I've just read an item on Bored Panda about crazy medical bills Americans have received. I'm speechless ๐. One commenter was billed $1500 for a plaster/bandaid, wtf?!!! How do they get away with such blatant daylight robbery? How much is an average insurance plan anyway?
shareThey have to recoup what they lost from the free loaders. Our ERs are filled with people who run to the ER for a splinter, headache, whatever. By law the ER has to treat them. It all began when the government got involved with insurance by passing Medicare. Medicare does not pay what it costs to treat a patient therefore someone else has to pay. Years ago I bowled with a cardiologistโs wife and the subject of Medicare came up. She told me every Medicare patient seen is a loss in revenue because Medicare doesnโt pay what it costs the practice to treat the patient.
After my last MRI I received the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) showing the bill was $2200.00. What did Medicare pay? $118.00! There is an agreement between doctors, hospitals, etc. with Medicare to charge only the agreed to amount. So the $2200.00 is *not* the agreed to amount....it was much less. Out of the agreed to amount Medicare pays about 80%; Iโm responsible for the difference which can be quite high including deductibles. This is where Medicare supplements come in which pays the deductibles and the 20%. If your doctor or other medical provider does not accept assignment of the Medicare charges, you are personally responsible for the difference.
The Mayo Clinic does not accept assignment of Medicare charges. BTW, if Medicare doesnโt approve the procedure....your supplement will *not* pay!
I know you wanted a simple answer, but I had to explain why medical costs are so high. Someone has to โante upโ. Obamacare has destroyed our medical system which I will explain later.
That's a great reply, thank you.
shareCanadians get lost when Americans talk about health care and insurance companies.
shareWe in the US have the most advanced medical technology on the face of the planet, if not necessarily the best health care system, and our bills reflect the cost of developing that tech and also the generous coverage offered by our insurers, who are often paid through our corporations, for whom many of us work. I believe the focus of our health-care system is wrong. It rewards the system for helping us when we are sick, and not for keeping us healthy and strong.
shareTo be fair there are research developments in the medical field happening all around the world.
I do not understand why Americans seem to be so against a single payer system. Instead your insurance companies are for profit and for the healthy. Heaven forbid you actually get sick and lose your job or your current insurance because with pre existing conditions, you'll not get insurance again.
As kspkap said above people go to the US for the best medical care. From where I am that's not the truth. New York City has a greater population than Canada, so one can understand why we might not invest or have certain specialists for rare diseases. So people go because that's where the treatments are not that it's the best, it's just the only.
I'm not saying that the US doesn't have great research happening, it does, but please don't discount the advancements that come from universities all over the place. The drug companies make so much money in the US. I would just query how much of that money goes to research and how much goes to shareholders and CEOs.
Are a gigantic rip-off.
An average insurance plan will have a monthly premium to pay that is usually never anything less than, to be very general, "rent money or mortgage" type of figures, is what most people are looking at. That's a lot for a regular person to handle in their budget EVEN WHEN they are in full-time work. There are many "working poor" who simple cannot afford their own insurance, and go without having any. Those folks literally hope they never get sick or get into an accident.
There are what's called "county hospitals" that are supposed to treat you no matter if you have an insurance plan, no matter if you can't pay. Most comfortably-off Americans think that takes care of that. What they don't know is that these hospitals/charity hospitals STILL BILL YOU. And you are then expected to file paperwork proving exactly why you can't pay that bill, then they make a decision, and god help you if they deem you able to pay it even if you know you're not.
People end up in debt for years, or having to sell their home, and there's a high percentage of bankruptcies declared specifically due to overwhelming medical bills.
I knew someone worth about 5 million, and who had insurance through his work. You'd think he's all set, right? No need to worry about a health crisis or an accident with life changing injuries. But even he said that it would only take one serious illness in the family to run through his work insurance - because even that has a limit, in fact -- get into his own personal funds, and wipe them out. They had already been through a crisis with a sick child and very nearly got wiped out when they had less money.
That's crazy ๐. I've read about people who died cos they couldn't afford antibiotics and paying $100s for an emergency ambulance. I can't get my head round it.
shareYes, just needing to call for an ambulance, apparently that can carry a price tag of hundreds of dollars.
I once had a medical emergency at home, called friends to ask them to drive me in their car to the ER, because I was scared to drive myself, it was that bad. Told them what I was experiencing. My friends refused, saying that if I took a turn for the worse while on the way there, only an ambulance would be equipped to help me, so they didn't want to risk driving me. But I couldn't call an ambulance because I knew it would blow my rent money right there in one go!!
As it was, I eventually got another friend to take me. Charity ER but still ended up having to contest the bill as I was low-income. Eventually won that concession, but I still had to pay several hundred to a radiologist -- because they work for themselves and do their own billing!
It's run like a cut-throat business over there. It's like going to a car dealership or a furniture store. You can have it only f you can pay for it.
In another unrelated incident years before, I called ER and was told the tests alone would amount to a figure that I knew would make me unable to pay my rent. I literally lay on my couch for days with a high fever, fully expecting I'd just have to die there if I die. I honestly was going to have to just die at home untreated because I knew I'd be in debt for decades if I got myself treatment.
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shareI was once charged $4,300 for about 1 minute of work. I was in Hawaii, and thought I had hives, but the benadryl was fucking up my breathing. So I went to a hospital, waited 4 hours. When I got in to the doctor/nurse office, I was told to take my shirt off and in 20 seconds, "You have hives. Keep taking benadryl."
I said, "But I can't breathe, especially during the day"
"Don't worry", he said. And then he had his nurse lead me to the billing, where I said "I forgot my wallet at the hostel" and 7 years later, they still call, but they'll NEVER get a penny from me.
It's stories like this that make me glad I live in Canada.
shareYeah, and there's many more reasons... Unfortunately, the next baby born will have their destiny pretty much mapped depending on where they were born. I get so sick of idiots who'll say "If you like _______, go live there", which tells me they have no idea about laws, meaning they probably haven't left their front porch. They think a Visa is something you never pay back.
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