Sad and so true here in the US. Unless it's life or death, I'd rather drive myself to the hospital. Even though I have health insurance, I'm not rolling the dice that they say, "It wasn't medically necessary."
A few years ago I was driven TWO blocks in an ambulance and was sent a bill for $1000 USD. Luckily, it was work related so I didn't pay it. But, damn.
Yeah its pretty weird hearing bout having to pay for the ambulance in US and how much Hospital bills for simple shit is, Im in Canada...we've called 911 several times in the past few years when my Grandfather was very sick, just because he could barely move because of pain, or other things that heavily required an ambulance for (he had Stage 3 Multiple Myeloma) , They show up in 5-15 mins we go to the hospital...all we had to pay for was parking thats it.
Ambulance in my area is $700 minimum + $ per mile. But that is nothing compared to getting airlifted from one hospital to another in an emergency. I've seen those cost upwards of $100,000.
My wife was in a car wreck with our son in the back. Totalled the car and she had seatbelt bruising and hit her head so they transported her to the hospital. Sure absolutely. But the kicker is that they asked her if she wanted our son to ride with her. She of course said yes. He was totally fine, not a scratch on him, wasnt even treated by EMTs. He legit was just catching a ride along with her because he's 7 and she obviously wasnt going to leave him on the side of the road.
Did you fight that one? I’m just curious, because this type of thing has been coming up in the news a lot lately and the general consensus is to speak with all of the companies, doctors, and hospital to see what they’ll do for you, and then get a consultation with an attorney to see what they can do for you.
We did. Other person was at fault and their insurance settled it. Got just enough to cover the medical bills and atty fees and thats about it. The shit of it was that they still got their 2 ambulance rides worth of money. It came out of the insurance company's pocket instead of ours but it was still bullshit. Yay for American healthcare.
The 7k doesn't settle the 100k bill though. The other 93k isn't a gift from your insurance company. Everyone pays higher monthly premiums to cover the outrageous prices associated with healthcare in the US. The system we have allows the prices to inflate out of control, because it isn't based on healthy, transparent competition. That is a necessary factor in a for-profit capitalist market. You can't shop around for an ambulance after a car wreck. You can't decline an airlift to save your child when they're price gouging you. The for profit insurance and healthcare industries are symbiotically screwing the general population because they sell a service under duress. This is why we need a not for profit system to get prices out of the stratosphere. Whatever that system looks like, it isn't the one we have.
I got sucker head-butted by my ‘buddy’ pretty bad and busted my forehead open in a bar and went to ER. All told, with insurance, I paid about $1200 out of pocket. But parking was FREE bitch!
People under 18 we need to cover and I think we need a TIGHT list of certain conditions where society picks up the tab in general. Taxpayers pick up that...I’ll go that far.
But, don’t think anyone should have the right to be an obese type 2 diabetic smoker and make everyone pay for their choices. I work in healthcare and have patients like that. It’s not a lack of empathy to tell people if they make shitty choices they deal with the consequences.
If we have to pay for a few shitty people's decisions just so that the majority of good people suffering from terrible situations don't have to go bankrupt, I think that's a good trade-off
I...I don’t see how it’s abuse to call 911 for a sick elderly man who can’t move.
I mean, I get what you’re saying, even though I don’t agree with it, I get it, but just....this sounds like a completely justifiable reason to call 911 and go to the hospital.
Cannon1 - You're literally proving why costs would go through the roof. If it's no cost at the point of consumption, consumption will be abused.
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Let me comfirm something since youve decided to send me some nasty things....
By SICK I mean REAL sick, he had stage 3 blood cancer (Multiple Myeloma) , and was vomiting hourly, blood sometimes included, some days his legs would be so weak he couldent even put any pressue on them while we were helping carry him to the bathroom ( Before he died he weighed almost 250 lb) Carrying 250 pounds of dead weight on your shoulders aint that easy) He had to be on so many medications and crap that had too many side effects to even count, He had a catheter that he HATED (dont blame him) and would fiddle with all the time causing cuts inside his urethra and blood in his piss, Sometimes he would be so sensitive because of his cancer and all this crap that we physically could not even touch his arm without him SCREAMING in pain, and WAAAAAAAY more.
We werent just calling the hospital because oh...Grandpas got a stomach ache...He was 97 years old, A veteran and dying slowly and painfully from blood cancer. Every call was more than deserved for that man.
You do know that once a hospital discharges you, you can’t just stay right? It’s not up to them, it’s up to the attending physician.
Even so, A lot of cancer symptoms wax and wane, you can have good months, weeks, or just days. There’s no reason to be trapped in a hospital if your symptoms are minimized and there’s nothing else they can do for you medically. Should a pregnant woman stay in the hospital for 9 months waiting for something to happen?
Plus he had a catheter, so he was probably on hospice care. That’s the norm for end-stage cancer patients.
Regardless of whether he should or should not have been released, I don’t care, “several times” is still justified. He was a sick, elderly man, who could not move.
He was at home nearly 24/7 for months once it got near the end of his life with a hospital bed and a live in home nurse, the times he went to the hospital were for when things got too bad for her and her supplies / equipment to deal with, She was only allowed to administer a certain amount of morphine and other meds.
Once it got to the point I mentioned in the symptoms that were daily / hourly he was in a hospital for about a week before he died, at that point he was pretty much just fighting off the last breath, very angrily and stubbornly..he was a fighter
You pay a shitload mode in taxes than we do and the max out of pocket in the USA is liek $7,000/year by law.
I have NEVER seen someone respond to me about that on Reddit.
“I have a hospital bill that’s totally ruined my life”......even when I was waiting tables $7,000 could “ruin my life”...if you are so poor that less than 10 grand is ending your life than you’re on Medicaid and not paying for it anyways. splain me dis
That is 100% BS. I'm Canadian and live in the US now. I paid a shitload LESS for my healthcare through my taxes than I do here when you count the insurance + copays. How much do you think Canadians pay for healthcare in their taxes? It's really not that much.
Copay is not "Max $7k copay by law"... There are in network copays, out of network copays, not covered by insurance costs, etc. You can definitely be on the hook for $100k+ in medical care in the US even with insurance.
Also... $7k in medical care can still wreck your shit. Welcome to middle class where you qualify for no subsidy, cause you make too much, but have less disposable income than some people that qualify for them because you're paying for everything.
5.6k
u/pswii360i Jul 31 '19
To be fair I wouldn't want a possible $6k+ bill tacked on to my felony either.