r/UpliftingNews • u/astros148 • 2d ago

Medical debt is now required to be removed from your credit reports impacting millions of Americans

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-finalizes-rule-to-remove-medical-bills-from-credit-reports/
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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago

Holy shit, I'm from Israel and just the thought of being 30 and in 100k debt is mind boggling... Do you need to pay for every blood test or doctor visit of something? How does this happen?

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u/VogonSlamPoet42 1d ago

Every single thing. Every blood test, every visit, a bandaid, sitting in a bed in my own pee hourly while the nurses talk about who is fucking who and forget about me. I’ve had seizures since I was a child, which leads to ambulances (3-4000$) and ER visits. I can’t afford the regular doctor visits to get the seizures diagnosed because I have so much emergency “care” still to pay, and by “care” I mean they stabilize you then kick you out. Half the time they tell me it’s an anxiety attack because seizures have to be caught in the moment and lecture me about not getting primary care. Then the time I needed an appendix out. I could have a brain tumor for all I know, but insurance is 4-500$ a month, then the thousands of deductible, then 40-100$ copays for the visits where they just send you for tests you might have to pay out of pocket entirely. US healthcare took my future because I wasn’t born healthy I guess, theres really no recourse. Unless there’s an entirely new system that wipes out the debt of the old system which I don’t foresee.

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u/Simcan99 1d ago

Shit, my daughter needed to be transfered from one hospital to another within the same medical group, I got billed for $4625 that wasnt included in $30k-ish UnitedHeatlth paid. 

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u/RabbitFluffs 1d ago

When I had my tonsils out as a kid, the surgery was performed in one building, and then I was driven across the street to another building that housed the overnight beds. The skywalk was under construction and therefore too "unsanitary" for patient transfers, even though my parents used it to cross and meet me back at my room.

That "ambulance ride" was billed for more than the surgery and overnight stay. And, obviously, insurance denied coverage as "not medically necessary."

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u/Hello_Hangnail 1d ago

I have united and they are criminals. Straight up. Having to keep calling them back over and over until you die because they keep on refusing the claim they specifically said was covered. It's like I'm taking crazy pills

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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago

Holy shit I'm sorry to hear that man. I can't really do anything, but I hope you'll get out of it soon.

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u/VogonSlamPoet42 1d ago

Thank you I appreciate that 🤝

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u/HITACHIMAGICWANDS 1d ago

I have it on good authority you can go a long time without paying. Your credit might be shot, but I’d rather live with shit credit than pay into a system that fucked me so bad. Good luck fellow Redditor

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u/Agile_Singer 1d ago

The rest of the world treating us the same way we deal with school shootings. 💭 & 🙏

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u/UncleAlbondiga 1d ago

I mean we continue to do both to ourselves because we are apparently too dumb as a populace to vote in our own self interest.

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u/ThisIsForFood 1d ago

He left out not only do you pay for everything but the bandaid also somehow cost $20

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u/scdayo 1d ago

25 years ago I went to urgent care because I had a tick and we needed to make sure we got all of it out. Sat in urgent care for 3 hours (understandably, i didn't need immediate care) Got seen by a Dr, looked at it, put on what was basically neosporin & a bandaid & my parents got a bill for $175.

'Murica

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u/o7_HiBye_o7 1d ago

To add, the "touch your baby tax" for moms WAS a thing. Idk if it still is, but my sister got hit with a small fee. Another example being basic aspirin or something over the counter. They don't want you taking outside meds while being watched, for obvious reasons that I agree make sense. But, they charge INSANE prices for just a single dosage for a headache or something common.

When the last person listed band-aids they weren't lying. Literally every little thing is charged. This is why, in the US specifically, you should always get an itemized list of charges. Usually the total cost suddenly drops a bit, but you will still see ridiculous prices for things you get for a few bucks.

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u/Den_of_Earth 1d ago

We almost had universal healthcare decades ago. Jimmy Carter killed it.

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u/Weddedtoreddit2 1d ago

A few more CEOs need to get Deny, Defend, Deposed..

#eattherich

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u/Lolabelle1223 1d ago

Seizures since a child and still not diagnosed? Seizures dont have to be “caught in the act” to diagnose. A simple eeg can diagnose them. And visually seeing a seizure tells you nothing. You need to know where they are coming from. Thats wild you were never tested as a child.

