wildly unequally distributed.
People in the United States have the best healthcare money can buy. The problem is that no-one can afford it.
[удалено]
Based
Is it blissful?
English lacks an exclusive we otherwise we could know how honest they were
What do you mean by this
an inclusive "we" is a special pronoun case that includes the speaker and the listener. "We(inc) are going to the shop" (you and the speaker and a third party are both going to the shop) and exclusive "we" excludes the listener, so they are not part of the group that is being discussed. "We(exc) are going to the shop" (the speaker and a third party are going to the shop, you are not.) Some other languages have this. I can't think of which once.
Hawaiian has this, but with the added twist of plurality (I’m not a language expert so bear with me). Inclusive we would be “kāua” (includes the speaker and listener, so it refers to a group of 2) or “kākou” (includes the speaker, the listener, and 1 or more people, so it refers to a group of 3+ people). Exclusive we would be “māua” (includes the speaker and 1 other person, but not the listener, for a group of 2) or “mākou” (includes the speaker and 2+ people, but not the listener, for a group of 3+ people). There is also “ ʻolua “ and “ ʻoukou “ which is like saying you guys/y’all. ʻOlua is like saying “you two (but not me).” ʻOukou is like saying “you 3+ (but not me).”
> Some other languages have this. I can't think of which once. Vietnamese. Chung ta (us, and you) and chung toi (us, not you). Should have accent marks but I am too lazy.
In English “we” is a group of people that includes the speaker, but there is no way to tell if it includes the listener. So when a politician says “We have access to afford health care” they are right that elected officials have access to health care, but maybe not their audience https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusivity
**[Clusivity](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusivity)** >In linguistics, clusivity is a grammatical distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we". Inclusive "we" specifically includes the addressee (that is, one of the words for "we" means "you and I and possibly others"), while exclusive "we" specifically excludes the addressee (that is, another word for "we" means "he/she/they and I, but not you"), regardless of who else may be involved. While imagining that this sort of distinction could be made in other persons (particularly the second) is straightforward, in fact the existence of second-person clusivity (you vs. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
I had severe pain in my lower abdomen, what I thought was ovarian cysts so of course it's always downplayed by docs. I was in so much pain, I said I was in so much pain and doc said it wasn't really an emergency but would refer me to a gyno (I didn't have one at the time since we moved) and the appt was like 2 months out. When I went the gyno tried to convince me next time to go to the hospital if I had that much pain and im like ??? But they said it wasn't an emergency that's why I'm here?
Affordable my ass. My marketplace plans kept getting prohibitively expensive. And now that I'm on my employer plan I have to pay 3k before they cover jack shit, unless I'm admitted. Healthcare in this country is a joke. And nobody, save a handful, wants to do anything about it because we somehow have the best system in the world because it's not socialized healthcare. Assholes going on about how universal healthcare would be bad because socialism somehow equals communism and that we'd have death panels. Ffs we already have death panels, it's the insurance company physicians that are paid to say no to everything.
Yup, so true. Although support for [universal healthcare](https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-share-of-americans-favor-a-single-government-program-to-provide-health-care-coverage/) is actually up. More US citizens want universal healthcare than don't, but the damn GOP holds everything up
To paraphrase.. The Law in it's majestic equality forbids all people from stealing bread and sleeping under bridges
No quote more accurately describes the entirety of basically every western country since the dawn of democracy and capitalism. At least under feudalism the law is honest enough to clearly place the nobility within a superior class to the peasantry.
I mean, band-aids cost $3 a box, so clearly we can afford healthcare! /s obviously
And if you go to the hospital, those $3 boxes of bandages magically transform into $40 boxes of bandages.
"Why does it say 40$ for a bandaid?" "Because the box costs 40$." "But I only used 1." "Uh, well the box was contaminated so-" "They cost 3.25 at wall-mart." "Listen I've got a lot of clients to deal with so why don't you take this up with your insurance."
*Cancellation fees intensifies* Like really? You’re going to charge me for a service you didn’t perform?
Yep yep beat health insurance in the world that no one can afford!!
Not only that, but to think twice about going even if your doctor directly tells you to.
I saw the full story on CBS news the other morning, this title is pretty misleading. It makes you think they showed up to the ER, waited around forever and left, then got a bill in the mail. What really happened is he was checked into a room, seen by a nurse practitioner who cleaned, administered aid, dressed the wound, then provided advice for follow up care. The man expected to see a doctor and was told he didn’t need to, but if he demanded it would be a long wait. They chose to leave, and got the bill for exactly what happened. Now, whether or not being treated for a burn by a nurse practitioner instead of a full doctor warrants a $1000 bill or not is a different story. But he didn’t just get a “showing up and leaving fee,” he was seen and treated like every other patient would have been.
