I make over $150,000 a year and I live pay check to pay check because my son has autism level 2, speech delays, and other motor skills deficits. He has some sort of therapy every weekday. He’s 13, so we’ve been doing this for 11 years now. And every year it is a fight to get things paid for.
This year my company switched insurance providers and the speech therapist that he has gone to for 6 years was suddenly out of network. So, I either pull him out and start over somewhere new or do what I did and pay $200 out of pocket every week. Which does not go towards our $13,000 deductible. Next year we’re switching again so I’m sure there will be something they won’t cover.
I make too much money to get anything from the state, which seeing how I live in Texas, I’m not really sure I’d want their services. Come hell or high water we getting out of this state and if possible this country next year.
When I went on a trip to the US I bought a relatively expensive travel insurance as I knew if something would’ve happened I would be screwed forever.
It did cost me about 80 eur but they claimed 100% cost coverage without copay or any of that nonsense. The coverage was for a whole year but only 60 days after the start of the vacation. It also included legal insurance for medical things with a max payout of 100,000 eur and medical transport back to Germany if possible and necessary.
Did not need to use it fortunately but they advertised that they even covered stuff like decompression chambers after a dive accident. I wonder how much I would’ve needed to fight then if it came to it but I had a cheaper coverage with similar coverage from them when I went to Turkey. There I got the whole sum after I went to the hospital for a really bad insect sting without any fuzz. But it was only a hundred euros or so.
Fortunately this is the closest near contact with the us healthcare system.
I transferred to a new college and learned the first week of class that they required a few vaccinations I was missing. No problem, the on campus health center can provide them. I confirm with them that they accept my insurance, so I go get the shots.
A few months later, I get a bill in the mail for over $3000. Apparently the health center wasn’t in-network, so I have no idea what they meant by “we accept your insurance.” I layer learned that if I had driven 10 minutes west across the state border, there was an in-network office where those two vaccinations would’ve been completely covered.
I still haven’t paid a penny towards that bill, fuck them. I get daily phone calls from an unknown number, it’s probably collections, but I don’t know for sure since I never answer it. This was years ago and my credit score never took a hit. I’d rather die than reward these parasites with my money.
I’m pretty sure I have a tumor growing on my hip too. I’d get it checked, but between student loans, insane cost of living, and rising costs of literally everything else, I can’t afford to right now. I’m a childless engineer with “great” health insurance and a roommate, so I’m relatively well off. I have no idea why shit hasn’t boiled over yet. Makes me want to depose some CEOs too.
Get that tumor checked, now. If it’s something malignant, chances are “can’t afford” is the least of your worries.
What’s the worst thing that can happen to the bill? Another collections call you never answer? Beats a premature death.
Crossposting to [email protected]
Canadian here. Had an accident and took a ten minute ambulance ride in Minnesota. $1400.
Also Canadian, would drag myself across the border on a broken leg and throw myself on the mercy of the Niagara Falls hospital before I ever got near an American hospital. I’d be bleeding from my head wound and assuring the border guard I had no alcohol or tobacco and did not spend over my dominus.
Also Canadian.
While in Seattle on an H1, needed to go to Northgate for a routine maintenance procedure. (I’m a twin. Guess which procedure)
It’s a well-developed thing, and so i tell the doc, “look. This has been developed for 10 years, it responds well once the pressure’s off, don’t cut me just gimme a local and draw it out with a horse needle.” He agrees.
Next thing I know, “And here we have Mr Guppy, presenting with…” and a dozen kids are looking at a nekkid part of me. And they shoot the local.
And I feel the push of the scalpel cutting. Those motherfucking butchers. And butcher they did.
Had to pay $500 on the way out, and apparently that’s a lucky thing even with my American insurance at the time.
Ultimately I came back to canada because the risk of a car crash ruining me financially for life was too much to bear. Fuck that.
I had major depression when I was younger. I couldn’t get individual insurance because it was a pre-existing condition. I couldn’t afford it, anyway, because getting and keeping a job was very difficult because, uh, depression? So, getting a job with a group plan was also out of reach. I had to research it and treat it myself, which, goddamn right I’m proud I managed.
But now I’m middle-aged, single, and probably will never have the savings to retire. Eat a Grand Canyon full of Godzilla dicks, U.S. healthcrime system.
Take solace in the fact that some people you’ll never know are richer because of your suffering.
I’m doing my part!
Had to go to the er for a staph infection, no insurance. In short I’m in about 8k worth of debt to the hospital. I was in the er for about an hour. 8k for an hour get fucked integris, so I never paid it out of principle
My wife has a rare disease. Requires expensive drugs monthly. We hit our max out of pocket early every year.
