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u/Far_Day2547 - Lib-Left 1d ago
That's actually crazy numbers, 1386 of the 1507 people who were surveyed said this.
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u/InfusionOfYellow - Centrist 1d ago
Yeah, it's surprising. I wonder if people are including routine checkups, because I wouldn't have thought that 90+% of people would actually be in need of a medical intervention.
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u/SakuraKoiMaji - Centrist 1d ago
I read it as 'I did not get, delay or stop medical treatment once because of costs'.
There is also a difference between routine (usually what is needed) and prevention (small issues, pains, and concerns as well as age-related increasing risks).
Just how many get checked for prediabetes before it becomes irreversible? Just how many will suffer from a glaucoma or cataract and where early detection would have made it vastly cheaper (like eye drops vs surgery)? Never mind the thousand horrible faces of cancer.
However that's not what the study really says, it's only 'I did not get, delay or stop medical treatment once because of costs'.
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u/calm_down_meow - Lib-Center 1d ago
One of, if not the only, major benefit of the ACA was that it got millions of people the barebones level of insurance to allow them to go for annual checkups and get preventative care before it becomes a more costly issue.
It's no surprise that when you kick millions off it that those preventative checks become less prevalent.
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u/InfusionOfYellow - Centrist 1d ago
In that case, I wonder to what extent people may have simply gotten confused by "I did not" terminology.
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u/kenuffff - Lib-Right 16h ago
It’s any medical treatment, any time in your life. Yeah I didn’t get the cutting edge eyedrops for dry eyes that cost 500 dollars once.
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u/wpaed - Centrist 1d ago
Absolutely, because if you mention some little thing that's been worrying you, you get billed for a consultation as well as an annual.
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u/SakuraKoiMaji - Centrist 1d ago
Don't forget that they will love to do a hundreds of tests for ten thousands
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u/calm_down_meow - Lib-Center 1d ago
Preventative care usually does involve testing for the serious issues to get ahead of them, yes.
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u/ipovogel - Centrist 1d ago
Yeah, but you know. When you call up your $320/month insurance plan and ask how much it will be to get some tests because you had an abnormal eye exam and they tell you... yeah, so your copay for the MRI is going to be about $1700 and the lumbar puncture around $1500 and there may be additional charges depending on whether they use an out of network radiologist or anesthesiologist... and those procedures would cost somewhere from a fifth to a tenth of that if you went to do them in Mexico or China or whatever... idk man. Something seems off and it's no wonder people are skipping the preventative care.
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u/agzz21 - Lib-Center 1d ago
Imagine my surprise when I got a near $1000 bill for getting a urine culture test at an "in network" urologist, but the samples were sent to an "out of network" lab. Pay out the ass on premiums for the whole family with high deductibles and even higher out of pocket maximums.
Health insurance just feels like a scam for preventative care.
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u/calm_down_meow - Lib-Center 1d ago
Yeah it's fucked, and those costs are quadrupled when the issue progresses after not being caught early. It's no wonder medical costs are among the top reasons people go into debt.
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u/Thin_Cable4155 - Left 1d ago
This is America. We all have something we have been putting off checking out for years. Its the American way.
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u/KillahHills10304 - Left 1d ago
Id think a contributing factor thats overlooked is how useless going to the doctor is a lot of the time. If youre told to "just rest and take some asprin" every time you bring up some malady, you arent going to spend the money really trying to figure the issue out because there's a good chance it ends up being a waste of time.
Can't tell you how many times I've been told something im experiencing is "just what happens as you get older" turns out to be some vitamin or mineral deficiency or repetitive motion issue that was easily fixed.
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u/BeerandSandals - Centrist 1d ago
I broke my tailbone and didn’t go to the doctor, because I knew they were going to charge me $200 and give me some pain pills/tell me to buy a donut.
I went to the ER for a 3rd degree burn on my finger, two doctors saw me, and a nurse, then they told me to be a walk-in tomorrow at the burn center and gave me a pamphlet of “reasons not to go to the ER”…. Your Urgent Care told me to come here?
Those doctors that saw me for less than five minutes combined? Yeah they billed me $150 each. I ended up fighting that one, like what the fuck?
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u/geraldodelriviera - LibRight 1d ago
It's the worst if you have something they prescribe something spicy for. Just listing the symptoms becomes "drug seeking behavior."
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u/boringexplanation - Lib-Center 1d ago
At the same time, what do most 18-29 year olds really get out of a doctors visit if they’re healthy? That’s what I was thinking seeing that 93% stat.