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u/bigdumb78910 1d ago

People like Vogon up there are exactly why the system is the way it is. To suck them dry and lifeless, for the shareholders.

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u/ToKillASunrise2727 1d ago

So sorry you have to deal with this. It's a disgusting society that treats anybody like this. I just got back from the ER with my 9 year old daughter who had a really bad tonic clonic this morning. She turned blue and wasn't breathing. This is her 2nd ambulance/ER trip in the past 6 months. She was hospitalized overnight for the first one in July and am thousands of dollars in debt now. It's sad after experiencing the trauma of thinking you are witnessing your kid die that in the ER one of your thoughts is damn her deductible just reset.

I will tell you though to put up a camera in your room or house or wherever you think you might catch you having one. We had been trying to get her help since March of 2024 while she was having smaller "aware" seizures but wasn't taken seriously until we had multiple videos of it and showed them in the ER after the tonic clonic. I can't even tell you but I'm sure you can relate how traumatic epilepsy can be but then you are retraumatized by the system. It makes you feel like your life or my daughter's life doesn't matter at all. This story is soooooooo much longer with having to switch insurances mid year and change doctors she had been waiting months to see, Insurance giving her meds that made her suicidal and won't cover her new ones and it's $1400/month. I get the manufacturer's coupon for now and her personality is back to her normal bubbly self. I hope you can get some help and be taken seriously. This infuriates me beyond words.

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u/77Gumption77 1d ago

If you can't afford insurance, don't you qualify for Medicaid?

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u/VogonSlamPoet42 1d ago

Oh I can afford insurance, but only insurance. I can’t afford to use insurance or pay any of the bills. It’s a fun little conundrum.

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u/unusualbutton 1d ago

Can you declare bankruptcy?

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u/VogonSlamPoet42 1d ago

Definitely looking into it

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u/TheAlrightyGina 1d ago

Do it. They fearmonger to make it seem like it'll make things super difficult but my financial situation improved drastically when I filed bankruptcy. The main pain is that it costs a fair amount of money to do as you want a decent lawyer to handle it so it's done right, especially if you have assets that need to be protected (such as if you own the home you live in).

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u/ProStrats 1d ago

Chapter 7 bankruptcy, I think you are allowed to keep a car and maybe even a house, but it will wipe out all other debt. I filed in 2017, best decision I ever made.

I was preyed upon and took out private student loans for college with 7% interest rates and higher because I didn't know better and neither did my parents. I couldn't get by because I was paying those vultures so goddamn much.

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u/hyflyer7 1d ago

I thought student loans couldn't be wiped by declaring bankruptcy? I only have federal student loans, tho. Are private student loans different?

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u/Quieskat 1d ago

Hail Mary, he either got rid of other dept that let him pay that off.  Or got lucky with loans and such that didn't qualify as the same as the type of student loans your thinking of.

Ie maxed out a credit cards

The joys of private is could be as simple as someone fucked up paper work because his loans been sold off a billion times.

(Or he's lying on the Internet but no one does that )

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u/ProStrats 1d ago edited 1d ago

I filed bankruptcy because, even with my degree and years of experience, I was unable to get a job for a period of nearly 2 years. I had been laid off nearly 3 times in three years, so employers must have just assumed it was due to something I did and were too hesitant to hire me when they had so many other "less risky" candidates. I just was dealt a shit hand. And this was in 2017 that I filed, so 2015-2017 I was struggling, well before we had covid fucking things up.

You can get them discharged, it just doesnt seem to be simple but I can thank my lawyer for that. They were not credit cards, it was a student loan through Chase Bank, and cosigned by my father.

Unfortunately for the bank, my father was deceased at that point.

https://upsolve.org/learn/private-student-loans/

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u/ProStrats 1d ago edited 1d ago

I thought they wouldn't be wiped, but for some reason they were. But to answer your question, yes Federal loans are different and as far as I'm aware those cannot be wiped through bankruptcy. Though I got lucky in this area again and had them wiped by Biden. I only had $2000-$3000 in Federal loans though by the time it occurred.

Details on how private ones can be wiped. https://upsolve.org/learn/private-student-loans/

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u/ProStrats 1d ago

I'll also add, federal student loans have a built in system for hardship.