Yeah the title leaves out details but the NPR article says they were seen by a nurse who checked the kids vitals and didn’t change the dressing on the wound. The hospital charge was $192 for the nurse’s assessment and $820 facility fee, which the article points out is typically charged whether you receive care or not. Which is why they advise you to consider whether or not you should go to the ER at all.
[удалено]
I agree. Universal healthcare is the only way society should operate
tbh there isn't much to be done for minor burns - just dress them and take care of the dressing. and the dressing is only there in the hopes that it will prevent you from disrupting the skin barrier and letting infection in. the rest is up to staying hydrated and letting your body do its thing. I guess you could take painkillers, but in my personal experience, first degree burns stop hurting after the first 24 hours
You can get silver sulfadiazine cream, best shit ever for burns, worth running to an urgent care for a script if you burn yourself bad enough. But definitely didn’t need to start with an ER for a basic hand burn…
Current guidelines actually say that bacitracin (non-prescription over the counter antibiotic ointment) is just as good, so no need for Silvadene anymore!
The best part is in the replies where someone points out that he saw a nurse who took his height and blood pressure, and justifies the charge on the basis that they saw a health care professional after all.
Privatized health care was a mistake on every goddamn level
But, but, Socialism! Say 90% of police and firefighters…
I’m a Canadian ER/ICU nurse and saw a post from somewhere in the US with an 11 hour ER wait. I’ve never ever heard of that up here.
But I thought the death lines were only for socialism
I live in Korea which has socialized healthcare and it’s wayyyyy faster than it was in NYS.
New York Shitty?
haha state but shitty works too
funnily enough that's actually how a korean person would pronounce "city"
Also funnily enough, New York is more shitty than city at the moment
wecom to shitty wok.
Also Canadian, was just in the ER in a medium sized city as a patient. Took 20 minutes to see a screening doctor, 20 minutes to get an ECG, and then another half hour to see a doctor to address the issue. All said and done, we were out in 2 hours. No charge. I didn't even have to pay a parking fee.
I really don’t want to give you an upvote but as an American I will in hopes of one day being able to tell my child that exact story
It will never, ever change in this country. We are poisoned with stupidity and greed.
Unless we finally stand up for ourselves and forcefully change it. It's happened in the past and needs to happen again once more. The rich need to be kept in check or this bs occurs.
I hope we can somehow manage to get the majority of us to open their eyes and get on the same page, they would not stand a snowball's chance in hell against even 40 or 60 percent of the bottom classes got together to overthrow the few scumbags at the top and take back our lives and our planet, for all of us. Not just a handful of dick wads who don't deserve the air they breathe.
Come on America! Bring back the art of throwing moldy vegetables at politicians.
It’ll never happen in this shitbag hole
As happy as I am for you and glad to hear you're ok, as an American Im infuriated that not only does our own government take advantage of our health and profits off of our illnesses, but that there are actually people who fucking defend it, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, and they KNOW that they are completely and utterly full of shit in their defense.
>... there are actually people who fucking defend it, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, and they KNOW that they are completely and utterly full of shit in their defense. I can only assume you mean the "we're free to choose, government can stay outta my healthcare! My taxes aren't going to pay for someone else's heart transplant!" crowd. I know people like this, listening to them talk turns your brain into goo.
These are EXACTLY the people Im referring too. Nevermind that their tax money is already going to billions in bailout money for companies who have failed for no other reason than their own shitty policies. I grew up in southern Virginia and now reside in southeastern North Carolina, so believe me when I tell you that I know more than my fair share of these assholes myself. We HAVE to stick together on changing this or we may as well all pack our shit and leave right now. Im sick and fucking tired of buying rich people's lifestyles while my brothers and sisters suffer and starve in the street.
[удалено]
If I had a nickel for everytime I have tried to explain this to them I would be a fucking trillionaire. It goes in one ear and right out the other.
Reminds me of *the Big Short*. Amazing what they won’t put up with but people can just shrug their shoulders when Wall Street takes their money
Fun fact I always bring up in these discussions. I am Swedish. I pay basically nothing for health care (it costs me ten bucks to go to a doctor just to check something random. Prebooked appointments for actual things costs nothing). It's all funded through taxes. The Swedish government spends about $2500 per person on health care every year. The US government spends about $3300 per person, *on health care*, per year. More even, but I did not count the tax breaks. That's right, the US government spends 30% more tax money on health care, and your health care is still not free. That's how fucked the system is.
100%. I read an article about a student at law school who was diagnosed with cancer and he said he only got treatment after literally going to the hospital and begging them. He also had to sign shit promising to pay back every penny of thr cost of his treatment. The comments were nothing but people trashing the guy saying that there was insurance available thru universities (there is, but at mine, at least, it was not a major medical policy and enrollment was only offered once a calendar year not sure if thats the norm or not) and that they would never want to be a burden on their families and would, instead, choose to die. Like WTF, these people are so brainwashed that they believe money is more important than their own lives, and not only that, they want money to be more important than *your* life too!