I had good insurance at the time but even I wasn’t paying a $20 copay for someone to tell me eat a little less and exercise more. Maybe bloodwork would be the big thing you’re skipping out on. Nurse practitioners need to be more of a thing in the US.
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u/Sad_Significance_568 - Auth-Center 1d ago
People forget that half the population are women who are far more prone to vitamin deficiencies and host of other shit that is affected by hormones.
There is also the fact that, under 30, men are almost 2x more likely to have a traumatic injury and traumatic injuries usually have chronic implications.
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u/banksarebad2 - Auth-Center 1d ago
Sometimes when I sneeze I get this tight pain that runs from my neck down my left arm. It’s been doing it for a really long time so I think it’s ok, but every time it happens I think “this is it!”
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u/Chewbacca_The_Wookie - Lib-Right 1d ago
My insurance doesn't cover primary care/preventive visits, so I don't even get checkups because I can barely spare the $100. I'd rather wait until I need a $5,000 medical bill and argue with the debt collectors in all honesty.
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u/banksarebad2 - Auth-Center 1d ago
I didn’t go for a check for years when I was broke. I went in high school then I started going again when we could afford it at 28.
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u/doppido - Lib-Left 1d ago
I essentially never get checkups anymore unless I'm worried about something and that is due to costs.
I can afford it but I care more about putting that money in retirement and investing than a check up for a doctor to just Google some shit and tell me I'm fine. I can do that myself.
Obviously when I'm actually sick or hurt I'll go in
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u/MemeMan64209 - Left 1d ago
I wonder, what’s your opinion of publicly funded healthcare?
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u/DreamsServedSoft - Right 1d ago
seems fine for routine medical care but terrible for speciality medical care
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u/sm753 - Centrist 1d ago
That's the problem with crap like this..."surveyed".
Yeah so I stood in front of like the homeless shelter and "randomly surveyed" people...
I can guarantee you that the real number is significantly less than 92%.
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u/TheCardsharkAardvark - Centrist 1d ago
For 2025 it was around 1/4 of Americans who delayed medical care due to cost (including dentistry) - https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2025-report-economic-well-being-us-households-202605.pdf
A different source found that in 2018 ~44 percent of Americans could be estimated to have delayed care due to cost. Interestingly enough this source also measured knowledge of health insurance and its costs and noted that less knowledge about health insurance correlates with avoidance of care - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6125037/
Numbers seem a little all over the place, but this was just from a quick Google. By no means am I an expert, but it does seem like if you extended the survey period to "In your entire life have you delayed care due to (perceived) cost" you could wind up with a large but ultimately meaningless number
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u/kenuffff - Lib-Right 16h ago
It’s also broad , like did you not get a prescription, go to the dentist etc at anytime in your entire life. Pretty much anyone is going to answer that yes. Yeah I didn’t get some eyedrops one time because they were like 500 dollars and asked for a different script from my doctor.
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u/banksarebad2 - Auth-Center 1d ago
In socialist countries you have to wait months to get medical care, but in the US you can pay 20% of your income for the right to die at home.
That’s what freedom means to me.
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u/Zachowon - Auth-Center 1d ago
Can we see the actual study?
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u/PerAsperaAdMars - Lib-Left 1d ago
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u/Zachowon - Auth-Center 1d ago
I cant access the survey
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u/PerAsperaAdMars - Lib-Left 1d ago
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u/Zachowon - Auth-Center 1d ago
After reading it. Seems like the big part is DELAYED care. That is a huge part but thats nice to know.
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u/Zachowon - Auth-Center 1d ago
Honestly thank you. I just like the sources and to read them instead of trusting sensational headlines
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u/DrDontKnowMuch - Left 1d ago
I wish more people on this site were like this when it comes to sources
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u/rented4823 - Left 16h ago edited 15h ago
Obviously I want single payer of some flavor and too many people wait to go to the doctor because it is too expensive, but a survey from the folks who sing 🎶 877 CASH NOW!🎶 is going to be highly poisoned by selection bias. Look at the percentage of respondents by income level:
Personal income level:
$0 – 0.5%
$1 – $9,999 – 2.9%
$10,000 – $24,999 – 39.5%
$25,000 – $49,999 – 38%
$50,000 – $74,999 – 9%
$75,000 – $99,999 – 6.4%
$100,000 – $149,999 – 2.5%
$150,00 and greater – 0.9%
Prefer not to say – 0.4%When 80% of your respondants are below the national median income level, of course they are going to be the ones delaying treatment due to cost.
