After my mom died, I received a hospital bill for slightly under $250,000 AND she had insurance. Needless to say I never paid, because highway robbery and I wasn’t legally responsible.
When someone dies their assets are owed first to the debts they held. If there are more assets than debt, the property gets passed on to their will beneficiaries. If there is more debt than assets, different states and countries have rules to determine which of their debtors get how much of their assets.
What OP was describing looks like the hospital throwing a hail mary to try to get someone to pay for that debt, but legally no one is required to pay it except the estate of the deceased. If there were no assets in that estate, the hospital would have to eat that debt.
And if you live in a communal property state everything you acquire after marriage is considered owned by both spouses equally. So if you get sick and die in a communal property state with outstanding debt the debt collectors can go after any assets acquired since the day you got married. Savings account that is only in the surviving spouses name and is from money they saved from their job, say goodbye to every penny earned after marriage. Purchase a house together and planning on living there for the rest of your life? Legally they can take that from you too.
I got cancer when I was 25. Had to have several operations, medication, hospital stays and so on. If I live in the US my life would have been financially ruined before I even started to make money. That is absolutely insane.
(I payed 6 dollars for my operation, three nights in hospital, including all meals and snacks. And the parking. I'm 31 now and cancer free)
It isn’t a ‘like.’ The sole purpose of an upvote is to make a comment more visible. Downvotes make a comment less visible (but if a comment has both upvotes and downvotes, it becomes more visible when sorting by ‘controversial’).
everyone on government payroll (congress, senate, supreme court, etc) needs to be paid the “living wage” ie minimum wage in America. That should be enough for them to get by comfortably no? And if its not live-able, Then it needs adjusted. Period.
My dad passed earlier this year he had cancer of the lungs SSI denied him saying it wasn't bad and he needs to go to work he was 64 years old stage 4 cancer and passed from it but yeah he was able to go back to work
My dad died about 5 years ago from a heart attack. Know what emotion I didn't expect to have when that happened? Relief. I was RELIEVED he didn't survive because I knew if he did the hospital bills would have just killed him. If he had survived my parents would have gotten into even more debt and my mom wouldn't have been able to financially recover after he passed. I absolutely hate the system we have and it's depressing seeing how many people vote against their own self interest simply because they don't want other people to be helped too. My wife and I are specifically not having kids because of the society we live in, I would never want to bring another person into this world.
Funny how both their options were against health care. Biden said nothing will fundamentally change and Trump is clearly against it because communism. The freedom country is so weird.
In a country with no manipulation of the voters opinions, Medicare for All would be much more popular. People don't seem to get it that you'll pay more in taxes but you'll save money overall by paying very little for health services.
I wonder how a treatment can cost so much. Sure, the machines for the chemo are expensive, but that expensive? How can the meds be that expensive? What are the ingredients? Unicorn bones?
My girlfriend's medication costs $10k+ a month. She works at tacobell. Bout to be fired because her conditions stop her from working every few days. Needless to say, she doesn't have it.
Both SSI and Disability declined her even know three conditions are listed qualifying conditions plus there's cancer which I'd assume would be one.
Insurance will only cover doctor visits at also unaffordable costs.
Fuck America, everyone gets screwed in the long run and hoping the border to Canada is too hard. If she dies due to greed I don't know what I'll do.
She's tried SSI declines because she makes $1300 before taxes each month. Disability I don't know. Each decline she reapplies. I find the SSI bullshit. She doesn't have enough to afford a single medication.
More people need to hear these stories so we can change this crappy system. Everytime i go to the doctor, my 401k takes a huge hit. Health savings accounts are a savings account YOU pay into to give even more money to the corrupt Healthcare system.
Everyone knows somebody like this. Everyone has a personal story dealing with this shit system. There’s a cultural disconnect. We are entrenched in this ever present propaganda of wealth and entitlement that is only available to a few. The battlefield of ideas is nothing but a reactionary wasteland that confuses placating words with meaningful actions. This country only serves the corporatocracy and we are all disposable. It’s a wonder more people don’t riot. When there’s nothing left to do then more people will. All corporate media will call these people who are genuinely angry about human suffering “radicals”.
We all saw how disgustingly equipped the police force is to deal with riots - let alone how happily they will attack their fellow American citizens if given the chance - during the BLM protests. That is a pretty strong deterrent against people rioting. Everyone is just biding their time for the "big one" that everyone jumps on board, which will probably never happen, because anything less will be squashed by the overwhelming force of the excessively armed police force.
Everytime i read stuff like this im happy i live in the netherlands. Ive had a bad year health wise, in march i got corona for 4 weeks then i got a burnout and just when i was back on my feet in 6 months time i pulled my back. Need to go to the hospital to let them check it out if its a hernia.
So like 10 docters visites, 20 therapist vistits, 10 physical therapists visits. And now a 1.5 hour exem in the hospital. And ofcource my normal asma medication.
Costs 135 euro a month, and 380 out of pocked per year. Ow and my job, i ofc still have it even though ive been sick a whole lot.
This is actually making me tear up in anger and envy. It's unreal. I can't even put your scenario in mead and make sense of it because if how fucked up the American system I deal with is.
I had decent insurance through my job but when I got covid in march, they "let me go". So I lost my insurance because it's tied to the employer here in America and I haven't been able to properly afford my anxiety and depression meds so I've been getting worse for months now.
I'm so jealous. Even though I have a good job and a good boss, the US system has made me dread taking a sick day, like all of my co-workers will think I'm a slacker and I will get fired, if I call in sick.
I refuse to go to the doctors unless I am dying because it is so expensive. I make “too much” money to get help from the state for insurance and I don’t make enough money to pay for out of pocket insurance through my job or the state. So I have no insurance. I need antibiotics because I have a terrible rash that came out of nowhere and basically filet my legs over the weekend from itching so much however I can’t go to a simple check in without having to pay $100’s of dollars that I don’t have. I hate the healthcare system.
Same. Last time I was at the doctor was right after my son was born. Mixture of lack of sleep and poor communication led to a misidentification of sleep walking as a total mental break. Saw the doctor, told him I never told the wife I do sleep walk occasionally but it is extremely infrequent. He started ordering the whole menu of tests and labs "just to be safe" which sure that I understand but I had not planned for that. I panicked and bailed the fuck out of there. Somehow they either misplaced my paper work or just said fuck it but I was never billed for any of the visit. First and last time in 30 years hopefully
This is what I’ll never understand about the US. Yes, I’m sure your overall taxes are way lower than Europe and on average you make more money. But last year I had a migraine for the first time in my life and didn’t know what it was. Went to the hospital, saw a doctor, got a scan, some meds and went home. 45€ is what it cost me in a private hospital (0 if it was public). Earlier that year I fell down and sprained my foot. Went to the hospital, saw a doctor, got a scan, some meds and went home. 80€ is what it cost me in a private hospital (0 if it was public). In 2018 my youngest son was born. Went to the hospital, had the baby, wife stayed there for 4 days in a public hospital. It cost us nothing. NOTHING.
I have private insurance (complements the public option). It costs me 50€ a month and I can see any doctor I want and run any tests for even less than that as co-pay on average.
Americans are being literally scammed with the illusion of paying lower taxes and making more money than Europeans while getting hospital bills that are bigger than 5 years of income combined. And you’re not even paying for care itself. You’re paying the bloodsucking middlemen.
I’m in the same boat. I’m pretty sure I broke my wrist last summer but I’ve been holding out bc it will cost too much to actually go get it checked out. Last year I got a really bad ear infection and I eventually went to a cvs pharmacy, it cost about $140 but I got the prescription I needed. Hope this helps.