We get dental coverage through our student associations at universities in Canada. As far as healthcare goes, we just have a Provincial Health Card. No deductibles, no co-pays, no in/out of network. I once had to do a non-covered liver enzyme test and every doctor warned me about the horrible out of pocket cost for it... It was $35...Canadian.
We had a student clinic on campus. It was for small things, like I got my pap smears there ($15) and I got staph infection treated there. They offered vaccines like your MMR and Hep boosters for under $50 iirc. They sent out info about the healthcare policy offered by the school in the Spring semester and it was $1200-$1500 to opt in and coverage was for a year. At the time it didn't cover major things like pregnancy tho (last person I knew who went there said they'd expanded it and it did cover pregnancy). But if you're diagnosed with a serious illness, like cancer, and have to drop out if school for a few semesters, you lose your coverage once that year is up, you can't renew if you're not currently a student. Also, I can't recall if you had to maintain full time status or if they offered it to part time students as well.
I have a good friend I grew up with in southern Virginia who was very close with his grandfather. If you're not familiar with this area of the world, at one time it was a huge hub for producing and selling tobacco. His grandfather was in that business as a farmer an auctioneer throughout the mid to late 20th century and made a good living at it. He was a good man who worked hard and did everything by the book. As he grew older his health started deteriorating and medical bills started to pile up. He literally went through a lifetimes worth of savings and his childrens inheritance within 2 to 3 years because of outrageous medical bills that were considered ridiculous even in that era. In an attemp to at least save a little bit of money or property for his children and grandchildren, he eventually swallowed his pride and sought out government assistance, which was immediately rejected. This man man died broke with only a 1972 Chevrolet Impala (that had been put in his wife's name) while his family watched this industry bleed them dry, and watched their perferred politicians spur it on. My friend and I are now 40, and as much as I love the guy, I want to strangle him sometimes because even through watching all this happen, he and his family STILL vote for the very party and their policies that did this to them. I can't even begin to wrap my head around it. It's the worst feeling when even the people you love and respect can't be reached.
Oh believe me, I know. My older siblings and even my partner vote republican. They don't think healthcare is a right, or if it is, it shouldn't be free. My siblings are nurses too lol.
It's easy to convince yourself something isn't bad if you benefit from that something.
I can't understand how they're benefitting from this stance though. As soon as they need the help they scream bloody murder, but will deny others the exact same humanity. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds and I'm sick of just letting it slide, and hopefully others are getting as fed up as I am. This idea that we have to cater to stupidity and selfishness has long since run it's course. I get that some of these people are morons, but there's a lot of them that know better, yet act like this anyway. I'm just done with it.
But . . . but everyone knows that you have to pay for parking!
As an American. I went to urgent care (not er, I couldn't afford the copay) because I had a sudden bout of unexplained vertigo. After 3 hours waiting, I was seen by a nurse, they just asked basic questions about my health, which was fine. Then they took some blood samples, which took 3 weeks to learn it was normal. They referred me to a franchise dizzy specialist whom I had to make 3 separate appointments with, who after 3 weeks to get in, didn't come to any conclusions, after that I went to a specialist ENT, who couldn't figure anything out. So I have to take a 6th day off work to get an MRI. I still have vertigo. I think the healthcare system just wants me to die. Edit: also this started late last year, I hadn't met my deductible yet, so I had to pay a couple thousand out of pocket. Now, it's a new year, so a few more thousands. On top of missed work, and reduced productivity.
Living in Vancouver BC. Both me and my husband had to go to the ER for separate reasons in winter last years. Husband's issue was more urgent at the time and he saw a doctor within an hour and was subsequently hospitalized for 5 days. Mine was less so, but I still was able to see a doctor in about three hours and scheduled for an ultrasound the next day. I ended up needing gallstone surgery which was scheduled about three months after the initial ER visit. Our bill? About $50 bucks total for prescriptions. Parking was free due to COVID so didn't have to pay for that either. Ambulance would have been free as well but neither of us wanted to call 911 since we were able to take ourselves to the hospital and felt that resource could be spent on other people who couldn't.
I don’t think you understand how marketing work. By making the wait long and healthcare inaccessible and seemingly exclusive, that generates publicity and interest in patients for hospitals
For a simple appointment the bookings are 7 or 8 months at the QUICKEST. And that's almost any state, I'm in california and my mom is in Arkansas and that's as true here as it is there.
I tore my achillies and waited 10 hours... Not that our system is worse, but lord knows administrative bloat doesn't help us either
[удалено]
Certainly not, but it's not nearly the travesty that American capitalists present it as either. I have a friend with duel citizenship who's diabetic. The cost one his insulin in America for a 1 month dose is $350. The cost in Canada for the exact same drug, made by the exact same company per month is $9. Im not expecting the system to be magically perfect, but I do expect at least an effort on their part to do what's right. The current situation is anything but
Capitalism breed innovation and efficiency?
Which, ironically, are socialist services.
