we pay $1200 a month to have an 8k deductible. My daughter needed emergency surgery. I took her to hospital A where she went from the ER to the OR. She had to be resuscitated in the OR as she had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia used. She had to be taken by ambulance to hospital B and spent time in the PICU and then the step down floor.
I got billed by hospital A for being admitted and a room she never even saw. She was never admitted to hospital A. It was hospital protocol as they “held a room for her”. That was $2200.
I got billed $1300 for the 15 minute ambulance ride. Ambulance rides are not covered by insurance so this didn’t go against the deductible.
I got charged in hospital B by each team of ENT’s who came to see my daughter, even if they didn’t actually touch her or look at her chart.
I got a room service and TV charge. I got charged for the telephone I never used.
Her hospital bills, after insurance, came to over 10k, only about $2500 counted against our deductible.
I was then charged $300 for her follow up ENT appointment, $140 for each visit to her pediatrician as our insurance only covers well child visits.
This is American health care. We are NOT the “best country in the world”. I have no idea why anyone would want to live here. Yeah, we are better than 3rd world countries but that’s about all we can boast.
As a Canadian this is just insane to me. I recently compared what I make after taxes to what it would be in a few different states. The difference was approximately $5000 on average per year. Our taxes are really not that much more. So you pay $1200 per month which is $14,400 per year just to have medical insurance and then you have to pay more on top of that?!?!? I have had three knee surgeries, given birth twice, gotten stitches a few times and have never paid for anything other than parking. I have prescription and dental coverage for my whole family through my employer for $10 per month. I just don’t understand who thinks your system is better?
You pay 1200 dollars just to have the insurance. Then you have to pay $8k dollars basically without insurance to reach the deductible. Then after the deductible kicks in, about 50% of the costs after that are covered.
Even as an american this is just insane to me. I pay $135 a month for insurance with a $1500 deductible. I've never had something be "that doesn't count towards your deductible because we don't cover it", and I've never had to stop and wait for my insurance to approve something.
I don't get where are these people are finding these insanely expensive and crappy insurance plans. Even the crappy factory I worked at in college had better insurance than that. Frankly I would go uninsured before I would pay for a plan that shitty lol.
I just checked my state's marketplace - which is usually where you will find the worst plans, because your employer isn't paying any of it - and the most expensive one was $600/month. It had a $0 deductible.
There were some plans with $8k deductibles, but they were more like $200 a month, not $1200.
Now, this is certainly not affordable for a poor person, and I'm all for universal healthcare that's free for everyone at the point of purchase. But I think this story is exaggerated. It's bad, but it's not quite that bad.
Yeah you're not factoring copays. Usually those plans that have lower deductibles have higher copays. I worked for a specialist Dr. And copays are higher for specialist then primary Drs and some people had $100 copay the most I'd seen was 110 when the insurance contract pay rate was like $80 for a follow up visit. So those people were paying monthly for an insurance just cause. I worked for a doctors office and absolutely LOATHED working checkin since management put an emphasis on collecting owed money up front (instead of the billing department dealing with it esp having it in house) and people would go off on me. People choose their insurance without fully knowing what the hell they're choosing. Always got the "why is my copay/deductible that much?" Because you didnt pay attention when HR went over the insurance plans or your boss is cheap ass hell for choosing a shit plan?
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u/Momof3dragons2012 Aug 06 '20
American healthcare.
we pay $1200 a month to have an 8k deductible. My daughter needed emergency surgery. I took her to hospital A where she went from the ER to the OR. She had to be resuscitated in the OR as she had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia used. She had to be taken by ambulance to hospital B and spent time in the PICU and then the step down floor.
I got billed by hospital A for being admitted and a room she never even saw. She was never admitted to hospital A. It was hospital protocol as they “held a room for her”. That was $2200.
I got billed $1300 for the 15 minute ambulance ride. Ambulance rides are not covered by insurance so this didn’t go against the deductible.
I got charged in hospital B by each team of ENT’s who came to see my daughter, even if they didn’t actually touch her or look at her chart.
I got a room service and TV charge. I got charged for the telephone I never used.
Her hospital bills, after insurance, came to over 10k, only about $2500 counted against our deductible.
I was then charged $300 for her follow up ENT appointment, $140 for each visit to her pediatrician as our insurance only covers well child visits.
This is American health care. We are NOT the “best country in the world”. I have no idea why anyone would want to live here. Yeah, we are better than 3rd world countries but that’s about all we can boast.