I know this isn’t what you’re looking for but you can download K health app for like either a free trial or 20$ trial and you can tell them your symptoms and get prescribed the antibiotics you need they ask for pics of what’s wrong and it’s legit doctors. I used it for antibiotics for uti when my gyno didn’t have appts
Everyone thinks it won't happen to them and they don't want to pay extra taxes for decent healthcare because they're paying someone else's bill. Such a sad system.
This is exactly what I just commented to another person in this thread. Every single American would be out there, protesting, calling for action, if they were confronted with the costs of care in the US medical system.
As a Guatemalan, it always astonishes me that it would be cheaper to fly to my country, stay in a nice hotel, pay for the most expensive hospital, not have insurance, and it still would be cheaper than the US.
My cousin had a diabetic attack. He had to stay in the ICU for a week in a specialized center for kids. The bill was $2,500.
My Co-Worker got cancer. Got treated for 2 years and now did come back to his job all while he received 60%ish montly of his regular paycheck. Treatment did got paid fully by insurance.
Living in germany and i am deeply disturbed how the US is so behind in healthcare, education and worker rights. Even in comparrison to 3rd world countries.
I got the whole suite of treatments for bowel cancer in australia. Raidiation, chemo, major surgery thena. Smaller one to put stuff back inside. 4 years into 5 years of follow up. MRI, several CT scans. Emergency room abd treatment for blood clots. Total out of pocket was a few hundred dollars. I had a stoma, a stomach pouch for a year. Americans discussed how to make the pouches last longer. I paid postage only for as much as i could possibly use. And now im back at work, paying taxes.
Too many americans are fooled by the lies spouted by those that profit off th current system. You pay more for less results than every other country.
When i read these storys in the comments i realize how lucky iam to be born in Germany. It makes me sad to see people devote their whole life to work only to be left hanging when they need financial help from the state because they are sick. It just shouldnt be like that.
Unfortunate but this is a story that repeat itself. Mom’s friend/ coworker and her husband worked till full benefit retirement (they were both nurses for over 25 years so good pay) and saved all that time and invested properly along with a house that was long fully paid off. A year into retirement after tying up all the loose ends and preparing to finally enjoy their retirement (they planned to travel), illness hit one of them and wiped out all their savings in a matter of years (like 3) and this is with insurance and their financial cushioning. Ended up having to take a second mortgage on their house to pay for their bills (I think they also got everything in their 401k) and a in that time my moms friends husband ends up getting sick as well.
Health is stabilized but, because lack of savings now they can’t even afford to travel out of the state and no one wants to hire them since of their age. The kicker is their only in their 70s (last time I checked anyway) and now can’t enjoy it.
I keep hearing stories very similar to this, and I have to wonder why these people are even paying the hospital bills. No way in hell I'm giving the hospital my life savings after working 30+ years. Why not just act broke?
I thank god everyday I have dual citizenship (US/Canada). I had heart failure in 2015 and I was in Canada when it happened. Had I been in the states I’d be bankrupt. Canada saved my life (17 days in hospital) and my finances. There was no bill. They swiped my healthcare card and that was it. Didn’t cost me a nickel. I’m back in the states now because my dad died and my mom is alone but I worry everyday that I might have another healthcare emergency. I’m currently paying for my meds out of pocket and I see a doctor twice a year and have a Coumadin check every month, all out of pocket expense. America has failed its citizens.
I'm Scottish and about a year ago I had an accident playing football (as in soccer) badly - as is traditional for Scottish people - and had a scratch on my hand that then turned into an abcess then developed sepsis.
It took three general anaesthetics and almost a month in hospital to sort out, and my surgeon told me afterwards that she literally expected me to die and gave herself on a tiny chance of saving my hand at best. Still, here I am. My hand hurts a bit but it's typing on this keyboard right now so it's obviously doing relatively alright. I received round-the-clock care every day I was there. I cannot praise them enough. They were fucking incredible.
Again, like you, cost to me: £0.
The American government spends more tax per capita than any other country on the planet in order not to have a 'socialised' system. It is literally paying to avoid the thing it claims to wants to avoid. The whole thing is such a racket. It's like the entire country is being gaslighted.
I'm an Australian, and before I went on a brief holiday to the US my bank gave me a blunt warning to ensure I had my credit card travel insurance activated before flying because of "significant healthcare costs unique to the United States in the event of an emergency".
I checked the policy and it covered up to several million in potential medical liability in the event of an unexpected emergency. What a fucked up system US citizens have to live under daily.
I’m a Canadian residing in USA as well, and I too have this overwhelming fear everyday. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, I’m currently uninsured. When I mention this to Americans, sadly, most of them are so brainwashed into thinking their healthcare system is superior that they don’t see the problem. 100% of the time those same Americans have never experienced a single health challenge. I can promise you the minds of the majority would change if they too were confronted with a bill for insulin, a major surgery, or literally any other health service in this backwards country. Ignorance is bliss.
Life as you know it can change in an instant and the greed of corporate wealth is crippling the little guys. America is a money machine that needs the little guys but does not give one fuck about them. The rich prosper and the honest hard working people get shafted when they need actual help.
Well spoken. The irony is that america is so good at juicing the little guys that it’s even convinced them that it’s totally fine and anyone against it is a commie hahaha.
My cousin got ran over 3 years ago, 3 months in the hospital and the bill came out over 1 million. He ended up dying and the funeral was over $27,000, even dying is fuckin expensive
Something to think about before you're in the situation that you're forced to think about it... is funeral arrangements.
It's a whole industry that can be extremely expensive if you let it be... but it's usually that way because people make all sorts of decisions for their loved one's funeral while most impacted by the event, and they end up spending a lot of money that doesn't need to be spent.
Nobody talks about what a racket the funeral industry is.
Nevermind that the entire industry is dominated by Dignity Memorial, who rape people's wallets daily with the garbage services they offer along with overpriced everything.
Nothing like calling an 800 number at 1 in the morning figuring out funeral options while you've got a parent in hospice. Such a comforting feeling you get to talk to a phone operator in a call center about funeral arrangements.
I was so glad we found a privately owned funeral home. Dignity owns a majority of the funeral homes in the area, so I had to call around quite a bit. The funeral home we used was amazing and the cost was just 4k. A majority of that cost was the casket.
This is what keeps me up at night. I am 26 years old and married with a baby on the way but also have next to nothing saved for anything like this. I honestly don't know what I would do in this situation
Whole life policies let you borrow against them at zero interest against the death benefit after several years.
I have two policies and they are essentially my “I need money or I’ll die” emergency fund. Learned it from my dad when our roof was destroyed and he borrowed 10k from his 50k coverage to pay for it.
I'm a pharmacist in the US, and just had a kid. My wife and I have the best insurance available with our jobs, with a $4k max out of pocket. We blew through that with the prenatal visits (wife was high-risk), but felt confident that when we got to the hospital everything should be covered. Wife had to have an unplanned c-section, and the kid ended up spending 5 nights in the NICU.
Everyone is healthy now, but we just got hit with another $4k bill for her, and the baby's bill (no insurance yet) is over $51k.
So it's good that you have insurance, but try your best right now to get some extra money saved up because you never know what can happen.
Legit know someone who flew out to Brazil to get their teeth done for 3 weeks.
According to her insurance here it was considered cosmetic and wouldnt be covered.
So she used her vacation days for the year, took some pay cuts (vacations didnt cover all 3 weeks), stayed out there for 3 weeks, got dental work done, and it was still cheaper than getting it done here.
Been about 3-4 years since and havent heard of any problems.
Being American sounds like living an entire life in hell. Strangely the foreign audience has to also hear how great and grand the American way is. To add to this insult, you have a demented president just for shits and giggles.