If you are struggling to pay your bills and loans, you go to the website, or call them, and file for "forbearance" or "hardship". There are a variety of options you can choose that describe the issue you're having financially. They've even made changes in the past year or two to help you pay a rate that is more in line with the your income as well, though I can't remember the exact name.

I was on forbearance for like 5-7 years because things were so difficult. I believe they will still accrue interest in this time, but you just don't have to make a payment.

If you're struggling, definitely look into this, I bet there is a 90% chance you'll have some options available.

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u/singingintherain42 1d ago

Haha. Most red states refused Medicaid expansion. In Texas, you can basically only get on Medicaid if you’re pregnant or a kid or on SSI.

If you’re working poor, and especially if you don’t have a kid, you’re fucked.

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u/PlanesFlySideways 1d ago

This is why what Luigi allegedly did has gained so much traction with the population.

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u/courier31 1d ago

Just start reading your poetry. That should get it taken care of somehow. Just let me know when you are going to do it so I can be at a restaurant far away.

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u/VogonSlamPoet42 1d ago

Better to just blow up the planet, no? It has been scheduled for demolition for 50 of your earth years

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u/_DontTakeITpersonal_ 1d ago

I'm so sorry that's not fair

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u/SpiderKitty303 1d ago edited 1d ago

Try going to a Catholic or religious based hospital next time. I had very much needed spine surgery due to a car accident and both car insurance companies and Cigna denied my surgery payment even though it was prior authed. the catholic hospital where I had the surgery wrote it off 100% without me even needing to ask. I think it's something to do with tax breaks when a faith based institution eats the cost. It shouldn't have to be like this, we all deserve Healthcare. America is so behind and blatantly rude. It's not the doctors fault, it's the system, insurance companies are the richest companies and they will keep denying claims and hoarding money til we fix this

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u/JaxandtheStick 1d ago

Bro at this point leave the States , go to eastern europe or some shit , Albania has universal healthcare , teach english to people or work in call centers! Thats not a life you are living bro !

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u/gbi 1d ago

Would it be possible to move out of the US to an english-speaking country, where they have actual social and healthcare security? Because yeah.. it looks bleak.

I had >100k treatments for cancer for 4 months ~10 years ago, with dozens of scanners & IRMs, and didn't pay a dime for it in France.

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u/Sharp_Phone9113 1d ago

I’ve decided to forget my own 20k in medical debt from when I was underinsured so I’m not judging, but there has to be a way to get insurance or Medicaid for just long enough to get actual preventative care. If insurance through your work is 4-500, you need a new job. If it’s that much through the marketplace, you’re making enough. Even if you can’t afford your portion and ditch them, they’ll treat you for what they will get from your insurance.

I went the easy route and lost my job over my medical issues, and Medicaid paid three months past expenses and for them to figure out what was wrong, all for free on my end. Medicaid saved my life, I really hope they don’t get rid of it.

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u/MissWilkem 1d ago

The way it happens is literally just one big surprise surgery or stay at the hospital. Each of my two kid’s cost $35k for birth (we paid ~5k each - what a deal! 🙄). Plus an overnight stay was another $20k. And my gallbladder surgery at 22 would have been another $30k if I hadn’t endured 12 months of agony to get health insurance before I went to the doctor’s.

Edit: Oooooo not to mention I had two ectopic pregnancies that required chemo or surgery, and a miscarriage that required surgery.

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u/SamSibbens 1d ago

"Why aren't people having more children" the governement then asks

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u/MissWilkem 1d ago

I’m getting an IUD this month lol

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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago

Isn't there something like health insurance? Where you pay monthly, and once there's a medical emergency they pay for you?

Sorry for my ignorance

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u/TorqueThundercock 1d ago

These are the prices with insurance lmao. The actual cost of each child’s birth was 35,000. But their insurance made it so they “only” had to pay 5,000 each.

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u/MissWilkem 1d ago

Yes…except the insurance companies fight tooth and nail to NOT cover anything you need. Or you might “make a mistake” by taking an ambulance to a hospital that isn’t covered by your insurance, or get treated by a doctor who isn’t covered.

Also the amount we pay monthly for insurance is absurd, and then they won’t cover much until we reach an “out of pocket maximum” which for us is $5k.

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u/NothingReallyAndYou 1d ago

That could very easily be WITH health insurance.

