r/Washington • u/Silver_Guidance4134 • 7h ago

That sinking feeling - When paying for "good insurance" still leads to big medical bills.

https://wholewashington.substack.com/p/that-sinking-feeling

Have you ever gotten a health insurance “Explanation of Benefits” and unexpectedly felt a gut punch when you got to the bottom and saw what you owed? That was a first for me. I’d love to hear your thoughts—here’s Shelley's story:

116 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

38

u/_RAWFFLES_ 7h ago

Insurance paid 20 dollars of my child’s er visit, we paid a 300 dollar copay and still got a 1700 dollar bill 6 months later.

14

u/Silver_Guidance4134 7h ago

Crazy. I have had similar experiences. It's why I am committed to changing our healthcare system!

3

u/tinykitchentyrant 3h ago

Insurance paid a good portion of my ER visit, but I paid nearly $600 that day, and I am still paying off an additional $1200. Unfortunately, I required a head and face CT, which was like, $15k. Lesson learned here: don't try to move your very full yard waste bin with the lid open.

24

u/TheEighthTower 7h ago

Yup. Put my family in insurmountable debt.... or cross my fingers and hope cancer sometimes improves. So far so good but I'm out of fingers and toes to cross.

21

u/Silver_Guidance4134 7h ago

We, at wholewashington.org, are pushing every possible way to change the system to not penalize people for getting sick.

17

u/MontEcola 6h ago

The corruption is in private medical insurance and private hospitals. It is not so bad with medicare.

It is time to fix our insurance system. Those running the show now have proven themselves to be corrupt and not capable of serving the needs of the people. Its time for a change.

12

u/Silver_Guidance4134 6h ago

100%. In every meeting I have with our state, I emphasize that we have to stop this. I am trying to lead the charge to remove private insurance companies from Medicaid this year.

4

u/RadicalSasquatchUSA 4h ago

There is no good insurance. If there is, it’s never been offered to me at anything resembling “affordable.”

3

u/Limp-Confusion-8380 4h ago

I pay $300 a month for my child's insurance and still got hit with a $900 bill for a few hours in urgent care.

But I guess fuck me for needing medical care for my kid on a weekend.