Bye money. forever. until I die.
Sometimes you don’t need anything crazy to describe how shitty our healthcare system is.
Blue Cross denied my claim for coverage of therapy ($125/week) because the address is clearly not a business address. Yes, that’s right, my therapist operates from her home, which is a horse farm. So does this mean BC doesn’t cover any home offices? Or is it just ones that have “ranch” in the address?
We’ll see! I’ve filed a grievance challenging the denial. I’m looking at around $6000 for the year if they persist.
My spouse had their lung collapse. Insurance denied it because we didn’t get advance approval for their lung to collapse.
Had something similar, failed to get pre-approval for a CT scan to diagnose a pleural effusion. Yes, I was supposed to wait 24-36h for someone unfamiliar with my case and likely not even a doctor to determine if a diagnostic test was nessasary.
Edit DDD
This is scary, as an European. I had my left lung collapse too. Two years later my right one. After that I had to have surgery on my right lung (Pleural Abrasion) and a few months of physiotherapy after that. I also had a yearly appointment with a Pneumology MD for 5 years to follow the development of the lung until it was all fine.
How much did I pay? You guessed it…zero. Now I wonder how much would that set me back in the US with or without insurance.
I’m glad you’ve recovered! They did say it was more likely for my spouse to have a lung collapse again, which is scary.
Luckily my spouse’s employer has someone whose whole job is to fight with insurance. She got insurance to admit that in an emergency we didn’t need pre-approval which brought our bill down some.
Bunch of dental work all done with no payment at time of service. Fantastic PCP. Amazing rheumatologist. A 10k infusion every two months costs me $5.
I would probably work for no pay with my medical issues.
Worked in insurance for a few months and saw someone with an $8000 deductible.
Was denied life-changing, medically necessary weight loss surgery because my company has less than 50 people employed.
I had to live with a failed gallbladder for a month and a half while the insurance decided if they were gonna pay for surgery. I lost 20lbs in that time because I couldn’t keep anything in my body. I almost died.
One health care facility near me doesn’t accept patients who work at or have previously worked at their competition.
Had my ankle reconstructed last year and the surgery alone billed for $16,000. A piece of foam for my walking boot billed for $150.
My headache medicine would cost me around $1000/month if I didn’t have insurance. With insurance it’s $40/month. My pharmacist helped me sign up for a discount card through the manufacturer so now it’s only $5/month somehow
Got some medical bills sent to collections before the bills ever reached me. By email or paper mail. Haven’t paid any of them and I don’t plan on ever paying them because fuck the people who just sent that shit to collections. Also medical debt is dumb and you just don’t have to pay that shit. They eventually stop bugging you about it and I haven’t seen it reflect on my credit score ever.
A 20 min ambulance ride, with amazing insurance was billed for $575.
My sister almost broke her spinal cord and the insurance gave us the runaround after the corrective vertebrae surgery.
The VA didn’t want to cover the cost of my grandfather’s leg amputations that were a direct result of contact with agent orange in Vietnam.
The VA doesn’t want to cover a coworker’s therapy and medication for PTSD caused by being stationed in the middle east for 4 years.
The VA won’t release my mom’s army medical records because she was part of experimental vaccines when she was in the army. She thinks it was anthrax vaccines, but can’t be sure because nobody will tell her.
If anyone still needs help with the VA you can reach out to your local American legion or other veterans organization and they can help break through some of the red tape.
I moved out of the US and when I had to pay to get a tooth filled my flabber was gasted when they charged me 17 bucks.
I don’t think I can ever go home.
Where did you move to?
A place where I really should’ve considered the implications of literacy before I decided to settle long term.
My wife had surgery. However they didn’t prescribe painkillers until after the surgery.
I got her comfortable at home and ran down to pick them up … and was rejected as “drug seeker”. Wtf. It took a full day before I could convince them to fill it, and they kept wanting her to come in person when she just had surgery
I’m intersex and have both male and female anatomy. US healthcare “insurance” isn’t coded for people like me. It assumes a sex binary when the facts of reality show otherwise.
Back at my old job, I had full premium health insurance. However, they kept denying each and every claim, denying literally everything. They unofficially recognized my intersex condition and used it against me.
Whenever I filed a claim as female, they’d deny it and claim I was male and thus the claim was incorrectly filled out. When I filed as male, they’d pull the exact same stunt now claiming I’m female and thus the claim was incorrectly filled out. Whatever the claim, large or small, it was always the wrong sex on the paperwork.
It was a "heads I win, tails you lose" situation. I have a better job with the government and with a different insurance company, but they too are starting to pull the same stunt. I hate this country for allowing such corruption to thrive.
What insurance company was it? 💜