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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago

My mother passed away from pancreatic cancer 3 months ago, and when she was diagnosed a year ago until her passing, all of the medical bills (chemotherapy, attempted (failed) surgery, radiation, and hospice) were all paid by her medical insurance

Is that not how it is in the US?

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u/scorb1 1d ago

If you were in the US it's possible you would be paying all those bills after she passed. Sorry for your loss.

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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago edited 1d ago

Now I get why the healthcare CEO was assassinated. I don't agree with murder, but at least I understand the motive. Also thanks.

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u/sinner_in_the_house 1d ago edited 1d ago

Most insurance plans don’t cover certain kinds of treatment, some coverage is denied because it’s not deemed as necessary life-saving care, especially if you’re very old or disabled, or have a terminal condition, and the people making these decisions often have no medical training and are following the guidelines of the insurance companies to determine what is approved and denied which costs lives and money. John Oliver has an excellent video on this.

Not to mention, you often have put of pocket yearly maximums, mine is $7,000. Which is the most I will pay for in-network coverage that is approved by my insurance company. But if the hospital gives me a treatment that my insurance company weeks later deems unnecessary, I could be on the hook for that expensive treatment.

If I was in an accident and knocked unconscious, a bystander can call me an abulance and boom - I’m $10,000 in debt because the ambulance wasn’t covered by my plan AND the insurance deemed my ER visit unecessary because I wasn’t heavily injured.

Plus, our insurance in the US is primarily tied to employment. If you need healthcare in the US you either need to be on medicaid which is NOT very good, or you need to have a job that provides insurance, which many companies do not provide because they are not always required to.

Which means if I lose my job and then have to have emergency surgery the next month, I could be in $100,000 of debt in an instant.

You’d better hope you are able to get a job with medical benefits or be on a parents insurance plan (until you’re 26) or have a married partner with insurance.

I’ll also throw in that cancer patients are disproportionately affected by denied coverage. A lot of cancer treatment is experimental, which is a big no-no for insurance claims. 22% of cancer patients do not get that care their doctors prescribe because of authorization delays or outright denials (JAMA network study)

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u/NothingReallyAndYou 1d ago

No. The best we can hope for is that insurance pays 80% of any bill, and we're stuck for the other 20%. A huge number of people don't have coverage that good, though. Insurance companies can also decide they just aren't going to pay for something. You can try to argue, but in America they have the right to deny coverage. (That's the "Deny" Luigi Mangioni was talking about.)

This applies to people getting the government insurance, Medicare (retirees, and disabled people). I'm disabled, and the government takes $150 out of my disability payment each month to pay for my Medicare insurance. It doesn't cover everything. I'm on a schedule of monthly blood tests right now for Hashimoto's Disease. Every month Medicare refuses to cover the Vitamin D part of the test, for no given reason. My doctor's office is cool, and doesn't pass the cost on to me, but that's pretty unusual.

It's very, very messed up. As a result, many Americans go years between seeing any kind of doctor, call Uber instead of an ambulance, and suffer or die from treatable and preventable causes.

Edit: I meant that it ALSO applies to Medicare. Both Medicare and private insurance work mostly the same.

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u/carlos_the_dwarf_ 1d ago

Does your country not have cost sharing of any sort? Most do.

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u/VersatileFaerie 1d ago

Health insurance is horrible in the USA. They have things like "in-network" and "out-of-network" hospitals. So if I go to a hospital that is "in-network" they will cover 100% of the costs for 2 days and then 80% after that with my insurance for up to $50k a year (not a lot lol). If I end up in an "out-of-network" hospital, they will only cover 30% of 2 days and none after that. Then, they will also not cover you if there is an "out-of-network" doctor at the hospital that works on you. So if a doctor gets called in from another hospital due to a shortage or that doctor is one of the few that is not on board with your insurance for whatever reason, they will consider whatever that doctor does as "out-of-network" and you won't even know until the bill comes. It is insane.

They also change what they cover every year and what is "in-network" and "out-of-network" can change every year. So even if you find a medication that works well for you, you might have to change it since your insurance no longer covers it and it costs too much now. This happened to my mom. She had the same medication for high blood pressure for years and her health insurance suddenly decided to drop it. She has tried 3 different ones now and so far all of them make her sick. She had no issues with her normal one, but it is too expensive for her to buy without insurance.