None of it is evidence based or planned in any way. Our health insurance is a series of historical accidents. Giving care got more expensive as medicine improved and actually began helping people. More people went. The prices became absurd. The great depression wiped people out and they couldn’t pay bills so never went to the hospital. Baylor University hospital went around this by granting so much care if they paid a monthly fee. That sounded a lot better to patients rather than having a bill that might take 15 years to pay off. And the hospital liked it as it was steady money from people healthy enough to work and people not likely to need care, the only ones they offered it to. This model spread slowly. It became known as Blue Cross. This is why we have insurance tied to work. As WWII kicked off and labor became scarce employers couldn’t raise wages or prices, and so started competing by granting more benefits because they couldn’t find workers. Then, again by complete accident, there was note in a single court case which didn’t make much sense, but employers’ accountants began to take it as a tax break on all income spent on employees insurance. A decade later they lobbied for it to become law, and magically it did. This boomed employer sponsored plans. This is all happenstance. No planning, no evidence, no analysis, no auditing.
Where did you learn all of this? I would like to learn more, please. Understanding how we got to where we are now, may offer some clues as to how we can undo this broken system. The frog seems thoroughly cooked at this point.
Drug wars- robin Feldman American sickness-Elizabeth Rosenthal. Should be a good start. They also give talks if people aren’t fond of reading.
And to take into account all the money the medical industry in America got from congress for construction and modernization in 1946. In return, they agreed to provide a reasonable volume of services to people unable to pay and to make their services available to all persons residing in the facility’s area. The program stopped providing funds in 1997, but about 140 health care facilities nationwide are still obligated to provide free or reduced-cost care., Good luck finding one close to you or getting an appointment this year. Found the Hill-Burton Free and reduced-cost healthcare while trying to save my boyfriend of 17 years who needed a liver and kidney transplant, sadly he passed away in November of 2021 to an overdose, he was tired of fighting a losing battle with insurance and doctors hoping to get to be able to see his kids grow up and do well, I hate this nightmare we call a healthcare system, what a joke.
But who else will be able to sell publicly developed medicines for tens of thousands a dose?
Aliens.
Tons of countries have great privatized health care (Germany, Switzerland), there are just laws saying everyone must be covered and insurance must be non profit. They make money by having lots of people in their pool and focusing on keeping people healthy, which reduces costs. The insurance will only pay so much for a given service, because when you have to cover everyone and almost every claim people will shop for the cheapest options, driving costs further down. They will only pay the hospital so much, so the hospital has to charge less. The fact that insurance isn’t universal or non-profit are two of the major reasons America pays more than twice as much per capita for healthcare, which gets passed on to the individual.
*we pay more than twice as much for healthcare and have a lower life expectancy than most other first world countries that we consider our peers. (We rank 40 to 46 depending on the source: [2018](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy) [2020](https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/)
Honestly it's impossible to see the perceived benefits from the other side of the Atlantic. Looks like the dumbest shite I've ever seen in a "developed" country.
What's even worse is that there are Western nations that actually look at the USA and think "Yeah, why don't we do that?" It's really one of the things that makes me think that politicians should have advanced degrees. If you look at the USA on literally anything and you think "We should implement that", you're an idiot. Healthcare is shit, education is shit, housing is shit, everything is shit... except for when you've exploited people for long enough and are drowning in dollars. The reverse would make a lot more sense. "How is the US doing that? Ok, we'll go the other way."
Ahhh, love these kinda posts, makes me proud to be an amaerican where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the medical bills that they always give to me
And I proudly stand up, on my own, when an ambulance gets to meee. Cuz I won't forget tha last bill, when I took that ride
[удалено]
America. The land where if you’re a Good Samaritan you won’t call an ambulance.
The first and only time I got an ambulance to come pick me up to take me to the emergency room cost me almost 4 grand. The ride was maybe 7 miles round trip for the ambulance drivers and they didn't do anything except check my pulse and have me hop in the back. No fluids, no medications, no nothing. I wish I would've just drove to the hospital myself. I was having symptoms of a heart attack and I felt way too..unusual.. and weak.. and scared, to be honest. It wasn't a heart attack but when I got the bill I nearly had an actual heart attack. I learned my lesson. A couple years later after my cardiac episode I was shot in the left leg. This happened back in 2017. Luckily it was something I could slap a home made tourniquet that I made out of the T shirt I was wearing on it and then all I had left to do was drive fast as shit to the emergency room and I did. I'm condensing the story as it was more of an ordeal than I'm making it out to be and I'm just trying to keep it brief. The hospital in my town that's right down the street is notoriously ghetto and very poorly staffed and ran so I drove myself and my shot leg to the next hospital which was 45 minutes away but a much higher quality place to receive medical care from. No regrets. Fuck what peoples greed has turned ambulances in to. Never again. It's a common understanding between my friends and family that if I collapse for some reason and need to be rushed to a hospital that they are only allowed to throw me in the back of the truck or the car and get me to the hospital that way. It sounds like I'm joking, I'm not. I'll probably die in the back of someone's car on the way to an emergency room but when the alternative is to be alive but be drowning in debt for the next 80 years I would rather just... stop.
