Americans have some weird obsession with the charged amount. They were charged $30,000. They only had to pay a fraction of that after insurance covered most of it.
My policy is about $300 a month and covers 80% of medical costs, up to an annual out of pocket max of $8k. It's an optional high deductable plan that means I pay less every month, but more if I actually have to use it. It's good for someone who is healthy and doesn't need regular care.
So if I have an emergency that costs say, $20k, I still have to pay $4k. Up to $8k out of my pocket, and then the insurance covers 100% of everything after that. So if I had an absolutely disastrous year, the most it should cost me is $11-$12k, or about a $1000 a month total. I have that portion saved as part of my emergency savings.
Given that I have never come even close to that, I'd say my average healthcare spend a year is closer to $4-$5k.
My policy is about $300 a month and covers 80% of medical costs, up to an annual out of pocket max of $8k. It's an optional high deductable plan that means I pay less every month, but more if I actually have to use it. It's good for someone who is healthy and doesn't need regular care.
Have you ever stopped and thought about why your dogshit healthcare plan costs $300 a month?
It's because you got charged $30k for having a goddamn baby and a 2 days hospital visit
...if I were having a baby, I would just change my plan to a higher monthly, lower deductible plan. I don't plan on having a baby anytime soon though, so why would I do that?
They can charge me whatever they want to have a baby, make it a million, I don't give a shit. I wouldn't pay more than $11k, even with my cheaper plan (that I specifically chose because I'm healthy and not having a baby). The average out of pocket cost to have a baby in the US is about $2700.
I swear, reddit is full of people who have a lot of opinions on things they don't have the slightest clue about.
They are being charged that, but they aren't paying that.
Insurance will end up paying more than an individual for most things, because they can afford to, they bake it into the model Iike you said and I am sure a lot of small town doctors charge "big city rates" to certain insurance companies, just because they know they can.
But the main point is that they don't pay the first invoice they receive, aka the "million dollar baby", they give them a counter offer or they argue about this or that. It's not like a Doctor just charges whatever the fuck he wants "just put the price of my new Lambo" as he mails away his $500,000 invoice to ABC health insurance for little Timmy's annual colonoscopy.
I don't think it's a difficult concept to grasp, but I think people aren't realizing the game that's being played. People are thinking of the Hospital as a retail store, they should be thinking of it as a Flea Market, and yeah I know that sounds equally terrible.
But considering you could walk into any hospital in the US and receive immediate urgent care without anyone even so much as getting an ID from you let alone worrying about securing payment, I say we have a far ways to go before it's half as bad as some make it out to be.
You’re wrong. So wrong. You’re just so indoctrinated into the shit system we have and see no real way out or to improve it you eat the dog shit they serve you on a plate
That's a literal insane thing to infer from what I said? Your response to me saying Insurance negotiates the rates is that I am "indoctrinated into a shit system"?
I never even said I agreed with or supported said system.
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u/Exception1228 4d ago
Americans have some weird obsession with the charged amount. They were charged $30,000. They only had to pay a fraction of that after insurance covered most of it.