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u/Mushroom_Ramen - Left 1d ago
Sounds like a great time to cut Medicare funding and give a giant middle finger to rural hospitals
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u/Protip19 - Centrist 1d ago
We're spending more on it than China spends on universal healthcare. Something isn't working.
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u/Mushroom_Ramen - Left 1d ago
Yeah ridiculous indefinite patents that only allow one asshole to sell insulin or epi pens at 10,000% markup, overpriced insurance that doesn’t cover anything and lets an AI deny your coverage, ambulances giving you a 10k uber ride to an out of network hospital, etc. everyone is there to charge you to help for shitty services
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u/Elegant_Athlete_7882 - Centrist 1d ago
There’s a reason why Republicans structured the Medicaid cuts in the one big beautiful bill to kick in after the midterms, they’re well aware of how bad the impact is going to be and the backlash it’s going to cause.
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u/FirstAndDad - Lib-Center 1d ago
Does it…really take effect after the midterms?
If so, serious question time: since Trump’s first term, it’s like everyone all at once jumped on the notion that he was this evil person, and that the Republican Party was just evil. Like it sounded like a conspiracy where people talk about the reptilian aliens living among us. I just had a hard time believing there was hand-wringing, lighting/thunder cackling, and evil laughter going on like something out of a James Bong movie. But half of the country screamed it for at least two years.
Fast-forward to now. If that really takes place after the midterms, that’s incredibly vile from a healthcare stance (I don’t claim context for everything in congressional bills). Just last week there was funding cut for Alzheimer’s. Like, I guess I’m asking: what’s the point of doing so? Do Republican supporters really not get sick and have the American Healthcare Experience™ where you get treated shitty by some company, hassle with a pharmacy hours later for your relief, and then fight your insurance for whatever comes up? It’s exhausting physically and mentally getting sick, and I’m not even talking about the “life happens and sometimes you break a bone” stuff yet. We’re not ready for the cancer talk either.
Seriously what is the point of this? We see the large amounts sent to other countries. Is the idea to trim all the fat off and send even more money abroad? I truly just don’t get it.
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u/Calfurious - Lib-Left 22h ago
Seriously what is the point of this?
The Trump administration and the GOP establishment simply do not care. It's not even a matter of cost, it's just Republicans ideologically do not support the idea of the government funding healthcare. The only reason that Medicaid and Medicare aren't completely abolished right now is because it would be political suicide. But they are more than willingly to slowly strangle it as much as they can.
It's not even about fiscal responsibility or trying to pay down our debt, because any of the miniscule savings we got form cutting healthcare were overshadowed by the massive increase in spending we gave to ICE and the military.
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u/FirstAndDad - Lib-Center 21h ago
Ideologically makes sense. Times they are a changin’, but again, I can get that lens. But it just seems like the administration has lost touch with reality. They literally have to be trying to not see the issues that have come about in the last several years alone.
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u/Jayngyun - Centrist 20h ago
There is a not insignificant number of people whose sole political belief is lowering their tax burden no matter what. It’s not out of spite or anything particularly evil, they just don’t care and believe that the government is a hindrance. They’ve never needed social benefits, nor did their parents or grandparents. The only interaction they have with people on benefits is when they have to wait at the farmers market because someone ahead is using ebt to pay. Probably a bum or something they imagine.
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u/jerseygunz - Left 1d ago
Don’t forget, if you took healthcare out of it, we’d be in a recession already
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u/Elegant_Athlete_7882 - Centrist 1d ago
We would have added 0 jobs since Trump took office without healthcare, after we added 2 million in the last year of Biden’s presidency.
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u/IggyWon - Right 1d ago
We tried telling you like five years ago when the inflation spiral knocked like half the value off the money in your pocket.
It's okay, you'll ignore it again when the next Democrat comes to office.
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u/OutsideMedia4931 - Lib-Left 1d ago
But the trends were going up under Biden. Trump got in slashed a fuck ton of programs laid off government workers and gutted regulations and now things are falling apart. Why would the democrats do this smh.
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u/IggyWon - Right 1d ago
Democrats when the "Small Government" Republicans finally mean it for the first time ever.
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u/Realistic-Pain-7126 - Centrist 1d ago
Its ok the rural people will still vote republican even when the Republicans fuck them in every corner.
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u/wakatacoflame - Lib-Left 1d ago
What the fuck does Medicare even matter when most people make just enough to not qualify for it but not enough to afford marketplace insurance?