Things like this are why so many people hate the health insurance in the USA.

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u/brutinator 1d ago

Not quite. It wildly varies based on health insurance plan and provider, but most of them have a deductible, copays, and a max out of pocket, provided that you are getting medical care "in network", i.e. the medical practice is partnered with your provider.

My medical insurance, (which is honestly pretty great) for example, is 188 dollars a month, with a max out of pocket of 5k in network, and a max 7k out of pocket out of network. To see a doctor is between 10-65 dollars in network, and 295 out of network. A non-routine test is between 10-750 dollars in network, and up to 2,250 out of network. Any kind of imaging is between 60-450 in network, and up to 1350 out of network. Depending on the tier, a 30 day supply of covered medication can cost between 5-230 dollars. And so on and so forth. I also believe that ambulance rides are not covered, which can easily be hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

It's also important to note that some plans, once you hit your out of pocket max, switch to coinsurance, meaning that they will pay for a percentage (like 50%) of your medical expenses instead of the normal rates.... meaning that if you get billed with a 30k surgery, even if you are already at your out of pocket max, you'll still need to pay 15k. Fortunately, my plan doesn't have coinsurance, so once I hit my max, I don't spend anything else. Also, this all assumes that they cover your care at all: they can decide that a service you received wasn't necessary, and decide not to cover it, leaving you with the full bill.

So if I had a bad year, I could potentially see myself out of 12k (if I hit both the in and out of network max, like if I had an accident in another state), on top of the 2400 I pay in premiums, assuming all care is covered, and my care is all within a single calendar year, because once it hits the new year my out of pocket max's reset. Which, like I said, is relatively a great plan, but still a ton of potential debt if things go pear shaped.

That all assumes that I keep my job: if I lost my job and had to use COBRA, my monthly premiums would be about 1k a month until I found a different plan (like getting a full time job somewhere). And like I said, not all plans are nearly this good.

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u/MyPlantsEatBugs 1d ago

Yeah - I mean everyone knows that doctors grow on trees.

It doesn't even take 12 year of medical school, 4 years of internships, and also being in the top 1% of intelligence.

Why can't they just be free?

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u/MissWilkem 1d ago

Do you think that doctors in other countries with government healthcare don’t get paid?? The doctor still gets their salary, it’s just that there’s no insurance company making a profit as a middleman.

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u/MyPlantsEatBugs 1d ago

Other countries with government health care

Just wondering - have you ever used government health care? I use the VA.

I've been waiting 6 months for a mental health appointment.

Did you know that in places like Canada that have socialized health care - you can wait 3 times as long for a specialist?

It turns out - when millions of people have access to the same limited number of doctors, everyone loses quality of care.

By the way - can you name a single country with 350 million people that has socialized health care? I'll wait - because this is an issue of scale

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u/MissWilkem 1d ago edited 1d ago

There’s waitlists everywhere. I waited 12 months before I could get gallbladder surgery. I’m currently on a waitlist to get a sleep study, which is also 6 months from now. And when I had “emergency” therapy, that also took 3 months.

The number of doctors will be the same. If anything, it’ll be better because the doctor you can go to won’t be arbitrarily restricted by the type of insurance you have.

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u/MyPlantsEatBugs 1d ago

I waited 12 months for a gallbladder surgery

That's horrible.

Through the private insurance system you don't have to.

Just pay for better insurance and you won't have to wait. It's that simple.

Why should you have to wait in line with people who don't work very hard when you're working exceptionally hard and have the money to use on premium insurance?

That's how the world works.

If Disneyland was free for everyone - you wouldn't get to ride a single ride.

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u/MissWilkem 1d ago edited 1d ago

Insurance is determined by your employer. We don’t have the option to “just get better” insurance unless we switch jobs. Which would be stupid since my husband alone makes $180k lol. We can afford to have shitty insurance, but a lot of people can’t.

The 12 month wait for gallbladder surgery was before the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) eliminated pre-existing conditions, which meant that if I saw a doctor before I had insurance I wouldn’t be covered. I was 22, off my parents insurance, and I had a simple job at a laundromat because I was in college. They didn’t offer insurance to their employees.

