Is this a joke I am too not-American to understand?
this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
659 points (96.7% liked)
Memes
45636 readers
1423 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Yeah. The bill is real but st judes is a charity hospital. Joking the only way to pay his debt is rob a charity
I still don't get it. Is 100k the bill or his account balance after the bill was payed? And if it is the bill why is it listed under "other adjustments"?
I think 100k is the amount he still owes. Looks like he had a follow up or something that added $250 and insurance covered $175. Context is he had a seizure in the shower and was in the hospital for a month. A lot of plans you have co insurance after hitting your deductible where you split any further costs with the insurance company say 80/20. So it's possible he only ends up paying $20k of that, or his bill was much higher and $100k is what he owes after co insurance
Usually there's still an out of pocket max, like $5000.
But I guess that could depend on your insurance
It's such a scam and the people voting against universal care are the same ones who complain they don't go to the doctor because it's too expensive
People are voting against universal health care? Do people other than hospital and Pharma owners actually vote against that?
It's a point of pride for republicans to vote against the working class.
Well, people who want universal healthcare have a D next to their name. That is enough for 10s of millions of Americans to blindly vote against it
load more comments
(4 replies)
The propaganda is people "like" their private insurance and don't want to be "forced" to get rid of it. There is also an anti-tax streak that has existed since the 1700s (no taxation without representation, Boston tea party, etc) that lives on strongest in reactionary politics.
Edit: Oh and last time we tried to actually improve healthcare they scare mongered the public that there would be "government death panels" who decided whether you would get coverage. As opposed to the current reality where the death panels are real and run by private corporations.
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(11 replies)
Man I (as a german) often trash on the german insurance plan but from my perspective this is just insanity!
We also think that, unfortunately the poorest white Americans would rather die than risk giving insurance to minorites. So we have this system.
Oh, here's another fun fact for you: an ambulance ride can be so prohibitively expensive that many people actively avoid calling 911 for fear of having to pay the ambulance bill. This results in people experiencing medical emergencies either: (a) driving themselves to the hospital while having their emergency, which is incredibly dangerous; (b) opting to call a ride share like Uber or Lyft instead; or (c) not doing anything at all and hoping the emergency resolves itself.
The hospital is charging the patient $100k. This is what’s left of the patients “tab”.
load more comments
(1 replies)
American healthcare is a fucking joke.
I'm so lucky that I live in a country where it's covered and I don't have to worry if i get sick.
Yeah I'm about to lose my healthcare for 4 months I'm pretty nervous. Gunna get a physical and my teeth cleaned before it runs out but still a lot can go wrong. Wife's grandpa was telling me he's on a pill that's $10,000 a month if you don't have insurance
load more comments
(4 replies)
He should ask for an itemized bill. Then he might only owe 50 grand.......
Somebody should make a law to make itemized bills obligatory for hospitals, but I guess that counts as communism as well 🤷
And as we all know, if it isn't Randian Anarcho-capitalism, then it's Communism, baby!
load more comments
(2 replies)
No big deal. You have until August. Just skip the avocado toast until then and you'll be fine.
Idk they might have to skip Starbucks for a day or 2 also and that's just not really fair, ya know?
load more comments
(1 replies)
Here's my American Healthcare story:
- snap finger bone, go to urgent care to get splint
- pay 50ish dollars that day
- 2 months later, get bill for 200 dollars
- ahah! everyone says to ask for an itemized bill! do that
- get itemized bill back that claims the 200 charge is for 'visiting with a doctor with knowledge of medical history' (paraphrasing)
- contest charge because I did not see a doctor, and splinting a snapped finger does not require any fucking context at all
- get runaround for 2 months, while being threatened with late fees
- finally they say they will adjust the bill
- get new bill for $201, 'for a visit that did not include a doctor' (no fucking joke)
welcome the USA, where healthcare operations are scams
(these are just 2 of the scams in my state, thanks to shell companies when one is shut, another opens)
edit: and in case anyone thinks I paid that shit, I didn't. I sent them a polite version of a 'fuck you' reply. Then covid hit and I never heard from them again.
Mine was when I cut the tip of my finger off... Bottle broke and sliced my middle finger from the middle of the nail down to the corner. Only thing holding it on was the nail itself. I go to urgent care because it's closer than the hospital. The doc soaks it in iodine and alcohol, checks for glass, then says he can stitch or glue it. He opts for glue. I get a wrap and splint to protect it, "keep it dry and unwrap it in a few weeks to make sure it took." Couple weeks go by and I get a bill. $8,000 for superglue and a bandage! A little less than 1/4 of what I made in a year at the time. Best part? "Payment in full is expected one month from receipt."
Fucking greedy bastards...
load more comments
(1 replies)
Heres mine:
Emergency root canal.
How much does this cost?
Idk.
What will my insurance cover?
Idk.
I need1500 now 1500 after.
Ok please make it stop.
3 months later get a bill already in collections for 3000.
Credit score goes up 30 points
load more comments
(1 replies)
Meanwhile, I was hospitalized due to covid and bronchitis combo, paid less than 20 dollars because Government covered all my ass.