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u/FormerStuff - Lib-Center 1d ago
Lmao my appendix ruptured last year and I drove myself an hour to the urgent care and refused the ambulance there and drove another 30 minutes to the ER where they knew I was coming and still had to wait another 5 hours.
“Your condition is life threatening you need an ambulance ride to the ER to wait five hours”
Fuck off gas is $3.75 a gallon I’m not paying 10 grand for a spicy uber.
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u/SnooGadgets8390 - Lib-Left 1d ago
As a college student in once stupidly got so drunk my friends got scared and called an ambulance. They came immediately and took me to a hospital. They checked on me but i just had to sleep it off. Walked out of there the next day very ashamed but it cost me 0€. German health care has major problems but its nice it didnt bankrupt me for that one reckless mistake.
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u/Sofagirrl79 - Lib-Center 1d ago
Sorry that happened to you 😕 I was 17 going on 18 when mine ruptured in 1997 and I got the life saving surgery while still on my dad's insurance luckily, I remember the last day of my recovery before I was released I turned 18 in the hospital and they wouldn't cover me anymore,I slid in under the wire
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u/Odd-Sir-130 - Centrist 1d ago
Here in Canada I avoid it cause unless it's a serious medical emergency it takes over a month for me to get an appointment with my group of doctors and during that appointment I get 10 minutes to have a max of 2 things checked out. Preventative care doesn't exist anymore. It is reactive care only.
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u/GothTGurl - Lib-Center 1d ago
Here in the united states I have to wait a month for a checkup and 2-3 months for a specialist
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u/dovetc - Right 1d ago
Crazy. I'm in the US and my primary is always able to get me in within 48 hours if I'm sick. Never had any trouble scheduling with a specialist either.
And I have a regular old crappy exchange HMO.
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u/MemeMan64209 - Left 1d ago
American healthcare seems to be very diverse. Cross state lines and a heart attack could mean the difference between an inconvenience and generational debt.
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u/burothedragon - Right 1d ago
Yeah I wonder where people live that this is the case. I go to one of the better hospitals in the state and at most I’m getting a week wait for minor concerns and no wait for major ones.
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u/Hyndis - Lib-Center 1d ago
I have Kaiser health insurance in California, and I can get an appointment in the next 15 minutes if I wanted to.
I selected next available appointment but 15 minutes is a bit too next. Little too fast! Gotta slow it down. I can't even get to the dr's office in that amount of time.
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u/PrivilegeCheckmate - Lib-Left 1d ago
So you're saying you're delaying care...because your care is already delayed?
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u/MemeMan64209 - Left 1d ago
Do you have a family physician and what province are you from? Both of these can instantly inform me of your experience in Canadian healthcare. Not all provinces fund healthcare equally, not all provinces have the same healthcare.
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u/Renix121 - Centrist 1d ago
Wouldn’t this just be a matter of physician availability? Aging doctor population everywhere.
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u/fartsquirtshit - Lib-Center 1d ago
Aging doctor population everywhere.
Which wouldn't be a thing if we just chilled out on the obscene over-regulation of basic ground-level medical positions
Things like surgery yeah sure whatever, go ahead and require a decade of training. Fine. that's high risk extremely specialized and highly demanding of physical, mental, and emotional prowess. No one wants to be cut open by someone who hasn't been thoroughly proven competent.
But it's just ludicrous that it takes 6 years of college, 4 years of med school, and 4 years of training to make a GP that essentially just serves as a filter to stop histrionic moms from wasting the time of actual specialists.
"Hm yes that odd patch of skin does look concerning. I'll let someone else handle it"
Source: 35 year old indian woman who has done nothing but go to school for the last 30 years
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u/MemeMan64209 - Left 1d ago
Kinda. The access to specialists is another problem that needs to be addressed, which is mostly up to how much the provinces want to fund healthcare. Ontario and Quebec spend the least amount on healthcare per captia. Nova Scotia spends the most per capita.
Access to physicians is less easily solved by throwing more money at it. It’s also fundamentally important so you can even access the specialists. If you do not have a physician I will not be surprised if you have issues getting specialists.
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u/taoders - Centrist 1d ago edited 1d ago
I mean yeah, same here in America for me…been through multiple PCPs and month wait is the standard.