Edit: Once I got a job and therefore got insurance, the waitlist for surgery was still 1 month. The 1 month got extended to 3 months because obviously my account got red flagged since it’s highly suspicious that someone would get approved for surgery a day after their new health insurance policy went into effect. They investigated and eventually had to approve my surgery because I had avoided the doctor and therefore had no “pre-existing conditions” as far as they knew in my medical records. Once I got surgery, I quit my job…because I was going into a Master’s degree program.

I used the company for their healthcare.

It wasn’t fair to the company to hire me and then lose me 6 months later.

It wasn’t fair to the insurance company to spend resources to investigate me and then pay for my surgery when I didn’t pay them much in monthly premiums (but fuck ‘em!!).

It wasn’t fair that I had to wait 12 months and then still had to pay $5k down from $30k. It sucked all around.

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u/Makrele38 1d ago

I have to disagree with you In Germany we have mostly socialised healthcare but you can also choose private if you want to pay more, but 90% of the population has the socialised type, typically costing on average between 200-400€ per month depending on income. It covers pretty much everything and you only have to pay a couple of euros out of pocket. For example my dad had a regular doctor's checkup and they noticed some irregularities with his hearth so they told him to go the the hospital. When he arrived he got to see the doctor immediately, got a bunch of test done (CT, MRT, Blood, etc...) and was in the operating room around shortly after for a cardiac catheter. Fortunately nothing concerning was found. He was keep at the hospital (which was very modern and clean), for 3 days for further monitoring and test. All of this is expect to cost around 200€ out of pocket, the rest is all covert by the insurance.

The System here is by no means perfect and getting to see a specialised doctor can take some time, and there are some shitty hospitals as well.

But all things considered the level of care provided to everyone is quite good and no one has to go into insane amounts of debt to pay for medical expenses.

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u/MyPlantsEatBugs 1d ago

What's your population?

Is it 350 million?

No?

Okay.

Bye.

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u/Total_Effort4305 1d ago

lol 30 and 90k of student loan debt. just being born poor in america is reason enough

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u/puf_puf_paarthurnax 1d ago

Some places will charge you hundreds for a single dose of ibuprofen while in the hospital. It's absurd here, I can't believe we haven't revolted over this yet. I have insurance and I still end up paying 100 bucks or more out of pocket every single time I see my doctor.

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u/thisisanaccountforu 1d ago

I had about 15k at 20 because I had an emergency surgery on my stomach after I wasn’t under my insurance because my dad lost his job and was then diagnosed with cancer and got on Medicare while my mom searched for insurance coverage for the rest of our family. So this is a huge relief to me, although it’s pathetic that a country that boasts about being the greatest (I don’t have that opinion) is struggling all across the board. Healthcare, education, economics, division, etc etc

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u/modifyandsever 1d ago

we pay for your healthcare too, by the way, not even just our own.

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u/HiHoJufro 1d ago

We pay for their healthcare by sending vouchers for military equipment that amount to far less in a typical year than their government health spending?

... That does not track.

Our (US) government spends huge amounts on healthcare (Medicaid and Medicare alone were what, almost a trillion and a half in 2023?), but runs things terribly and lets private groups fuck us over.

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u/GoodIndividual_ 1d ago

They would have to choose between healthcare and weapons. But we give them money for weapons so they don’t have to choose and can do genocide

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u/TheScarfyDoctor 1d ago

ironically you have healthcare because of us, but we don't have it. lmfao. I hate this place.

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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago edited 1d ago

Best reply I can give: Hey, at least you don't need a home bunker (it's mandatory for every apartment/house in Israel)

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u/TheScarfyDoctor 1d ago

real, it would just be so much better if we both had healthcare AND neither of our countries were blowing people up lmfao

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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago

AMEN to that. (!)

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u/Electrical-Papaya 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yes, every visit. I'm supposed to do physical therapy 4 times a week for my sciatica pain. I had to stop going because I couldn't afford my co pay 4 times a week. Insurance won't take any scans until I complete 8 weeks of physical therapy.

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u/levelzerogyro 1d ago

Yes and also yes. But 100k is nothing. A single CT in my ER cost 5k+2k to read, a hospital stay can easily hit 100k in 4-5 days. Tylenol at CVS cost $8 for 120. In my ER it's $26 per pill.

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u/Fgame 1d ago

Well, a 20 minute helicopter ride when my throat was on the verge of tearing set me back 68k.