And I am in a third world country.
load more comments
(2 replies)
St Jude’s is a charity hospital that does not charge patients or their families. They accept insurance payments only and the rest is covered as charity.
load more comments
(1 replies)
That’s kind tone deaf, considering st Jude’s doesn’t believe in charging families.
Edit : tone
load more comments
(3 replies)
I'd be dead in America.
Affording the treatment wouldn't have been an issue, because I wouldn't have been able to afford the diagnosis.
American health care is fucked. That said:
I watched a promo for St Jude a few years back. They cover all expenses for families so they can focus on their kids. You should donate. They're awesome.
I feel like it's a no win situation.
Here in Canada, my coworker has needed back surgery since last year in September. He just got into a specialist for a consultation last week to get surgery scheduled. He's been living for almost an entire year on light duty at work with back pain.
I feel over the past 10 years our Government has mismanaged their financials and our healthcare and education systems have taken the beating for it. Public services are only as good as the people who are trusted to safeguard them.
That's still better, cause if I needed back surgery I'd just suck it up because I know (see OP photo) is waiting for me if I do go
Unless I have money for good insurance.
load more comments
(8 replies)
I am very lucky that I dont live in America
It doesn't have to be this way
But no one will seriously confront it until there's competition from other parties, you can't have real competition for votes in a 2 party system.
More parties can be viable if the USA can shake off FPTP voting. Some states have already.
The existing 2 parties have entrenched themselves like ticks. Here's just 1 example of how they are dug in https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2251&context=caselrev
load more comments
(5 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
It is when I see this that I am grateful for having been born in a country with 100% public and universal health
Insurance companies are a joke. I hate it here. I worked at a certain restaurant for years who make an entire thing out of getting donations for St. Judes a few weeks a year. What are we donating for if people still get bills like this?
load more comments
(9 replies)
Privatized healthcare is immoral.
While this still won't cover emergencies (which I understand are the main problem, but there's realky no fix to it outside of the inadviseable route of attempting to self-learn emergency medicine) ALL AMERICANS HERE should really look into Direct Primary Care practices.
They do not work with insurance, and instead charge a monthly fee, usually around $100/mo, that grants you either unrestricted, or significantly less restricted access to your doctor, various types of labs and tests, and tests requiring outsourcing, like MRIs, that aren't covered under that monthly bill are usually significantly cheaper than your copay under insurance.
It's gaining popularity since medical practitioners are becoming burnt-out and unmotivated under their cut-throat for-profit corporatized practices prioritize rotating through patients at a stupid-fast rate, overtesting everyone, and keeping minimum staff on hand to maximzie profits.
Because there's no insurance involved and everything is out of pocket, depending on your life situation, it may be more or less feasible. If you can afford it though, I highly recommend it.
ETA: And for expensive medications, please see if the substance you need is on CostPlusDrugs. In spite of being rich, Mark Cuban started that service to provide affordible medicine.
load more comments
(2 replies)
I had a medical emergency yesterday that may me realize how lucky I am to live in Canada.
I'm getting weekly immunotherapy allergy shots (which are also covered by the free healthcare here) and I had a bad reaction to a shot. They needed to give me 2 epipens and some ventilator drug and stretchered me in an ambulance to the hospital where I waited about 5-10 min (I was stable at this point) for a private room. They kept me there for like 4 hours with IV drip and prescribed me another EpiPen.
Total cost was 0 with no questions asked. I know for non life threatening injuries like broken bones you might be waiting a few hours to get in, but I'd rather it be like that then have the possibility of going in massive debt.
As an American I never understood the "you have to wait longer in Canada" argument. My sibling almost cut off a few of their fingers and was bleeding profusely and had to wait with a rag around their fingers for almost 4 hours in the ER before they got seen. This is in the US. I've had past partners waiting in large amounts of pain for upwards of 10 hours in the ER too (thankfully I brought some bugles to snack on). It's a problem in general, I'd rather it at least be free
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
When I was 19 I had thought I had appendicitis. I went to the emergency room. Once there I waited 3 hours to see a doctor while in pain. They see me, do a MRI scan, find nothing but want me to stay overnight to ensure nothing happens. The pain subsided and I left the following day.
It turned out I wasn't on my Dad's insurance anymore and I was billed. At 19, 1.5 years out of the house. I had 15k in debt.
Welcome to America.
For anybody who was confused like me, this is a Nathan J Robinson parody account, not the actual Current Affairs owner.
fuck america and its dogshit insurance scam industry 🖕 cannot wait for this shitstain country to collapse
A country collapsing wouldn't exactly make things easier for its people. I'd prefer just fixing the problem, y'know.
America has proven time and time again that it can't be "fixed", it's rotten from the ground up. The longer it stays around the more people it harms. My entire life has been nothing but financial crisis after financial crisis, war after war, a rapidly deteriorating climate, all in the name of profits, and nobody in power seems to want to do jack shit about it. The only way to fix it is to dismantle the structures of power and replace it with a structure where capital doesn't pull the strings.
load more comments
(2 replies)
view more: next ›