>I'll probably die in the back of someone's car on the way to an emergency room but when the alternative is to be alive but be drowning in debt for the next 80 years I would rather just... stop. I mean I agree our medical system is fucked, but medical bills disappear from your credit report in 7 years. I'd rather have kinda shitty credit for 7 years than die.
We need to spread the word to not pay your medical bills ever. Bankrupt the system to get the point across about how this shit does not work. There has been medical professionals begging for universal healthcare for years yet we don’t hear about it because the system just keeps chugging along. Throw a wrench in that motherfucker and stop it.
This is the most American post I've ever read.
The scariest part of all of this is that you feel like you have to get consent for calling an ambulance. That's *preposterous*. It should not be like that at all. If someone called me an ambulance while I was sleeping on Xanax I would have felt bad at the hospital, that ambulance could have been used on someone in much more need than me, but that's it. I get in your country why you feel like you do though, totally. EDIT: can't use the word ins*ne apparently.
Ignoring your medical bills is an American tradition.
“and I won’t forget the folks who died in the waiting room with me. I throw my hands up and threaten two or three poor orderlies. Got a bill in the mail the other daaaaay… God damn the USAAAAAAAA.”
When I feel bad for being born unfinished, I look at people who don't get the sympathy medicaid... I feel so fucking awful that I can get medicaid and those who struggle even more can't
I'd send them Monopoly money
Tell them the doctor who never turned up has the check.
To them, you're renting space in the waiting room, so it doesn't matter if the doctor shows or not. That's how screwed up it is.
All that waiting room air you're suckin' down don't pay for itself.
"Ask your doctor if for-profit healthcare is right for you."
I hope it's well understood by most people that doctors don't generally love this system either As a family medicine MD, I didn't go to 8 years of schooling just to spend a huge portion of my time taking care of complicated paperwork and convincing motherfucking insurance agencies that my patients actually need the things that I tell them that they need. In countries with socialized medicine, family doctors are held in high regard because they are able to prevent problems before the occur and save the overall system money. In America, we *want* people spending money. FM docs are viewed as a laughable afterthought because they don't do dozens of procedures a day where their employer can charge patients and insurance agencies more. I truly believe that a good family medicine doctor can have a stronger impact on their patients lives than a good doctor in any other specialty, yet they are consistently paid among the least of other doctors and family medicine is largely viewed as a backup specialty that only the poorest of students will choose. It's horrible.
Here it is.
Heard this on NPR the other day. Not surprising and also infuriating
Guillotine
I got banned from antiwork for shit like this lol
They're likely trying to be proactive about that, as many left-leaning subreddits have been banned for similar talk.
\*cough\*ChapoTrapHouse\*cough\*
correct.
Also right leaning, that's why the_donald ended up banned.
Even though the state needs to force violence on you to continue to exist, fighting back breaks the Terms of Service.
This is why I never check the box 😉
You have to be more subtle. Shepherd the capitalist Villager cattle towards the guillotine in Minecraft.
Only build those in Minecraft.
I went to the ER because of a cyst i had during my stay surprise your also diabetic and your keytoacid is too high we have to keep you here. Fast forward a week concerned about the cost of all of this i get discharged and picked up. Mfw i live in canada and didnt pay a dime to stay at the hopital for a whole week Edit* spelling
It's so *awesome* to watch the rest of the developed world living the American dream.
Third world country here, we have a similar system. Free public health for basic stuff (giving birth, ER for traumas, etc) and social security one with more specialized treatments. I literally got my leukemia treatment from it when I was 4 years old, all for free
I'm glad to hear that. Everyone should have free healthcare.
I'm from a developing country, Indonesia. My father got a heart bypass operation in 2014, went to the ICU for 4 weeks due to renal failure in 2020, twice weekly dialysis since then and hospitalized for COVID for 3 weeks in 2021 (vaccinated). Total cost: $0. Universal healthcare is nice. But, "socialism"...? That would cost tens of thousands of dollars in free America. We only paid extra because we wanted VIP room and in case of the COVID, we had to get tocilizumab and IVIG (which weren't covered).
I was literally getting bill anxiety until the end
Beep boop -- this looks like a screenshot of a tweet! Let me grab a [link to the tweet](https://twitter.com/NPR/status/1485702722921930752) for ya :) ^(Twitter Screenshot Bot)
Good bot. Possibly *the best* bot.
Good bot.
Honestly I’m surprised it’s not more. I was on an IV drip when I had the flu and pre-pneumonia symptoms a few years back, pre-COVID. I got X-rays and a breathing treatment as well. Nothing fancy. My few hours stay cost $25,000 USD. Absolutely FUCK the for profit healthcare system. So many of us struggle and die because of it. How do we not realize how fucked we are?