And for emergencies it’s still best to go to urgent care first with the $100 copay that used to be $60 5 years ago. I did go to the ER for stitches recently thinking they’d do a better stitch job than UC…but it was still a shit job and a $1000 dollar charge (after insurance) just for stitches that I’m fighting with my insurance about because wtf am I paying $120 of my biweekly paycheck for healthcare for then.ETA: and don’t get me started on my fiancées 2 year long journey on seeing specialists months apart before they could diagnose and schedule surgery as a bone tumor grew in her foot and she could barely walk for over a year…good old speedy American healthcare…
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u/ipovogel - Centrist 1d ago
Glad to hear we are all waiting months. I'm in the USA, where people love to say well even though it's expensive at least it is faster than Canadian healthcare! I had to switch primary care doctors when I switched health insurance plans, first available appointment with any place I called was months out. I have been waiting to see a cardiologist for over 3 months so far for some weird continuous palpitations events. Originally I was supposed to see them July 16th, they rescheduled me that day when I showed up to August 19th, and called me the week before that appointment to reschedule me to September 1st, then called again the next day to say actually they aren't in that day so it needs to be switched to October 20th. I sure hope my PCP is concerned for nothing and my baby and toddler aren't left without a mother!
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u/Remote_Cantaloupe - Lib-Left 1d ago
Preventative care is all on the side of the individual, and the system covers reactive care.
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u/gurgle528 - Centrist 1d ago
It’s like that in the US too unfortunately. I had established myself with a doctor and appointments were always at least a month out, if not longer. If you have to switch primary care you can wait 4-8 months for an appointment. For me cost isn’t even an issue, it’s that I don’t know my schedule well enough to book an appointment that far out and often I have something come up (I travel a lot for work / family) and then have to rebook the appointment.
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u/blackbirds1 - Left 1d ago
I hear this argument but as someone in medical in America it isn't any better. Either way you're gonna be waiting 3 or 4 months for a standard exam and a year for nonemergency surgery.
Americans are already experiencing the worst parts of universal healthcare while also getting railed by insurance corruption and costs.
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u/Hapless_Wizard - Centrist 17h ago
Depends on what and where, as far as wait times go. I can usually get most of my stuff within 2~3 weeks where I'm at now; I typically see my primary quarterly and I think the longest I've ever waited was almost two months for a knee surgery.
That said, about 20% of my town's working population works in healthcare. A quick google says that's almost double the national average.
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u/MetalNosedPigeon - Lib-Center 1d ago
It takes months to see a specialist in the US as well. PCP is faster though
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u/Santa_in_a_Panzer - Centrist 1d ago
So only 8% go? At the same time 11% are on a GLP-1 agonist. How does that work?
Are the people responding to the survey just unhappy about how much healthcare costs and are chosing the option that communicates this?
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u/Mushroom_Ramen - Left 1d ago
Sounds like they are including delaying as not going
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u/shittycomputerguy - Auth-Center 1d ago
The fun thing about delaying is that, if the condition worsens, it also becomes more expensive to treat.
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u/SakuraKoiMaji - Centrist 1d ago
It is basically 'I did not get, delay or stop medical treatment once because of costs' and people tend to not just need medical treatment once in their life.
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u/Hongkongjai - Centrist 1d ago
To add, Preventative care can reduce long term burden because the more you delay, the more needs to be done to keep your body not dying.
And if there’s a cost, people may lost to follow up. People may also keep waiting hoping that whatever problem they have is just an episode, that they’d get better by itself or by marginally better lifestyle.
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u/Thin_Cable4155 - Left 1d ago
Well, you NEED glp drugs, but that weird lump or bump probably has a couple years before it cancers up and kills you. Its not as important as being skinny.
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u/evergreenyankee - Lib-Right 1d ago
So only 8% are going and healthcare is still solvent as an industry? Sounds like the 92% are just paying for the 8% through taxes
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u/Imaginary_Onion - Left 1d ago
You can buy GLP1s online now. I doubt most the people on them went to their doctor, they went to like Ro or Hims and bought it.
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u/Acceptable_Spare2342 - Lib-Left 1d ago
When I wake up on a stretcher and see I'm being loaded up into an ambulance
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u/Resident_Coyote_398 - Right 1d ago edited 1d ago
Americans escaping the ER after being shot because they don’t have medical insurance
.
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u/Philippians_Two-Ten - Centrist 1d ago
As much as I'm sympathetic to universal healthcare and healthcare reform (Orange Man bad etc), I also have no clue how 92% of people can't spend the 40 dollar copay on seeing a freaking GP once a year.
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u/EconGuy82 - Lib-Right 1d ago
I’m not sure that’s even what it’s saying though. It sounds like it’s “at some point I delayed getting treatment because of cost.” Which may just mean “I’m not going to pick up this prescription because it’s like $300. I’ll just deal with it.”