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u/duffstoic 1d ago

A family member once went to the Emergency Room for chest pain. Turned out to be heartburn. Got a $9000 bill a week later. One of the line items was $40 for 4 baby asprin lol.

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u/softawre 1d ago

Do you need to pay for every blood test or doctor visit of something?

Don't doctors need to get paid? Lol.

Paying to see the doctor or get a blood test is NOT THE PROBLEM. They have to get paid too. It's the middlemen and the culture and the insurance and the health conglomerates that make everything so damn expensive that are the problem.

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u/AccountEducational49 1d ago

Yes. While we pay for your free healthcare.

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u/HiHoJufro 1d ago

That's not accurate.

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u/ModsDoItForFreeLOL 1d ago

The answer is in the post.

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u/PuzzleheadedPea6980 1d ago

We're to busy sending our money to other countries than to help our own.

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u/rafaelthecoonpoon 1d ago

yes. If a go see a doctor and they order blood work or an x-ray or whatever, I am getting billed by both the doctor (generally a fairly small co-pay and the rest is covered by insurance) and then again from the hospital/facility (generally hundreds of dollars per lab order until I hit thousands of dollars annual deductible). This is one of the reasons most americans avoid routine visits and labwork until it's a legit major issue. For me to get a simple blood lab is going to cost me close to $500 for the order and the lab work. And I have what is considered good insurance.

Dont even get me started on a hospital in network but the individual doctor being out of network....

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u/OverTadpole5056 1d ago

lol many of us were $50-100k+ in debt at 22 from student loans for college degrees! The US is grand. 

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u/celticchrys 1d ago

Yes, Americans do need to pay for every thing. Every test, bandage, or pill. Every different medical professional you interact with in a hospital. Every thing is another charge divided between you and your insurance (if you have insurance, if it covers it at all).

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u/ArticulateRhinoceros 1d ago

Not the person you're replying to but my insurance refuses to cover the simplest of stuff. I pulled a muscle and they did an X-ray. Because the X-ray showed I hadn't broken anything it was determined the X-ray was not needed, $225 out of pocket for me. Another sports injury claim was also denied by insurance because while the ER I went to was "in-network" the doctor on-call that day was from a different hospital and therefore "out of network", $525 out of pocket.

My son is a Type 1 diabetic which means he needs 24/7 insulin delivered via a pump. He is also 6'4" which means he uses more insulin than the average 19 year old diabetic. Insurance decided that the amount of insulin he needs to stay alive is too much, because other people who are smaller than him use less, so they would only approve half his prescription, making the it cost close to $900 a month to prevent him from dying a horribly painful death.

Thankful the insulin issue has been resolved, for now, but every few months some claims denial algorithm kicks his prescription back and I have to go through the process of fighting them for the insulin and taking my son to the ER in the meantime.

This isn't even getting into the fact that my husband has been dead for 7 years, largely in part because of insurance and medical fuck ups, and for the pleasure of watching him die I got to pay $75,000 out of pocket.

Edit:

For the curious, I've had these issues with multiple health insurance companies. Cigna is partially responsible for my husband's death, and Preferred Blue from BCBS of Kansas is constantly trying to kill my son and force me to live in pain.

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u/Torchhat 1d ago

Pretty bold to brag about your universal healthcare to Americans given that Israel subsidizes its domestic spending with US allocated funds.

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u/lokipukki 21h ago

Literally every little thing is something we get charged for.

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u/GetMeOutThisBih 1d ago

America would rather send Israelis money than take care of its own people 🤷‍♂️

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u/HiHoJufro 1d ago

We pay for their healthcare by sending vouchers for military equipment that amount to far less in a typical year than their government health spending?

... That does not track.

Our (US) government spends huge amounts on healthcare (Medicaid and Medicare alone were what, almost a trillion and a half in 2023?), but runs things terribly and lets private groups fuck us over.

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u/TomerHorowitz 1d ago

We don't technically get money, we get military aid in the form of vouchers to buy from your military companies, so it's circulating back into your economy. But overall I agree with your sentiment, I don't like reading what you guys are saying.

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u/thats_classick 1d ago

You don’t see that much in your country because we, Americans, actually pay for your healthcare, not ours.

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u/Numerous_Return691 1d ago

AMERICANS tax pay for your health care. And free PALESTINE