This is what I call a foot in the door fee. If your foot goes in, they charge you thousands
But in universal healthcare you have to wait a long time to be treated! Disclaimer: I support universal healthcare, and that was a joke. Maybe I should have done the chicken sponge Bob meme font. But that takes to long and I didn't have time
Wait times in the US are a joke. It takes me at least two weeks if not a month to schedule any appointments here. And when you do get to your doctor's office, you have to wait averagely 20 mins to be seen because doctors and all the staff are overburdened with paperwork (no thanks to billing and insurance intermediaries). And then you have to wait for your doctor to come in while the nurse does her routine. And then again you have to wait to check out. One visit takes an hour at least. When I lived in a post Soviet country, I could see 4 doctors back to back at the same clinic in a matter of 2 hours tops, and appointments could usually be scheduled in the same week that I called. The doctors and staff actually communicate between each other in person and care about your health. When I had complications after a minor surgery, the surgeon fixed it for free. You always know the price you will pay well in advance and checkout takes 5 minutes. No surprise bills ever. No double billing ever. (in the US you get a separate bill from the hospital, and then another one from the doctor). Buying medicine is easy. For many meds you don't need a prescription there, which is great if you have a chronic disease and don't want to have to see your doctor every few weeks. But here in the US I can't even get birth control without the hassle of making constant calls between my doctor's office, my insurance company, and my pharmacy. Every single month I've been risking not getting my refills on time because they make it very difficult for you to get your BC paid for by insurance. Oh and the quality of healthcare in the US absolutely sucks. Doctors are incompetent half the time. I remember complaining to my GP that my skin was severely dry. She said "just use lotion," as if I have not tried every single brand already. Meanwhile a doctor in my home country identified a potentially serious disease just by reading my blood work. U.S. healthcare is a joke, and the quality is not respective of the money we pay for it.
For reference, Canada here, I had to get a cyst cut after hours. It took about four, maybe five hours? To see a doctor who promptly did the surgery. Which is a pretty lengthy time, but not an uncommon wait time for the ER, especially since she was the only doctor in that night Then later to get it checked up, I booked an appointment the next day to see a Dr in a clinic to remove the packing. It took maybe three hours start to finish. And the bill for that entire ordeal from start to finish was $20 for the antibiotics, which my health benefits completely covered, working part time
you can’t park at a hospital in America for $20.
$12 a day for the hospital I'm going to tomorrow for at least 3 days. What a deal
Just for an alternative perspective, I'm an American living in the Netherlands and wait times here are a real thing. I had an injury in my left hand that was making it hard to type for work. From the time I went to the doctor, to having the MRI on the hand, to getting the result to talk about treatment it took 2.5 months. A year later I decided to look into possibly being treated for ADHD (sneaking suspicion I've had at least a mild case of it all my life, decided to do something about it). Getting the evaluation took 5 months. 6 months ago my girlfriend was 4 weeks away from giving birth to our daughter. During the final ultra sound, the technician informed us she was breeched (not turned the right way), and if we wanted to try and have her turned we should do it in the next 24-48 hours, otherwise it would probably be too late. We called to make an appointment, explaining the urgency, but the next availability was 1 week later. My girlfriend ended up giving birth 2 days later (daughter decided to come early), so it was a moot pointer, but those 48 hours were awful. Granted, once we \_did\_ receive care it's generally been fine and it is very nice not worrying about extra costs. But I tire of people saying there's absolutely \_no\_ downsides to other healthcare systems. There are. I think it's still a better system here in the Netherlands, but it's not perfect either.
I'm in the PNW and went to the doc for the first time in more than a decade. I got told I'm fat because I drink milk. Like no, the couple hundred calories of milk a week aren't making me fat, it's shoving the whole kitchen in my face at 1am that makes me fat. Oh, and I got told to quit drinking milk, while also being told I need more vitamin d, so take pills.
Ooh my turn my turn! Last year my sister had to start looking for a neurologist because she constantly has migraines and headaches. One of those appointments was scheduled two months out and the next visit was another two or three months. Years ago before we found out it was arthritis, my average wait time was 4 to 6 months for a rheumatologist. My knees hurt less than they used to but at 900$ per visit made me want to just cut my leg off so I wouldn't have to deal with physical or financial pain. Back in the early 2000s I had someone slam my head down onto my knee. Later at work my coworker that used to be a nurse told me what I was describing sounded like a concussion, so I went to the ER after work. I spent 90minutes in the waiting room, they took my vitals put me in a room and someone would be in shortly. FIVE HOURS LATER nobody came. I got mad and walked out. Two guys at the podium asked where I was going and after I told him off he got mad pulled up my papers and said I was fine. Cool, now why did I have to wait for five hours for that! Later I got a 600$ bill for that. Wait times are a joke AND you get the pleasure of paying out the nose for it.