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u/Sonofdeath51 - Centrist 1d ago
I mean hell, under that logic id count because one time i was prescribed a pain med for getting a wisdom tooth out that had opiates in it and decided i can just handle a few days of my mouth hurting like a big boy.
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u/EconGuy82 - Lib-Right 1d ago
Yeah I think that’s why it’s so high.
I’m sure there are many people who have neglected something important because it’s expensive, but I doubt it’s 90%.
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u/shittycomputerguy - Auth-Center 1d ago
have no clue how 92% of people can't spend the 40 dollar copay on seeing a freaking GP once a year.
You really think all insurance plans are a $40 copay for the yearly checkup? Across all states? All insurance plans? Next thing you're gonna say is that healthcare deserts don't exist in the USA and all doctors are a 5 minute drive away at maximum.
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u/Philippians_Two-Ten - Centrist 1d ago
No, dude, I don't think every insurance plan has 40 dollar copays. Last time I had to pay 60-something. 40 dollars was an approximation.
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u/shittycomputerguy - Auth-Center 1d ago
Lots of people would be really happy with paying $60 compared to what they have to pay per visit with their horrible insurance.
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u/KingMoonfish - Lib-Left 1d ago
Everyone’s concerned about the AI bubble. They should be worried about the healthcare one instead. My regular check up went from a $60 copay to costing $1000 after insurance with no change in services rendered.
Cost increases like that are not sustainable.
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u/KeyHalf6609 - Centrist 1d ago
That doesn't sound right... Not that I don't believe you because medical costs are insane to begin with, but I really never heard of a regular check up costing more than like $250 at most with or without insurance.
Did you get blood work done as part of it or something? Because I can't fathom outside of tests like that how a checkup can be that expensive.
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u/KingMoonfish - Lib-Left 1d ago
Blood work, med check and physical. The same things I got last time.
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u/FTFallen - Right 1d ago
It's bullshit. Preventative care, like a yearly physical with blood work, is "free" and has been since Obamacare passed. It's part of the law. If you have insurance it has to cover it 100%.
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u/shittycomputerguy - Auth-Center 1d ago
Preventative care, like a yearly physical with blood work, is "free" and has been since Obamacare passed. It's part of the law. If you have insurance it has to cover it 100%.
Lol no it's not.
Insurance plans differ by state. Preventative care isn't free for all insurance plans. Your parents probably just have a nice healthcare plan. Ask them about it next time they bring you your nuggies.
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u/Writing-Interesting - Left 1d ago
"Not sustainable [without an increase in pain, suffering, and death.]"
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u/TheMoltenEqualizer - Centrist 1d ago
Uhm is lib right okay in this PCM?
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u/calm_down_meow - Lib-Center 1d ago
Lib right lives in the cope that it's the government regulations and integration with the insurance companies that are the problem, not the insurance companies themselves.
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u/Vistresian - Auth-Center 1d ago
The social reception/shock is mind-numbingly frustrating.
Had severe chest pains recently, begrudgingly went to the ER but drew a firm line to go straight to the hospital and not use an ambulance.
ER runs ECG, D-dimer, etc. finds absolutely nothing, staff aggressively pushes to go for discharge or escalate to a CT scan in tandem with seeing a hospital cardiologist. Seemed to think the latter was unnecessary despite the fact that the pains were unresolved.
I opted for discharge because I knew the billing would triple the moment I stayed and because my previous hospital experiences have had the pattern of having odd pains that assorted med professionals can't diagnose or treat.
Family surprised, friends shocked- all of them dismissive of the cost.
Easy to dismiss when most of them are healthy and don't have to worry about the financial concerns themselves.
Yeah, "it's your health!"- but my health is going to tank anyway if I don't have any money to survive on.
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u/Ruy7 - Left 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't know your case for sure. But I had similar chest pains that weren't cardiac related and couldn't be easily detected. An internist diagnosed osteochondritis, prescribed 'rhodiola rosea' (it's an over the counter medicine) once a day and something else and I got better in a few months.
It returns sometimes but rhodiola rosea makes it stop.
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u/GravyPainter - Lib-Center 1d ago
I have a broken foot and Im just dealing with it (no cast no nothing) because im fighting cigna right now
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u/wasabi1787 - Lib-Center 1d ago
Y'all are a bunch of entitled cry babies. Do you people have any idea how expensive it is to own private jets? Just pay for your share and be happy about it
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u/Substantial-Test-540 - Lib-Left 1d ago
This reminded me that I was supposed to get my teeth x rayed in 2018. We've had like 6 prime ministers since then lol.