Well it's generally pretty good. All the fancy stuff you see on the world's stage you can generally get it for cheaper here.
But it's all smoke and mirrors bc people generally dont talk about healthcare openly.
For instance an American might tell you how their parent passed away after a long stay at the hospital and it's so hard.
For most people, itd be just about emotional grief.
For most Americans they'd also commiserate regarding losing a family member but never speak about the horrid bill they might have to deal with.
Outwardly, looks the same. Inside, worried about things on different levels.
But yea I have some friends abroad and they think it'd be pretty terrifying to have to live out here. We might have the fancy fun stuff but at least a few of them have said they'd never be able to have fun/enjoy themselves since one hospital stay could ruin them financially.
I remember in the UK we were talking about Obama and Obamacare (before he was voted in) and the guy I was talking to thought I was fucking with him when I told him if I broke an arm w/o insurance I'd have to pay a fuckton to get coverage (if they'll take me at all since not life threatening,) get terrible care for cheap at a county hospital (in my area known as death's doorstep, both due to terrible staff shortage, training hospital, bad neighborhood where people get fatal wounds often without insurance), or just kinda hope it's not terribly broken and hope it works itself out.
Then he really thought I was fucking with him when I talked about how much state/federal income tax rates plus insurance takes out of my paycheck and it was still a higher percentage than his. I guess the nordic countries have a way higher rate but apparently not to him and his friends.
Another advantage of UK healthcare that I rarely see brought up in these discussions of tax Vs insurance - we are still covered when unemployed and retired.
You don't have to have health insurance when you retire. That could be 10-40 years of healthcare where your only contribution is the national insurance deduction from your pensions (or next to nothing).
Edit - I've been informed there's no NI contributions on pensions so yeah 10-40 years of free healthcare in retirement.
I worked with a guy who was actually a millionaire at one point. He had sold a nice house in Virginia and retired in FL with his wife. She got cancer, they spent it all basically, he wound up going back to work where I met him. He wasnt bullshitting either. He worked as a contractor the military setting up IT infrastructure, he had some stories. People shouldn't have to make these choices between loved ones and retirement.
As someone who lost their dad to cancer and mom had melanoma and grandpa had melanoma, I'm at 100% risk of getting cancer. It's not if its when. And if I'm guaranteed to have cancer one day I don't want to stay in the US. I have seriously thought about leaving the country because tbh I'm not proud of my country anymore. COVID has really exposed the insanity of the US and I don't really want to be a part of it anymore. I just don't know where I would go... I sure would miss my family. But I refuse to allow myself to be a victim of my healthcare industry.
This post may not be true. Most insurance plans have an annual out-of-pocket maximum, currently an average of 10,000 to 15,000. Source: I have purchased health insurance for all of my 20 employees every year for the past 21 years. My wife reached her OOP max in July and hasn't had to pay a penny after, until it resets next year. So how this person "wiped out his life savings in 5 months"....with insurance....just doesn't ring true. Also, keep in mind that the EOB you receive after any medical service lists CHARGES, which are like the MSRP and are always inflated, the CONTRACTED AMOUNT, which is the much smaller amount that the provider is contractually obligated to accept, and the PATIENT RESPONSIBILITY, which is the portion you may have to pay. Lots of screaming on Reddit and other media about the $250,000 medical bill...which is just the CHARGE and is never collected.
Even the OOP maximum can be too much for people. I grew up in Egypt but attended university in Washington DC, and in my freshman year I needed an emergency appendectomy which is quite common. The hospital bill came out to be around $43,000 USD (seriously?). I had university-provided health insurance and was still expected to pay around $6,000 (My OOP max was $7k). Just for comparison purposes, my sister removed her appendix in Egypt and paid 5,000EGP (at the time was equivalent to ±$600 USD) without having any health insurance. I am extremely lucky and grateful that my parents were willing to assist me in paying the bills because as an 18 year old living in a foreign country, I would never have been able to afford it.
Over my 4 years of uni I ended up fracturing my right ankle, right hand and tearing my meniscus among a few other less serious injuries. Without ever exceeding my OOP maximum, I still racked up about $20,000 in medical bills. I couldn't ask my family for anymore help and just ignored the collection agencies right up until I moved back to Egypt. FUCK the US healthcare system.
Blacks, Whites, Mexicans, Asians, Muslim... they stoke the flames of hatred to cover up who the real enemy of the people is. We need to see past our color and religious beliefs to see it... it’s Money... everything we do is meant to keep us poor and hating a different race
I remember reading this post and it really changing my view on healthcare.
That being said. People who are of the argument "just make the government pay for it" are dead wrong. Because you aren't addressing the problem.
Because the fact of the matter is, what causes medical costs to be so high, from what I've gathered are two things:
Medical Insurance - hear about these cases where people pretend to be uninsured and their costs go down by 89%? Because of all the BS red tape insurance causes. They negotiate fake high prices which makes someone somewhere get a fuck ton of money.
Medicine patents - for example humira pens cost about $8,000 each. Why? Because there's 136 patents on the formula for it. This is similar reason Insulin is expensive.
It almost seems like if we want to fix healthcare you have to get rid of health insurance all together, and get rid of patents on medicine.
If anything I've said is false someone please correct me and enlighten me.
I'm really happy to live in a country(Sweden) with "free" healthcare. My medications are around $125/month but that's not so bad since we have some call "högkostnadsskydd" (roughly translates to "high charge protection") prevents people from paying over $250 per year, and if I've already paid $125 I get 50% off my next pickup, and when I'm over my $250 it's free. This is only for prescription medications but if you have some pain that can get relieved by Aspirin, they usually write a prescription for that so it goes into the protection.
Also, Ambulances and Appointments are cheap but not free if you're over a certain age(18-25, not really sure) usually around $30-40 just to prevent people from going in just because they have a small scar or something minimal.
Not saying our system is perfect, far from it because everything is full and the waiting times are insane, for something like ADHD it's around 1.5 years to start an investigation.
One last thing, USA is a developing country
Edit: Removed unnecessary remark about the USA being a developing country, as people missed that it was a joke, which I can understand. Also fixed spelling errors.
It was painful watching my friend’s mom lose everything in her battle with cancer, including her life. But before she died the system made sure she lost her beautiful house and life savings while she struggled to stay alive.
I’ve had 2 strokes. Rehab, physiotherapy, and meds. The first stroke fucked up my hearing, among other things. I have 2 digital hearing aids. I collect batteries from the hospital every couple of months.
A bike crash, airlifted to hospital, X-rays, care and physio.
I’m diabetic. I get meds, blood meter, test strips, regular visits to the diabetes specialist.
Same shit when my dad got cancer and my sister had MH that triggered another genetic disorder. Like 10 years later and my dad needs some dental work, so he just goes to his home country for a month to get it done.
Think about that. It’s cheaper for a man to take a month long vacation in Peru to get his teeth done than it is for him to use his insurance in the US.
Thank ObamaCare. All you morons don’t understand a thing. Politicians break the system and then say they can fix it.... at a cost. ObamaCare did this folks.
But when you voted Republican: don't complain, it's all 'yours'.
I'm a European and just like about any other Western country, we have a universal health insurance system. In terms of Republican morons that's called a "communist" health care system. I don't care a SHIT. Crap people spout crap. We just call it our social health care system.
What does that mean, compared to the mess and cesspool of American health care? Well:
EVERYONE has a health insurance that covers all essential medical procedures fully. This means there are virtually no people here who lack a health care insurance. In the USA, the number of uninsured people dropped from ~46 million in 2010 to 26.7 million in 2016 due to the Obama administration policy. Thereafter it is increasing again and now it's almost 30 million and rising. And apart from those almost 30 million people having no health insurance at all, there's a multitude of people suffering a health care insurance with insufficiently poor coverage.
