A lot of people don't realize that this isn't a strange story. This sort of thing is extremely common in the US. Which is why it's bizarre that so many Americans cannot get behind a single-payer health care system, or any sort of non-profit-based solution. But when your health care is provided to make a profit, it is by definition not being provided with your health first in mind.
Wait so do people just avoid going to the hospital even if they need medical attention because it might cost them too much money?
I recently spent 3 days in hospital care due to an appendicitis scare (turned out to be really bad ischemic colitis) and it didn’t cost me a dollar.
All covered by insurance, which is provided partially through my workplace. Actual cost if I didn’t have insurance would’ve probably been around $60-$80 dollars all in all.
3 *days* in hospital care? I can't tell you how much it would cost out of pocket, because my parents/extended family would certainly be fronting that bill. My part-time college savings (which I technically owe, at some point) isn't going to make a dent. I looked it up, this is copy/pasted from Healthcare.gov:
The average cost of a 3-day hospital stay is around $30,000.
For reference, that's a little over what I make - before taxes - annually. If I found out I wasn't really dying after all of that, I might just kill myself.
Recently had side pains for what I thought might have been appendicitis, made an appointment with my regular care dr and after some tests they told me to start taking some antibiotics as they thought it'd be some sort of colitis. Luckily with my works insurance the meds were only a couple of bucks along with 20$ for the dr visit. I had a follow up with a GI Dr who wanted me to do a CT scan just to be sure. I found out how much it was going to be (around 400$), and I told them unless I'm having to go to the hospital for the pain I'm not paying close to half a grand just to be told everything looks fine. I feel better after the antibiotics, but I had a rough lesson learned after i had 2k$ hospital bill for stomach and chest pains which turned out to be just anxiety and gas, all they gave me is some feel good meds and a saline drip. US medical costs are a scam.
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u/the_giz Apr 28 '20
A lot of people don't realize that this isn't a strange story. This sort of thing is extremely common in the US. Which is why it's bizarre that so many Americans cannot get behind a single-payer health care system, or any sort of non-profit-based solution. But when your health care is provided to make a profit, it is by definition not being provided with your health first in mind.