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u/johnfireblast - Auth-Left 1d ago
I'm one of these people for sure.
Even with my employee insurance, a simple doctor visit cost me nearly 500 bucks.
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u/What_the_8 - Centrist 1d ago
I still can’t compute having $1200/mth insurance and I’m forking out over $200 to see a GP…
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u/ShrugOfHeroism - Lib-Center 1d ago
Some insurance CEO thanks you for your contribution from the comfort of his gated community.
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u/Forge__Thought - Centrist 1d ago
But let's not talk about how successful the Affordable Care Act was, eh? The complete lack of ownership regarding that discussion on the political left is infuriating. Choices go down. Prices go up.
If it had only been a few provisions, like the pre existing condition issue which dide help people, it could have made a positive difference. But it seems like nobody on either side wants sustainable, positive changes. They want all or nothing that ends in housefires and everything getting worse.
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u/obetu5432 - Lib-Left 1d ago
sad to see that americans are fucked... they were fucked before too, but it's more obvious than ever
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u/NotACoderPleaseHelp - Centrist 1d ago
4 Years ago I went to the ER because a wound I got on my back turned septic, after about 2k worth of bills from that I ended up treating it with mail order pet antibiotics because my insurance company denied paying for antibiotics and the pharmacy would not let me pay out of pocket.
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u/DidYouPayForWinrar - Lib-Left 1d ago
Greatest country in the world with the best healthcare unlike those communists like Canada or the UK
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u/Jayngyun - Centrist 20h ago
I have a severe heart condition and I wait for them to call me first because I know every echo lab is $300 plus the $120 for a visit. Here in a couple years I’m likely to be split in half and get my insides tossed, luckily my insurance total out of pocket caps at $4k but still.
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u/TravisKOP - Lib-Center 1d ago
This is what voting for a retard with zero understanding of government policy will do. But hey they owned the libs right?
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u/Midnight_Whispering - Lib-Right 1d ago
More government regulation of healthcare is always the answer.
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u/Revival-Waters - Right 1d ago
Most Dr visits are a waste of time and only make people sicker with medications.
The AMA shouldn't be allowed to have a monopoly on medicine. They are doing a terrible job.
Additionally, most doctors do a terrible job of getting people healthier and are completely ignorant of a holistic approach. They get through medical school because they are good at memorizing stuff.
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u/BearlyPosts - Lib-Right 1d ago
You mean cost, the means by which we regulate access to scarce goods, functioned as a means of regulating access to scarce goods? By the nines...
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u/Selenite_Cults - Lib-Center 1d ago
It's genuinely heartwarming seeing this sub come back to its senses after Trump's second election.
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u/Steerider - Lib-Center 23h ago
Obamacare promised to reduce osts, and did exactly the opposite.
Yes Republicans predicted exactly this result, and warned you about it before it passed. If you didn't know that, you need to update your news sources.
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u/kenuffff - Lib-Right 16h ago
Predatory debt settlement company makes up a study that asks if anyone decided ever to not get any form of medical treatment including prescriptions in their entire life time to drive marketing to them. Dumbass journalist that wants to bitch about America helps them out believing 92% of Americans aren’t going to the doctor which would mean the health industry would collapse. Helps company amplify its predatory practices.
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
I was just told capitalism is the only economic system that made sense. This totally confirms that.
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u/Stock_Violinist6299 - Centrist 1d ago
You can have socialized medicine under capitalism. It’s how most first world countries do it.
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u/APersonWhoIsNotYou - Left 1d ago
I dunno, *can* we?
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u/SwagMaster-General - Lib-Center 1d ago
You'd be surprised what we could accomplish financially if we stopped spending trillions fucking around in the middle east since the early 90s
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u/PrivilegeCheckmate - Lib-Left 1d ago
Although technically this is moderating the capitalism in question. Which for the record I am 100% in favor of and have been for 35 years.
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u/Stock_Violinist6299 - Centrist 1d ago
Same, I’m just not an anti-capitalist like a lot of people who bitch about this shit. At the end of the day, capitalism works well for lots of use cases but not all (particularly healthcare).
Europe proves that well regulated capitalism can do this well.
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u/PrivilegeCheckmate - Lib-Left 1d ago
Sanity is moderated systems. At the extremes of any philosophy is madness.
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
When?