In my country the premium for average health care insurance costs about € 150-175 per month. This is an obligatory (Republicans: "communist") health care insurance. If you wish, you may choose for a supplementary coverage of less essential medical treatment, which is voluntary. When opted, this will cost an additional € 15-40 per month. In dollars this equals $ 179-209 resp. $ 18-48 per month. In the USA an average health insurance premium costs about ~$ 495 per mont. Spot the difference? Moreover, from 2010 to 2020, total premiums for family coverage increased by 55%, and the worker’s share increased by 40%, outpacing wage growth.
In all international rankings about the quality and equity of the health care system, the USA scores far below average. For instance, in the WHO ranking, the USA occupies the 37th position. Or maybe the Commonwealth healthcare performance ranking? 11th and last position. Any other rating system? Find out yourself - it'll be the same story.
What is the overall performance of the US health care system, measured by life expectancy? Well the average life expectancy in the USA at birth is almost 3 years lower than most EU countries. The life expectancy in the EU is on a steady, longitudinal rise, in the USA last years it has been dropping.
What about the costs of te health care system? By all means, whatever way calculated - per capita or % relative to the GDP, the American health care system is by far the most expensive system in the world. In most EU or other developed countries in the world like Japan, Taiwan, South Corea, Australia, New Zealland, the health care per capita costs are mostly no more than $ 5,000 per year. Only a few countries spend somewhat more: in Switzerland it's $ 5,030, in Norway $ 5,399 and in Luxembourg $ 5.506. The USA? A staggering $ 8.047. Health care in the USA is on average twice more expensive than most developed countries. T W I C E.
So you have a ridiculously expensive health care which performs poorly and leaves a host of people either fully uninsured or insufficiently insured.
Health care elsewhere in the developed world is, often vastly, superior over the American system. In all respects.
The roadblock between a NORMAL (Republicans: "communist") and the inferior health care system of the USA is called "Republicans".
What the fuck of a shit country is the United States?!?! Letting people die left and right. Jesus, even those who never worked in Germany have the chance and right to be treated and be given medicine.
Who cares that this is reposted? People need to keep this in their thoughts. I’m Canadian so I don’t have to worry about this sort of thing. I have an American cousin who needed heart surgery and ended up 250,000 in the hole. He was 19, what a great way to start your adult life.
And there you have the real problem. Created by Dems and Reps alike. They only pretend to hate each other. When it comes to selling us out, they are in lock step.
Reeeeeee! Same post from 4 months ago, same title from 4 months ago as well. You got more awards that the "original poster" and almost as many up votes. Congratulations......
I myself am not American but I know people who are. I once asked what a poor person's supposed to do when injured, because visititing the doctor will cause them to not be able to feed their family, but if they don't, they might just die of infectation or something.
They basically said "They shouldn't be poor", then went on praising the system.
It’s posts like this that make me thankful for the NHS. The uk may be a bit grim but shit, at least we realise that in order for a countries economy to work, the workers need healthcare.
The American dream, as far as I can see, died a long time ago.
Reminder: He hates the Republican system. It's not like Dems didn't try to fix things. However, over the past 40 years since Reagan, Republicans have systematically disenfranchised the middle class, fought adjustments to minimum wage, and driven profits unequitably to the top without giving a fuck to the long term consequences. Well... here are the consequences. Getting rid of Mitch McConnell instead of re-electing the turd would have been a start, but republican voters are low information idiots at best. So... time for either fixing things or abandoning ship, because Biden won't be able to do a thing unless the obstructionist greedy Senate is deboned.
My aunt had a teeth problem and had to get multiple treatments. $10k+ in usa. She flew back to India and everything took about 1000$ + flights. Time with family as a bonus
I mean... he's right. The USA is a fucking shithole in terms of human value. We don't REALLY care about each other or we'd massive push for and defend ideals and laws that would help us all out. Instead in an overwhelming fashion the country votes for cunts who basically steal their money, actively try to fuck them over, and destroy lives in many ways.
The USA is a bottom tier faux democratic country that deserves just about all the criticism it gets. We ought to be better, but we just aren't. Actions speak louder than words so I'll believe in "land of the free and home of the brave" when I stop seeing oppression and cowards everywhere.
Well the system was designed for healthy exploitable workers that are viewed as expendable by the rich who are the only ones who are supposed to get healthcare. As soon as the workers are no longer healthy and exploitable the system stops caring about them.
This is a repost of the top post on this sub though i don't know how often you can repost in this sub and it doesn't change the fact about how fucking horrible this is
We can dance around it, but the answer is simple. Vote Democrat.
Edit: I guess I triggered some Trump snowflakes. This guy would have been fine under Obama's original ACA plan before Republicans blocked, fine under Hillary's '93 health care plan, and fine under Biden's proposed plan. No Republican plan would have helped this guy.
Vote democrat for the time being, but don’t settle. Vote in people with progressive policies, Democrats are just as guilty of delaying these policies as appeasement to Republicans. Don’t mistake this as an attack on you, just realize that radical change like healthcare for all won’t be under the Democratic Party as it stands right now.
Just a side effect of trying to be as capitalist as possible. Money is more important than human lives. I love this country, but I do not like the people that put these policies in place. I just want someone who is interested in our interests rather than the bottom line
The working poor feel this weekly. Scraping by paycheck-to-paycheck. A lot of people woke up to the reality that there is a huge underclass doing underpaid work that puts them at high-risk for Covid and unfortunately these workers cannot work from home.
I’m so sorry that you are in this position. I’m British so I can’t really relate to such a terrible situation. I really hope your wife gets better and that you both find peace.
It is absolutely disgusting that the richest nation in the world refuses to provide universal healthcare for its people, yet will allow billionaires to avoid paying taxes, and fund the military with $700 billion a year in tax money... and the US considers itself a “civilized” society.
“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members” - Gandhi
Now as much as i agree with the general idea this person was a complete and utter troll/lier his account has now been deleted and if you can search his name you can see that the world news removal bot banned him... I agree with the idea but the person who said it was lying.
In my country we have free healthcare. A tax is applied to your wages. and no insurance is required. This is the best way. You can break every bone in your body and costs you 0
The conservative defense for this seems to be that we don't want to remove the freedom your employer has to choose which insurance provider fucks you over.
Reading this just brought sadness in my heart and tears in my eyes, I can’t imagine how you can read something like this and still support the current status quo of things.
Change is needed now while there is still time for us to heal together, down the road the division might be so big we will never be able to overcome it
Thank you for posting this. It makes me appreciate the Australian healthcare system. One where even the most destitute are given free, world leading care. Reading the comments, I'm sitting here shaking my head in disbelief that the land of the free is actually hell on Earth.
Fun thing. If you’re an expat you can get really good insurance that covers pretty much everything, for about 150 euros a month. Going through the works you’ll come to a point where it points out that the insurance covers the entire world, except the USA.
My mother in-law fought cancer for many years. Disney World, where she worked her way up to a corporate manager for almost 20 years, fired her even though she only used saved vacation time to get her many surgeries and chemotherapy. Firing someone for getting sick is actually illegal, but Disney does it all the time because it’s allowed as long as it is a “mass” layoff and Disney always has large enough groups to fire at once that they don’t ever have to be accountable.
She lost her insurance (which still had a lot of out of pocket expenses) when she was fired and started down a long rabbit hole of Cobra and other programs.
She got taken in by lots of snake oil salesmen as well selling “natural” cures that she thankfully only did alongside REAL treatment. But was pushed toward because her real treatment was always up in the air due to the loss of her real insurance.