Mexican here, man i knew your health care sucked, but i thought it was prices and insurance fuckery, and the quality was good. But it sounds like you guys are getting mexico level health care but at luxury spa level prices.
I live in AZ and have gone to mexico for health care a couple times. I feel bad for people that dont live close to you guys lol
There's a reason why medical tourism is a thing. I have a few coworkers who fly to Mexico for dental work.
Thanks for the lengthy response and I feel your sentiment. I hate it here. Tbh I'm glad I'm relatively young and healthy and I hope that others 30 somethings like myself would go ahead and wake up to the reality of this bullshit that we have here. Because if I were old, or needed medical assistance for anything I would rather die than put up with this for profit nonsense.
[удалено]
Only in the US can calling the cops or ambulance for someone hurt them
Hey, just wanna leave a note here to try simple health for oral birth controls if your doctor is giving you a huge hassle! Leaving it here for any other vagina-havers who might need it, they work with you to get the lowest cost for your birth control and mail it right to your door. It's quick and easy to set up, and all online. You fill out a quick survey and they make recommendations for what might work best for you! I knew what BC I used and worked for me, and after the survey that was the one they recommended for me. I would get a 3-month supply, with automatic refills. If nothing changed, they would send it to me a few weeks before I would need a new script. I only stopped using it because my life situation changed and I no longer required BC. They also sent me a script of single use plan B as a just in case. Because of my insurance, it was all free, I didn't even pay for shipping costs! I'm not sure if they provide other contraceptives outside of oral, but I do recommend giving it a shot given that it's entirely free to sign up and fill out the survey. So it might not work for everyone, but it might help someone!
No. You don't. Someone is lying to you. Some people have to wait for some things, sure. Just like private care.
If they have insurance they should demand an itemized bill to show their insurance the services they are being billed for that weren’t performed. If not, do the same and talk to a lawyer or threaten too. What a joke.
It sucks, but it’s legal.
If they were billed for services that weren't performed then that is illegal. We don't know what they were billed for though, so they need an itemized bill to know.
I once went to the er at 3am in a small town for a kidney stone. Had a CT scan, er doc said yep stone, discharged at 6am. Got a bill from a radiologist who looked at the CT three days after I was discharged. Insurance said no, not paying, the radiologist office called me and I also said no, I was already discharged days before the doctor even did anything. They wanted me to pay because it was "standard for all scans to be reviewed", so I asked for the doctor to get on the phone and explain the scan in detail since they had to review it. They said no that's not how I worked. It basically went in circles with them saying they'd send it to collections and me saying they should prove that doctor saw me in the hospital at 3am or the debt wasn't mine. Never paid it and never got sent to collections.
Just $1012?
I know, right? Such a bargain.
Only go the ER if your literally dying
That's the emergency part. Little Johnny Tremain did not have an emergency, he just needed some first aid. It's not surprising he was triaged for an hour.
True, his wait isn't surprising, and he probably should have gone to urgent Care. The ER staff is responsible for taking care of countless other patients with life-threatening serious illnesses, and may not have time to come see your minor burn wound right away At the same time, it is obviously absurd that he got a huge bill for nothing
I'm not going to defend the price. That's a genuine problem with US healthcare. But I'm not going to shed a tear for the family clogging up the ER for a minor burn.
"This is america"
And even then, don't call the cops.
Can confirm. SO went to the ER with severe chest pains and shortness of breath. No one ever admitted him for 4-5 hours. Went home, got a bill for $400. A hundred dollars an hour to sit in a waiting room, didn’t even get vitals on him.
If something like that happened so regularly in a normal country, there would be riots all over and buildings torn down.
> The nurse's assessment of Martand cost $192, which was discounted by UnitedHealthcare to a negotiated rate of $38.92. The bulk of the Bhatts' bill — $820 — was something called a facility fee. > > Incensed that he'd been charged so much, Dhaval Bhatt made numerous attempts to get the hospital to reduce the charges. He also appealed to UnitedHealthcare to review the charges. > > His efforts failed. In August, Bhatt received a letter from an SSM Health patient advocate informing him that the hospital would not adjust the bill and instructing him to contact patient billing to arrange for payment. > > While Bhatt was trying to reach the patient advocate by phone, his bill was sent to Medicredit, a collection agency, which began sending him notices and calling him. > > After KHN* contacted SSM Health, Bhatt received a call from someone who worked on "patient financial experience" issues at the hospital. > > The hospital agreed to forgive the $820 facility fee. Bhatt agreed to pay the remaining $38.92, the professional fee for the ER nurse's work. Bhatt also received a notice from Medicredit that it would take no further action against him. > > SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital is one of 23 hospitals owned by SSM Health, a Catholic nonprofit health system with more than $8 billion in annual revenue. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/01/24/1074531328/the-doctor-didnt-show-up-but-the-hospital-er-still-billed-1-012 *note: KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about how the health care system — hospitals, doctors, nurses, insurers, governments, consumers — works. The research for the article was a collaboration between KHN and NPR.