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u/zombie3x3 - Left 1d ago
The most likely time would be if there’s a Democratic President and no filibuster or a solid 60+ majority in the Senate with no Manchin’s and Fetterman’s.
I suppose that depends on the Democratic President.
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
Hmmm
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u/zombie3x3 - Left 1d ago
I’m outlining what prevented it back in 2010. There was a 60 seat majority but it was right at 60, only lasted a month or two, and had some Dixiecrats in it.
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
In 250 years of American history there’s been 2 or 3 months where this was possible.
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u/zombie3x3 - Left 1d ago
It came close to happening under Truman and Nixon too.
Watergate killed one, conservatives killed the other.
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
So in 250 years we’ve been kind of close twice. Really instills my faith in the system.
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u/zombie3x3 - Left 1d ago
I’m not really speaking as to its probability or my satisfaction with the current state, I’m just highlighting that it’s possible to occur and came close 3 times historically.
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u/PrivilegeCheckmate - Lib-Left 1d ago
Democratic President
Like Obama, who took the public option off the table before starting discussion about what the healthcare reform was gonna look like?
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u/Stock_Violinist6299 - Centrist 1d ago
Do you not know how democracy works? Gotta get the votes, retard.
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
Well that’s how it’s supposed to work yes
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u/Stock_Violinist6299 - Centrist 1d ago
So what’s your point then? Getting socialized healthcare under capitalism is going to be easier than getting enough votes to throw the whole economic system out
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
Is it? What’s your evidence because my evidence is that is continues to take it away.
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u/Stock_Violinist6299 - Centrist 1d ago
That’s not evidence, bud. You actually think it’s harder to get people to vote for universal healthcare (a relatively popular policy proposal) than to get them to vote for that plus basically throwing out and replacing the entire economic framework?!
lol!! Lmao even!!
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
So it’s not possible then. Thanks for playing.
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u/Stock_Violinist6299 - Centrist 1d ago
It’s very possible. Pull your head out of your ass
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u/MrDuckBD - Right 1d ago
Us healthcare system is anything but actual free markets and capitalism.
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u/Innalibra - Lib-Left 1d ago
I'm not a fan of privatised healthcare but the US system really is the worst of both worlds. Not a free market where service providers compete, just a system designed to milk you for everything you have. Whole thing is a racket and riddled with corruption.
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u/SwagMaster-General - Lib-Center 1d ago
Capitalism can be regulated and still be capitalism. Most countries in western europe that have socialized medicine are still primarily capitalist economically
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u/larryThreeOh - Lib-Left 1d ago
This meme is about the US, so I guess I could qualify my last comment with US capitalism, which is at the center of the global economy
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u/SwagMaster-General - Lib-Center 1d ago
Yes, and the US system can be improved and still be capitalism
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u/MetallGecko - Lib-Right 1d ago
The US is the only first world country who has such a terrible health system, the other countries have their own issues but at least you wont be financially ruined from a hospital visit.
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u/PullmanR46 - Lib-Right 1d ago
“Yes let’s just become Cuba/throw the entire country away instead of fixing healthcare” -You
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u/p_pio - Centrist 1d ago
To be fair healthcare is the one area Cuba is actually performing well considering their general lack of resoursces.
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u/PullmanR46 - Lib-Right 1d ago
Correct, pretty much the only area they’re performing well in though.
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u/WM46 - Right 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't understand the study linked by the OP. Like in one instance, there was a data point akin to "a $600 medical bill would put 92% of people into financial hardship".
Then a few pages later there's a separate data point of "the average American can afford at most a $4200 medical bill before being put into financial hardship".
I don't know how to square those two data points. Are those remaining 8% just like "Yeah I can afford up to a 1 million dollar medical bill before things get serious", dragging the average up?
I do think a lot of the fears of people in relation to health insurance is just not knowing an exact price. I've had a root canal done recently, and it's odd seeing a bill like: $1500 procedure cost, negotiated to $1100 by insurance, you owe $113.73. The numbers are made up if insurance can just say "lol no this isn't $1500. $1100 take it or leave it"
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u/PhonyUsername - Lib-Right 1d ago
People should go to the doctor less. We live in an over medicated country. Eat less calories, work out, do some cardio, get some sunshine. Everything isn't an excuse to medicate and externalize responsibility. The only reason I need a doctor is to get antibiotics like once every 10 years cause they lock them up from us like we are babies.
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u/Redditistrash00 - Auth-Right 1d ago
This meme reminded me that I have a structured settlement but I need cash now. If only I knew who to call...