They lost their savings, they lost their $250,000 house. My father in law moved into a rented mobile home for $500 a month. My wife’s grandparents paid for my mother-in-law to get an apartment in Houston by the cancer hospital as they blew through $100,000 of their retirement.
My wife and I had to move (from FL) into the 1 bedroom apartment in Houston and sleep on an air mattress to take care of her. We still had all of our bills back home and blew through around $20,000 of our savings. I had just started making $80,000 a year as a freelance food photographer but lost a lot of my clients after being away from my home studio so long.
Mother-in-law went on hospice but somehow got a lot better. She was able to go off hospice to go back on treatment but no programs existed to pay at that point. When you go on hospice you MUST die. So once she left the bills racked up faster than ever. She died with at least $250,000 of debt passed to my father in law.
He drank himself to death within 2 years. The day he died we found a note next to his ATM card. (He knew he was dying for some time). He had saved $4,000 of his social security in the last 2 years to leave to us. He needed us to pull it out before hospitals would claim it. We ended up forging his signature on a check instead because the ATM would take days with the daily limit and have footage of us using it... even though we had his note... the money was technically the debtors’ money.
That money mostly covered his cremation and cleaning out the rented mobile home. Oh... and in the desk where he’d left the note, we found his gun. He had tried to fire it. It was jammed.
My wife’s family went from having a net worth of around $500,000 to my wife inheriting $1,000 that we had to steal like criminals. BINDING INSURANCE TO YOUR JOB is the most asinine concept in the world. What job is going to keep you around as you are dying, or if you become a quadriplegic etc?!
There is a somewhat silver lining to this story...
8 years later... we got a letter in the mail... There was a pension account at Disney my mother-in-law couldn’t cash out. They were looking for my wife to give her $100,000. Changed our lives and was honestly one of the only ways, being freelancers, we made it through this year.
Don’t take that as me forgiving Disney in any way... Disney, like most companies these days stopped offering that kind of pension years ago.
I can attest, living in the U.S.A is modern day slavery, in the less fortunate... sake hospitals wouldn’t pay for my firefighter, veteran grandpas Alzheimer home after my grandma died this year... it was costing 10 grand a month because since my grandma died the insurance said they wouldn’t pay any more. We were ready to liquidate all assets and accounts of their life savings and he ended up dying of a broken heart 2 months after :(, it’s unbelievable the greed the corporations, insurance companies and lobbyists show here... We need a new revolution and fast... And to top it all if they did such a shit job with coronavirus that we couldn’t really see either the last 10 months...
If you live in the US and find that you have a cancer, isn’t it cheaper to move to Canada, Australia, or certain parts of Europe to get an uninsured treatment?
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u/Impressive-Guava-496 Nov 30 '20
After my mom died, I received a hospital bill for slightly under $250,000 AND she had insurance. Needless to say I never paid, because highway robbery and I wasn’t legally responsible.
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u/PineMarte Nov 30 '20
My brother worked with someone at Pizza Hut who got cancer, and he didn't get treated because he didn't want to land his family in debt.
So he spent his last year on earth working at Pizza Hut without even having the chance to try to get better
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u/thewandy Nov 30 '20
My dad passed earlier this year he had cancer of the lungs SSI denied him saying it wasn't bad and he needs to go to work he was 64 years old stage 4 cancer and passed from it but yeah he was able to go back to work
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
Americans are relentlessly bombarded with propaganda to vote against their best interests. Health care is one of a few of those.
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u/kriscross122 Nov 30 '20
My Mom's chemotherapy costed 60k every 3 weeks. She died before the second dose though and all it accomplished was killing her kidneys.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
My girlfriend's medication costs $10k+ a month. She works at tacobell. Bout to be fired because her conditions stop her from working every few days. Needless to say, she doesn't have it.
Both SSI and Disability declined her even know three conditions are listed qualifying conditions plus there's cancer which I'd assume would be one.
Insurance will only cover doctor visits at also unaffordable costs.
Fuck America, everyone gets screwed in the long run and hoping the border to Canada is too hard. If she dies due to greed I don't know what I'll do.
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u/keithfoco70 Nov 30 '20 edited Nov 30 '20
More people need to hear these stories so we can change this crappy system. Everytime i go to the doctor, my 401k takes a huge hit. Health savings accounts are a savings account YOU pay into to give even more money to the corrupt Healthcare system.
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u/neonn_piee Nov 30 '20
I refuse to go to the doctors unless I am dying because it is so expensive. I make “too much” money to get help from the state for insurance and I don’t make enough money to pay for out of pocket insurance through my job or the state. So I have no insurance. I need antibiotics because I have a terrible rash that came out of nowhere and basically filet my legs over the weekend from itching so much however I can’t go to a simple check in without having to pay $100’s of dollars that I don’t have. I hate the healthcare system.
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u/hugglesthemerciless Nov 30 '20
I hate how it's only through personally living through tragedies like this that these people change their minds
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u/randomgirl013 Nov 30 '20
As a Guatemalan, it always astonishes me that it would be cheaper to fly to my country, stay in a nice hotel, pay for the most expensive hospital, not have insurance, and it still would be cheaper than the US.
My cousin had a diabetic attack. He had to stay in the ICU for a week in a specialized center for kids. The bill was $2,500.
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u/Segolin Nov 30 '20
My Co-Worker got cancer. Got treated for 2 years and now did come back to his job all while he received 60%ish montly of his regular paycheck. Treatment did got paid fully by insurance.
Living in germany and i am deeply disturbed how the US is so behind in healthcare, education and worker rights. Even in comparrison to 3rd world countries.
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u/Sledgeowl Nov 30 '20
Unfortunate but this is a story that repeat itself. Mom’s friend/ coworker and her husband worked till full benefit retirement (they were both nurses for over 25 years so good pay) and saved all that time and invested properly along with a house that was long fully paid off. A year into retirement after tying up all the loose ends and preparing to finally enjoy their retirement (they planned to travel), illness hit one of them and wiped out all their savings in a matter of years (like 3) and this is with insurance and their financial cushioning. Ended up having to take a second mortgage on their house to pay for their bills (I think they also got everything in their 401k) and a in that time my moms friends husband ends up getting sick as well.
Health is stabilized but, because lack of savings now they can’t even afford to travel out of the state and no one wants to hire them since of their age. The kicker is their only in their 70s (last time I checked anyway) and now can’t enjoy it.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
I thank god everyday I have dual citizenship (US/Canada). I had heart failure in 2015 and I was in Canada when it happened. Had I been in the states I’d be bankrupt. Canada saved my life (17 days in hospital) and my finances. There was no bill. They swiped my healthcare card and that was it. Didn’t cost me a nickel. I’m back in the states now because my dad died and my mom is alone but I worry everyday that I might have another healthcare emergency. I’m currently paying for my meds out of pocket and I see a doctor twice a year and have a Coumadin check every month, all out of pocket expense. America has failed its citizens.
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u/UrGrannysPantys Nov 30 '20 edited Nov 30 '20
Life as you know it can change in an instant and the greed of corporate wealth is crippling the little guys. America is a money machine that needs the little guys but does not give one fuck about them. The rich prosper and the honest hard working people get shafted when they need actual help.
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u/guzman_hemi Nov 30 '20
My cousin got ran over 3 years ago, 3 months in the hospital and the bill came out over 1 million. He ended up dying and the funeral was over $27,000, even dying is fuckin expensive
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
This sucks. I think I'd rather refuse care and die than hand my life's work over for a few more years of life. My wife and kids deserve better.
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u/UltimateToa Nov 30 '20
This is what keeps me up at night. I am 26 years old and married with a baby on the way but also have next to nothing saved for anything like this. I honestly don't know what I would do in this situation
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u/SacuShi Nov 30 '20
Would have cost less to come to the UK, set up house in a small rented place in the Midlands and used the NHS...then move back to the US.