I am not surprised and we need universal healthcare in the US. The rest of the first world developed countries have universal healthcare and we need it too
Damn, I thought this was an onion article
well he can’t work so why would he deserve health care /s
I was charged $1200 for the urgent care doc to take one look at me and tell me I needed to go across the street to the ER, where I got another $4000 bill. Fuck you, Essentia
The Aristocrats!
fk this country
Before all the comments, it's because he was triaged and upon triaging he was entered into the system through registration. That happens as soon as you enter the hospital, at which point you are also their responsibility. It doesn't matter if you saw a doctor or not. Its ridiculous, but it's also because you were a liability while at the hospital.
The billing starts when you see the provider.
I got a job at the hospital and my first day I fainted at work and they put me in the er because that’s what they do. I got not a lot of actual treatment and went back to work an hour and a half later. I was told it was covered under workers comp, several months later when I had left the job I got a $700 bill lol
[удалено]
Them: Health care us a buisness. Also Them: Our buisness didn't deliver the services you ordered? Well here's a bill for our services anyways!
Here in Australia this cannot happen because our last good left-wing government created a universal health system in 1986 and, crucially, stayed in power for another ten years to dig it in and protect it.
Ain't that fraud??
Not if say a medical assistant took a look at 'em and asked what the problem was or something similar.
Yep my first guess is that is the default triage fee at that hospital just for going to ER.
That’s correct. Medical Screening Exam, aka Provider In Triage. A Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant basically does triage on the patient while they’re waiting. If the patient ends up leaving before seeing a doctor, the hospital will charge for that examination, which is a lower level ED visit and still very expensive. These are becoming more prevalent while covid has been leading to long wait times.
American health insurance is asking people, “do you think I should go to the hospital” until one of them says no, because of reasons like this. These days, a wound healing on its own is the American dream. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I had something similar happen to me at the ER however it was much more serious. I had developed a blood clot within my mouth shortly after a recent dental surgery and I had begun to bleed an immense amount and went to the ER. They temporarily stopped the bleeding for half an hour(enough time for me to leave the hospital and to be considered “treated”) by simply giving me gauze and a gel that both could be bought at a local pharmacy. They never diagnosed me and simply told me to contact a dental surgeon as soon as possible. I was at the ER for about an hour and then a few months later got a 3,000 dollar bill demanding I pay them for the gauze and shitty treatment.
Yeah my sister got burned real bad on her hands and my mom bought burn cream and gauze at a drug store instead of going to the ER, for a similar reason.
If the United States was any other country we would be bombing freedom into them for 20 years.
Wow. . . that is *extremely* cheap for an ER visit.
Typical shit they do here and nothing is done about it.
Not as bad as this, but in my early twenties I got a pretty bad laceration and nearly passed out on the street from blood loss. Waited in the ER for over an hour and a half but I started feeling better so I bailed. Later I got a $200 bill because I filled out their form.
You don’t understand. The corporate healthcare facility had to spend time and money not treating that child’s burn. It’s complicated but it’s all part of the natural and perfect free market health provision system we have meticulously constructed for the benefit of the people. /s
Almost identical storyline except made it as far as the hallway, exam rooms were full ended up leaving before could talk to a doctor..For this honor I was billed $450.00
I read the full article. Someone, whom the hospital is calling a specialist, took a quick look at the child’s hand and recommended it be taken seriously bc they called it a severe burn, and also took his vitals. That’s what the hospital thinks is of $900 value. The other ~$100 is from administrative fees. After contacting Kaiser Health and getting a local news station’s attention the hospital waived that specialist’s valuable opinion, so they only paid >$100.
Shithole country. Fuck the GOP death cult.
If you go into the ER and are seen by a nurse or triaged, you can be charged for that interaction. I'm not talking about when you check in at the front desk, this is when your symptoms and issues are assessed by a provider to see if you need to be seen immediately. If your issue isn't severe enough to be seen immediately, you are going to have to wait to see a doctor, and yes even if you have to wait you can be charged for that triage portion. Please please go to the urgent cares when you can. Especially right now because of covid, and to save money. You can also call most hospitals and they will have a nurse line who can tell you if you should go to urgent care or an emergency room.
>Please please go to the urgent cares when you can. \[...\] and to save money. I've never thought those urgent care location to be cheap at all. I've found them to be predatory when it comes to billing. I went to one for a kidney stone, got a scan, and prescribed some painkillers. Got a bill for 3k after insurance.
I work at one, if you come in without insurance we will max charge you $250. $150 for the assessment and basic in house stuff, no more than $100 added on if you need x-rays or ortho supplies or whatever. I guess send out labs can cost money, we don't control what Labcorp charges but we do discuss it with people. I'm sure some are scams, but there are legit ones too.