Agnostic.com

8 6

I was reading this on Quora today: [quora.com]


Q: Is this true about healthcare in the United States: "People pay horrific premiums and ridiculous deductibles and have to become indebted if they seek care"?

A: I am going anonymous because I work for the billing department of a hospital. If you want to know just how bad it is let me provide you some of the real behind the scenes prices.

$450 - Every 15 mins a doctor does anything related to you

$650 - for 2 pills not much different than Tylenol or ibuprofen

$6,289.81 - 1 dose of chemotherapy not including the cost of the doctor and nurse.

$135 - Every x-ray image not including cost of the radiologist report.

$9994 - Every 12 hours in the ICU.

Those are just what bills I processed in between writing this answer. Now I am sending those to the insurance but 9 times out of 10 insurance will not even pay off half and the rest is sent to the patient.

So yes you will pay a large premium (Mine takes up 40% of my paycheck) and get large bills. the only way to win is to not get sick for any reason.

Now I am only 23 years old but this kind of ridiculousness is why I will only vote for a socialist to get this changed with the people collective in mind.


I don't know how genuine this 'anonymous" poster is, but I don't think I could afford to live in the US if medical treatment costs me an astronomical amount every time I get ill or injured.

Read on to find more anecdotes: [quora.com]

Ryo1 8 Jan 14
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

8 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

1

About a decade and a half ago, I broke my left tibia and fibia. I managed to keep it from being a compound fracture. Long story short, I was billed $60,000. The insurance company settled the claim for $20,000 .... Yes they did surgery and I stayed in the hospital for 2 days.

I'll stop here and just say, "Our healthcare system is so screwed up, I wouldn't even know where to begin to fix it." I don't even want to think about what the bill for the same thing would be today.

Gosh, that's shocking!

Our NHS in the UK is not perfect. All hospials and other medical institutions suffer funding cuts, staff shortages, equipment shortages, etc., and patients have to suffer long waiting lists, bed shortages, etc. The Covid pandemic doesn't help. Still, I'm sure I'm right in saying that nobody in the UK wants to abandon the "free at the point of delivery" system. This system is possible because it is supported by taxpayers, i.e., the government.

An elderly lady down the road from my house fainted in the kitchen in December. She was taken to the local hospital by ambulance, and was admitted straight away, no question asked. After many tests, they found that the faint was caused by one of her heart valves closing up. She stayed in hospital for two weeks but had to be discharged because her bed was needed for someone else who has a more serious heart condition. Not an ideal situation for her. Still, while the local hospital has a long list of surgeries, they contacted a specialist hospital in London so that she can have an operation next month. Otherwise, she would have to be on the local waiting list for 12 months at least.

The ambulance service, the tests, the treatment, the medicines, the hospital meals, and everything else the lady received were all free, and the operation she is going to have in London will also be free. That is the beauty of "free at the point of delivery".

2

I just had abdominal-diverticulitis surgery on Dec 3, 2022. Lucky for me I have Medicare and a supplemental plan with Excellus. I was in a double room for three days. The total bill so far was $47,000 USD. My out of pocket expense was a $390 co-pay plus $1,100 that Excellus didn’t cover. I’m expecting a few more bills to come in.
I would never had afforded this necessary surgery if I was under 65 yo.
I have a copy of the itemized bill but have nothing to compare the costs.
Healthcare in the USA is a financial crap shoot.

A lot of people on SS cannot afford the supplemental insurance.

@MyTVC15 mine is free with Excellus

1

Not only that but we don't get much for our money. Covid has proven the lie that we were told that this is the best health care system in the world. It is not and it hasn't been for a very long time. Infant mortality is high and a good system would not be shutting down like ours is, because of covid. Check this vid out: [cnn.com]

0
3

I was paying $1800 per month premiums for myself and two kids under 26, all healthy. Had a $7500 deductible and $10,500 out of pocket max (per person), which meant I paid premiums triple what my mortgage was AND paid every bill in full, anyway. Hospitalization would have been covered at some nominal amt IF we stayed more than five days there. All of this, and I worked a very respectable job, without issue for 22 years. Got laid off within 4 months of fully vested retirement. It’s worse than terrible.

Zster Level 8 Jan 14, 2022
3

Hence the rapid increase in popularity of ACA/Obamacare. And getting that through Congress was a squeeker because of the tightfisted fascists.

1

When you run out of money and are too sick to work than Medicaid will keep you in eternal poverty limiting your income to below poverty levels in order to receive medical care.

I am responsible for maintaining my health, but despite my healthy lifestyle, I could still develop cancer, for example, which couldn't be my fault. I would then have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for treatment until I eventaully run out of money and go below the poverty line so that I am finally entitled to Medicaid... Is that how Medicaid works? Sorry for being ignorant.

That's correct.

@Theresa_N Everyone should be able to access the healthcare services they need without financial discrimination.

@Ryo1 You know a lot of illnesses that are blamed on the patient are also not the patients fault. Diabetes is an example of one that gets a lot of finger pointing, but really it is hereditary and if you develop neuropathy from it, that would not be "your fault either". I wonder if you think that people who did not live your "healthy life style" should be charged more?

3

Medicare For All

'straddle'??!!! Should be 'saddle' If one is going to make a meme or ad, have someone competent proof-read it. Or risk being laughed at.

@racocn8 You get the point of the meme, though, don't you?

@Ryo1 I get the meme. I'm totally in favor of uplifting the physical, mental and financial well-being of those making <$150k. Campaigning with memes that distract from their own message is self-defeating though.

I wonder if the reason that we do not have medicare for all is that then everyone would want medical care and the system is well aware that there really is not enough care to go around. The collapse of our health care system that we are witnessing right now was predicted a long time ago. We have known for a few decades that when the baby boomers all got old and sick that there would not be enough room in the nursing homes and hospitals . By "room" I mean the staff to man those rooms. There are fewer members of the following generation to support all those boomers. It was probably when that prediction was made that the nursing home industry started to come under the control of big corporations, because they saw that it was probably going to become a big money making industry. I worked in that industry for 20 years and I will tell you that the residents were paying huge amounts of money that was not going to the overworked staff. And I can tell you, that even on the best of days in a nursing home, the staff is over worked and the residents are underserved. But the corporation does just fine.

I have to add, when I worked in the healthcare industry, (before the ACA) a new employee had to wait 90 days before they could opt for insurance BUT, the insurance cost more than the pay of the nurses aides (the hardest working people on earth) the dietary aides, activities ( mostly done by volunteers, but there are some that are also paid), housekeeping and laundry staff would cover.

If I wanna get trolled, I can always count of Agnostic. ffs

@HankHunter13 It is either trolled or ignored. You are right.

@MyTVC15 It's No Wonder This Site Isn't Growing Leaps And Bounds. It's A Shame.

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:645185
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.