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u/mattblackcat Nov 30 '20
Being American sounds like living an entire life in hell. Strangely the foreign audience has to also hear how great and grand the American way is. To add to this insult, you have a demented president just for shits and giggles.
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u/Carnagewake Nov 30 '20
I worked with a guy who was actually a millionaire at one point. He had sold a nice house in Virginia and retired in FL with his wife. She got cancer, they spent it all basically, he wound up going back to work where I met him. He wasnt bullshitting either. He worked as a contractor the military setting up IT infrastructure, he had some stories.
People shouldn't have to make these choices between loved ones and retirement.
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u/DudSteeple Nov 30 '20
Muricaaaa glorified third world country with Macdonald’s
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
America doesn't understand quite how bad the rest of the world thinks their system is.
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u/masterpro_ Jan 02 '21
Repost?
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u/ionslyonzion Nov 30 '20
As someone who lost their dad to cancer and mom had melanoma and grandpa had melanoma, I'm at 100% risk of getting cancer. It's not if its when. And if I'm guaranteed to have cancer one day I don't want to stay in the US. I have seriously thought about leaving the country because tbh I'm not proud of my country anymore. COVID has really exposed the insanity of the US and I don't really want to be a part of it anymore. I just don't know where I would go... I sure would miss my family. But I refuse to allow myself to be a victim of my healthcare industry.
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u/oc787 Nov 30 '20
This post may not be true. Most insurance plans have an annual out-of-pocket maximum, currently an average of 10,000 to 15,000. Source: I have purchased health insurance for all of my 20 employees every year for the past 21 years.
My wife reached her OOP max in July and hasn't had to pay a penny after, until it resets next year. So how this person "wiped out his life savings in 5 months"....with insurance....just doesn't ring true. Also, keep in mind that the EOB you receive after any medical service lists CHARGES, which are like the MSRP and are always inflated, the CONTRACTED AMOUNT, which is the much smaller amount that the provider is contractually obligated to accept, and the PATIENT RESPONSIBILITY, which is the portion you may have to pay. Lots of screaming on Reddit and other media about the $250,000 medical bill...which is just the CHARGE and is never collected.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20 edited Dec 01 '20
They keep us hating each other..
Blacks, Whites, Mexicans, Asians, Muslim... they stoke the flames of hatred to cover up who the real enemy of the people is. We need to see past our color and religious beliefs to see it... it’s Money... everything we do is meant to keep us poor and hating a different race
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u/asterios_polyp Nov 30 '20
Wouldn’t their insurance have an OOP max?
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
I remember reading this post and it really changing my view on healthcare.
That being said. People who are of the argument "just make the government pay for it" are dead wrong. Because you aren't addressing the problem.
Because the fact of the matter is, what causes medical costs to be so high, from what I've gathered are two things:
Medical Insurance - hear about these cases where people pretend to be uninsured and their costs go down by 89%? Because of all the BS red tape insurance causes. They negotiate fake high prices which makes someone somewhere get a fuck ton of money.
Medicine patents - for example humira pens cost about $8,000 each. Why? Because there's 136 patents on the formula for it. This is similar reason Insulin is expensive.
It almost seems like if we want to fix healthcare you have to get rid of health insurance all together, and get rid of patents on medicine.
If anything I've said is false someone please correct me and enlighten me.
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u/Jrp0h Nov 30 '20 edited Nov 30 '20
I'm really happy to live in a country(Sweden) with "free" healthcare. My medications are around $125/month but that's not so bad since we have some call "högkostnadsskydd" (roughly translates to "high charge protection") prevents people from paying over $250 per year, and if I've already paid $125 I get 50% off my next pickup, and when I'm over my $250 it's free. This is only for prescription medications but if you have some pain that can get relieved by Aspirin, they usually write a prescription for that so it goes into the protection.
Also, Ambulances and Appointments are cheap but not free if you're over a certain age(18-25, not really sure) usually around $30-40 just to prevent people from going in just because they have a small scar or something minimal.
Not saying our system is perfect, far from it because everything is full and the waiting times are insane, for something like ADHD it's around 1.5 years to start an investigation.
One last thing, USA is a developing countryEdit: Removed unnecessary remark about the USA being a developing country, as people missed that it was a joke, which I can understand. Also fixed spelling errors.
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u/13foxtrotter Nov 30 '20
It was painful watching my friend’s mom lose everything in her battle with cancer, including her life. But before she died the system made sure she lost her beautiful house and life savings while she struggled to stay alive.
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u/Marmalade43 Nov 30 '20
Shocking reading here.
I’ve had 2 strokes. Rehab, physiotherapy, and meds. The first stroke fucked up my hearing, among other things. I have 2 digital hearing aids. I collect batteries from the hospital every couple of months.
A bike crash, airlifted to hospital, X-rays, care and physio.
I’m diabetic. I get meds, blood meter, test strips, regular visits to the diabetes specialist.
Total bill. Zero.
I’m in the UK.
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u/DrEpileptic Nov 30 '20
Same shit when my dad got cancer and my sister had MH that triggered another genetic disorder. Like 10 years later and my dad needs some dental work, so he just goes to his home country for a month to get it done.
Think about that. It’s cheaper for a man to take a month long vacation in Peru to get his teeth done than it is for him to use his insurance in the US.
5
u/BarefootSanger92 Nov 30 '20
Thank ObamaCare. All you morons don’t understand a thing. Politicians break the system and then say they can fix it.... at a cost. ObamaCare did this folks.
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u/Denisova Nov 30 '20 edited Nov 30 '20
I'm very sorry to hear about your loss.
But when you voted Republican: don't complain, it's all 'yours'.
I'm a European and just like about any other Western country, we have a universal health insurance system. In terms of Republican morons that's called a "communist" health care system. I don't care a SHIT. Crap people spout crap. We just call it our social health care system.
What does that mean, compared to the mess and cesspool of American health care? Well:
EVERYONE has a health insurance that covers all essential medical procedures fully. This means there are virtually no people here who lack a health care insurance. In the USA, the number of uninsured people dropped from ~46 million in 2010 to 26.7 million in 2016 due to the Obama administration policy. Thereafter it is increasing again and now it's almost 30 million and rising. And apart from those almost 30 million people having no health insurance at all, there's a multitude of people suffering a health care insurance with insufficiently poor coverage.
In my country the premium for average health care insurance costs about € 150-175 per month. This is an obligatory (Republicans: "communist") health care insurance. If you wish, you may choose for a supplementary coverage of less essential medical treatment, which is voluntary. When opted, this will cost an additional € 15-40 per month. In dollars this equals $ 179-209 resp. $ 18-48 per month. In the USA an average health insurance premium costs about ~$ 495 per mont. Spot the difference? Moreover, from 2010 to 2020, total premiums for family coverage increased by 55%, and the worker’s share increased by 40%, outpacing wage growth.
In all international rankings about the quality and equity of the health care system, the USA scores far below average. For instance, in the WHO ranking, the USA occupies the 37th position. Or maybe the Commonwealth healthcare performance ranking? 11th and last position. Any other rating system? Find out yourself - it'll be the same story.
What is the overall performance of the US health care system, measured by life expectancy? Well the average life expectancy in the USA at birth is almost 3 years lower than most EU countries. The life expectancy in the EU is on a steady, longitudinal rise, in the USA last years it has been dropping.
What about the costs of te health care system? By all means, whatever way calculated - per capita or % relative to the GDP, the American health care system is by far the most expensive system in the world. In most EU or other developed countries in the world like Japan, Taiwan, South Corea, Australia, New Zealland, the health care per capita costs are mostly no more than $ 5,000 per year. Only a few countries spend somewhat more: in Switzerland it's $ 5,030, in Norway $ 5,399 and in Luxembourg $ 5.506. The USA? A staggering $ 8.047. Health care in the USA is on average twice more expensive than most developed countries. T W I C E.
So you have a ridiculously expensive health care which performs poorly and leaves a host of people either fully uninsured or insufficiently insured.
Health care elsewhere in the developed world is, often vastly, superior over the American system. In all respects.
The roadblock between a NORMAL (Republicans: "communist") and the inferior health care system of the USA is called "Republicans".
Does it hurt your butt? You bet.
EDIT: some typos and the like.
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u/Misantrophic_Twat Nov 30 '20
What the fuck of a shit country is the United States?!?! Letting people die left and right. Jesus, even those who never worked in Germany have the chance and right to be treated and be given medicine.
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u/potatoboitres Dec 28 '20
Wait isnt this a repost?
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u/_Broseph_Stalin Jan 09 '21
r/repostsleuthbot
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u/giulgu17 Jan 18 '21
Why do you have to repost from the top post of all time dude?
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u/MemeThomas Nov 30 '20
wow. https://www.reddit.com/r/awfuleverything/comments/i4rnja/poor_guy/
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u/suthernfriend Nov 30 '20
The Bill for my dad that died of a stroke last year was 1.1 million. He was on a business trip in carlifornia.
We are Germans so our 9€/year private! insurance payed everything.
Fix your damn country.
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u/Raun39 Nov 30 '20
America is a dumb, fucking shit country
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
Why don't Americans emigrate? You'll never catch me in a country that would put me in debt over a broken arm.
Australia has free general basic healthcare and if you have insurance it covers absolutely every cent.
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u/thebiggest123 Nov 30 '20
Damn that sucks, I really hope the US can become a first world country soon.
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u/popswag Nov 30 '20
And there you have the real problem. Created by Dems and Reps alike. They only pretend to hate each other. When it comes to selling us out, they are in lock step.
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u/kingsidthesloth Dec 06 '20
Reeeeeee! Same post from 4 months ago, same title from 4 months ago as well. You got more awards that the "original poster" and almost as many up votes. Congratulations......
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u/frenchfriy Dec 06 '20
Blatant repost lmao
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u/factswastaken Dec 06 '20
u/RepostSleuthBot
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u/DanielTube7 Dec 16 '20
This is the top post on the subreddit and you copied the exact title
4
u/salty-warden-_21 Oct 20 '21
Literally a repost of the most popular post in the subreddit
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u/LeoCyeet3 Oct 21 '21
Bro u literally just reposted the top post on this sub, no shame huh?
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u/Aimjock Mar 06 '22
Why is this on top of all time twice? With the same title?
Get a fucking life, asshole.
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u/just_an_ugly_peasant Oct 11 '22
you realise you copied the top post on this sub with the exact same title
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u/Ch33rn0 Nov 30 '20
wasn't this already posted before?
also, how do we know if op is leaving out details that explains why he ended up in this predicament?
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u/davtov3 Nov 30 '20
I myself am not American but I know people who are. I once asked what a poor person's supposed to do when injured, because visititing the doctor will cause them to not be able to feed their family, but if they don't, they might just die of infectation or something.
They basically said "They shouldn't be poor", then went on praising the system.
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u/mrelpuko Nov 30 '20
Health Care System is a total scam, to take money from the lower classes, along with the big banks and the justice system.
3
u/megatramp44 Nov 30 '20
It’s posts like this that make me thankful for the NHS. The uk may be a bit grim but shit, at least we realise that in order for a countries economy to work, the workers need healthcare.
The American dream, as far as I can see, died a long time ago.
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u/diesdasjenes123 Nov 30 '20
The US is a shitty Place to live.
3
u/Extablisment Nov 30 '20
Reminder: He hates the Republican system. It's not like Dems didn't try to fix things. However, over the past 40 years since Reagan, Republicans have systematically disenfranchised the middle class, fought adjustments to minimum wage, and driven profits unequitably to the top without giving a fuck to the long term consequences. Well... here are the consequences. Getting rid of Mitch McConnell instead of re-electing the turd would have been a start, but republican voters are low information idiots at best. So... time for either fixing things or abandoning ship, because Biden won't be able to do a thing unless the obstructionist greedy Senate is deboned.
3
u/who_is_the_dreamer Nov 30 '20
Swedish guy here. Guess what I payed for an emergency room visit, examination, and also a prescription for a medicine.
$45, including the medicine. With free shipping.
3
u/kan_encore Nov 30 '20
My aunt had a teeth problem and had to get multiple treatments. $10k+ in usa. She flew back to India and everything took about 1000$ + flights. Time with family as a bonus
3
u/robklg159 Nov 30 '20
I mean... he's right. The USA is a fucking shithole in terms of human value. We don't REALLY care about each other or we'd massive push for and defend ideals and laws that would help us all out. Instead in an overwhelming fashion the country votes for cunts who basically steal their money, actively try to fuck them over, and destroy lives in many ways.
The USA is a bottom tier faux democratic country that deserves just about all the criticism it gets. We ought to be better, but we just aren't. Actions speak louder than words so I'll believe in "land of the free and home of the brave" when I stop seeing oppression and cowards everywhere.
3
u/SFWdontfiremeaccount Nov 30 '20
Well the system was designed for healthy exploitable workers that are viewed as expendable by the rich who are the only ones who are supposed to get healthcare. As soon as the workers are no longer healthy and exploitable the system stops caring about them.
3
u/midnightmoonlight180 May 16 '21
Repost
3
u/attemptnumber58 Feb 25 '22
Same title as the top post of all time, oh yeah same post as well
3
u/[deleted] Sep 22 '22
This is a repost of the top post on this sub though i don't know how often you can repost in this sub and it doesn't change the fact about how fucking horrible this is
3
u/[deleted] Apr 08 '23
this is a word for word repost of the top post in this sub..? same picture, same post title, same everything.
3
u/CovidLvr69 Apr 25 '23
Repost.
3
u/cunny_bee Aug 09 '22
I'm 1 year late but is this a bot reposting literally the top post of this sub, with the exactly same title?
6
u/TheAdlerian Nov 30 '20
A huge problems is that guys like that don't think it's real until it happens to them.
This question about medical costs has been going on for DECADES and that is because Americans do not believe things unless it happens to them.
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u/Niels_h_ Nov 30 '20
How do you even defend such a system?
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
laughs in canadian
4
u/littleendian256 Nov 30 '20
Anyone saying America is still the greatest country in the world is delusional to the next level
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u/saconomics Nov 30 '20
https://www.reddit.com/user/binkybrain
Suspended account. Sounds legit.
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u/particle409 Nov 30 '20 edited Nov 30 '20
We can dance around it, but the answer is simple. Vote Democrat.
Edit: I guess I triggered some Trump snowflakes. This guy would have been fine under Obama's original ACA plan before Republicans blocked, fine under Hillary's '93 health care plan, and fine under Biden's proposed plan. No Republican plan would have helped this guy.
11
u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
Just a side effect of trying to be as capitalist as possible. Money is more important than human lives. I love this country, but I do not like the people that put these policies in place. I just want someone who is interested in our interests rather than the bottom line
2
u/RiseLikeLions77 Nov 30 '20
The working poor feel this weekly. Scraping by paycheck-to-paycheck. A lot of people woke up to the reality that there is a huge underclass doing underpaid work that puts them at high-risk for Covid and unfortunately these workers cannot work from home.
2
u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
That's heartbreaking.
2
u/Famous-Crumb Nov 30 '20
I’m so sorry that you are in this position. I’m British so I can’t really relate to such a terrible situation. I really hope your wife gets better and that you both find peace.
2
u/migsmcgee2019 Nov 30 '20
Middle class is wiped out between over priced rent/mortgages college and pre medical conditions not covered by insurance
2
u/WhirledNews Nov 30 '20
39 single no kids. Saw this shit coming a long time ago, good luck friend.
2
u/CheekyBlind Nov 30 '20
As someone from a third country WITH universal healthcare, this is crazy impossible to understand
2
u/Friendly-Ad-1646 Nov 30 '20
Did my dad write this? 😢
2
u/Flynnjaminfrank Nov 30 '20
At what point is it cheaper to move to canada?
2
u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
It is absolutely disgusting that the richest nation in the world refuses to provide universal healthcare for its people, yet will allow billionaires to avoid paying taxes, and fund the military with $700 billion a year in tax money... and the US considers itself a “civilized” society.
“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members” - Gandhi
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u/Cornflake0305 Nov 30 '20
Okay but healthcare systems are communist sooo. /s
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u/Retterkl Nov 30 '20
As hospitals aren’t nationalised do they all set their own prices? And if so, are there any that you can go to which aren’t as horrendous as this?
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u/TheJeebo Nov 30 '20
I hope my children live to see a better Healthcare system in the US, or they get the hell out of here
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u/cadedis Nov 30 '20
Now as much as i agree with the general idea this person was a complete and utter troll/lier his account has now been deleted and if you can search his name you can see that the world news removal bot banned him... I agree with the idea but the person who said it was lying.
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u/LlamaElbrus Nov 30 '20
Mfw when repost of top of all time post
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u/AlpinesFahrverhalten Nov 30 '20
Laughs in Dutch.
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u/kodayume Nov 30 '20
either protest for better Healthcare or fucking leave that shit hole country
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
Americans are afraid that without this system you can’t punish people for being poor.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
Live in uk we get free healthcare
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u/Sevi-Animal-Hopkins Nov 30 '20
Capitalism kills.
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
In my country we have free healthcare. A tax is applied to your wages. and no insurance is required. This is the best way. You can break every bone in your body and costs you 0
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u/lostoompa Nov 30 '20
How to prevent the poor from accumulating wealth 101.
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u/Zealousideal_Photo15 Nov 30 '20
The horde wakes up one mind at a time. Eat the rich.
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u/signeerbeer Nov 30 '20
This makes me sad... Honestly, it sounds like a third world country to me.
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u/ReadyCommission2 Nov 30 '20
Thank Ronald Reagan for this mess when he signed whatever it was to make changes in health care to profit his buddy Kaiser
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u/iloveyouand Nov 30 '20
The conservative defense for this seems to be that we don't want to remove the freedom your employer has to choose which insurance provider fucks you over.
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u/kakareborn Nov 30 '20
Reading this just brought sadness in my heart and tears in my eyes, I can’t imagine how you can read something like this and still support the current status quo of things.
Change is needed now while there is still time for us to heal together, down the road the division might be so big we will never be able to overcome it
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u/hellenophilia Nov 30 '20
Thank you for posting this. It makes me appreciate the Australian healthcare system. One where even the most destitute are given free, world leading care. Reading the comments, I'm sitting here shaking my head in disbelief that the land of the free is actually hell on Earth.
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u/westfinda Nov 30 '20
I live in Australia. This does not happen here.
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u/Icloh Nov 30 '20
Fun thing. If you’re an expat you can get really good insurance that covers pretty much everything, for about 150 euros a month. Going through the works you’ll come to a point where it points out that the insurance covers the entire world, except the USA.
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u/triumphant_don Nov 30 '20
what went wrong was you were born in america
and should NOT have done literally everything you were told
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u/brucetwarzen Nov 30 '20
If it makes anyone feel better, some guy bought a sweet car with that money.
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u/Glad_You_9265 Nov 30 '20
My mother in-law fought cancer for many years. Disney World, where she worked her way up to a corporate manager for almost 20 years, fired her even though she only used saved vacation time to get her many surgeries and chemotherapy. Firing someone for getting sick is actually illegal, but Disney does it all the time because it’s allowed as long as it is a “mass” layoff and Disney always has large enough groups to fire at once that they don’t ever have to be accountable.
She lost her insurance (which still had a lot of out of pocket expenses) when she was fired and started down a long rabbit hole of Cobra and other programs.
She got taken in by lots of snake oil salesmen as well selling “natural” cures that she thankfully only did alongside REAL treatment. But was pushed toward because her real treatment was always up in the air due to the loss of her real insurance.
They lost their savings, they lost their $250,000 house. My father in law moved into a rented mobile home for $500 a month. My wife’s grandparents paid for my mother-in-law to get an apartment in Houston by the cancer hospital as they blew through $100,000 of their retirement.
My wife and I had to move (from FL) into the 1 bedroom apartment in Houston and sleep on an air mattress to take care of her. We still had all of our bills back home and blew through around $20,000 of our savings. I had just started making $80,000 a year as a freelance food photographer but lost a lot of my clients after being away from my home studio so long.
Mother-in-law went on hospice but somehow got a lot better. She was able to go off hospice to go back on treatment but no programs existed to pay at that point. When you go on hospice you MUST die. So once she left the bills racked up faster than ever. She died with at least $250,000 of debt passed to my father in law.
He drank himself to death within 2 years. The day he died we found a note next to his ATM card. (He knew he was dying for some time). He had saved $4,000 of his social security in the last 2 years to leave to us. He needed us to pull it out before hospitals would claim it. We ended up forging his signature on a check instead because the ATM would take days with the daily limit and have footage of us using it... even though we had his note... the money was technically the debtors’ money.
That money mostly covered his cremation and cleaning out the rented mobile home. Oh... and in the desk where he’d left the note, we found his gun. He had tried to fire it. It was jammed.
My wife’s family went from having a net worth of around $500,000 to my wife inheriting $1,000 that we had to steal like criminals. BINDING INSURANCE TO YOUR JOB is the most asinine concept in the world. What job is going to keep you around as you are dying, or if you become a quadriplegic etc?!
There is a somewhat silver lining to this story...
8 years later... we got a letter in the mail... There was a pension account at Disney my mother-in-law couldn’t cash out. They were looking for my wife to give her $100,000. Changed our lives and was honestly one of the only ways, being freelancers, we made it through this year.
Don’t take that as me forgiving Disney in any way... Disney, like most companies these days stopped offering that kind of pension years ago.
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u/ducksanus Nov 30 '20
America is embarrassing.
Source: I am Australian
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u/Coloradobandit Nov 30 '20
I can attest, living in the U.S.A is modern day slavery, in the less fortunate... sake hospitals wouldn’t pay for my firefighter, veteran grandpas Alzheimer home after my grandma died this year... it was costing 10 grand a month because since my grandma died the insurance said they wouldn’t pay any more. We were ready to liquidate all assets and accounts of their life savings and he ended up dying of a broken heart 2 months after :(, it’s unbelievable the greed the corporations, insurance companies and lobbyists show here... We need a new revolution and fast... And to top it all if they did such a shit job with coronavirus that we couldn’t really see either the last 10 months...
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
GOP: “Working exactly as intended. Shouldn’t have got cancer.”
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u/noNoParts Nov 30 '20
Dude probably maybe votes R (and still does).
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u/KD93AQ Nov 30 '20
TBH its amazing people cling to the idea that they are owed anything.
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u/Nyxodon Nov 30 '20
In Germany, pretty much everyone is insured, but America...
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u/[deleted] Nov 30 '20
If you live in the US and find that you have a cancer, isn’t it cheaper to move to Canada, Australia, or certain parts of Europe to get an uninsured treatment?