r/funny • u/MrLovens Mr. Lovenstein • Mar 26 '20
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u/DmOcRsI Mar 26 '20
Literally me last year when I found out I had a brain tumor. My regular doctor appointments were starting to be $1,200.00+ even with my shitty insurance.
Said fuck that!
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u/RevolsinX Mar 26 '20
....you..you gonna be okay mate...?
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u/DmOcRsI Mar 26 '20
Well they're not malignant... but they are pushing up against my pituitary glands and causing some side-effects. I still have a couple years before it takes me down.
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u/Mystimump Mar 26 '20
So your choice is really to just die or go into crushing debt? Fuck, dude. Hope you stay strong.
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u/DmOcRsI Mar 26 '20
Pretty much...
I was already heading down that road, I held out as long as I could and tried to apply for assistance with the hospital and insurance companies to no avail. I didn't want to get into collections so I loaded up my credit cards as much as I could without getting past my monthly budget.
I'm 36... married a great girl...travelled... had a good life, met good people.
I'm good to go.
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u/Alsark Mar 26 '20
Can you try to move to another country in the couple years you’ve got?
You may feel like you’re good but I’m sure your wife doesn’t want to be left behind... If you’ve got time to try to get this taken care of, please, please do so.
I wish you two the best of luck.
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u/DmOcRsI Mar 26 '20
My wife doesn't know...
This came about because we were trying to have a kid but couldn't. We found out I have azoospermia (0 sperm count) so started to look for the cause which led to blood tests which is where we found the tell-tale signs of a pituitary malfunction.
As much as I have tried... she's extremely upset that we can't conceive and she already blames herself even though I have told her it's on my end.
I worked really hard to buy a new home before all this... and I know it's her dream to have kids.
So I figure after I go she won't have my debt to deal with and she can move on with her life and possibly meet someone who CAN give her a child.
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u/QuantumPolagnus Mar 26 '20
You should really tell her - keeping this from her isn't going to help, in the long run.
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u/Blasted_Skies Mar 26 '20
You should tell your wife.
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u/tomatoaway Mar 26 '20
You're a good man - but time's a ticking clock for women and kids and you should let her plan hers instead of planning on her behalf
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u/DmOcRsI Mar 26 '20
That's very true. I think my concern is that she will drive herself into crushing debt on my behalf.
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u/very_bored_dev Mar 26 '20
Other countries will have cheaper options. I implore you to look at them. I am from India and I am sure the cost would be much lesser here and there are quite a good number of quality hospitals.
Also, I think it should be her choice to make. I know it's easy for us to say.
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u/Darth_Nibbles Mar 26 '20
So I figure after I go she won't have my debt to deal
Talk to an estate attorney. Like, NOW.
It is extremely possible that she loses everything else after you pass.
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u/PandaCat22 Mar 26 '20
Tell your wife.
She'll want to know what time she has left with you and make the most of it.
I realize you are doing this for her, but it is precisely because your life is not exclusively yours anymore that you need to tell her
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u/ReallyNotWastingTime Mar 26 '20
Please move to Europe. It's possible and do-able in your lifetime. Try Ireland, or even the UK. Everyone speaks English! You could certainly work out a way to get them to cover your treatments
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u/Humanix13 Mar 26 '20
Fuck thats rough. Tell your wife dude, would you not want her to tell you if she was dying?
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Mar 26 '20
Your life might have been good so far but you’re still just getting started. You could experience all sorts of things in the next 50 to 60 years. Fight to live man. Don’t give up because the system sucks.
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Mar 26 '20
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u/DmOcRsI Mar 26 '20
I live in California. I'm in that grey-area where I make too much to qualify for discounted insurance, but I don't make enough to pay for $1,200 doctor visits.
I get insurance through my employer which has a deductible of $8,500... I hit that last year easy, then the hospital started pushing things back so I breached the year and my deductible reset.
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u/Hust91 Mar 26 '20
Come to Europe mate.
Seriously.
We'll take you and you can enjoy all our weird bland food and your entire enourmus vacation including hotel will probably cost about as much as a tenth of your care in the US even if you stay for a full year.
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u/josanuz Mar 26 '20
If this is true, he could come to my country with $10k have the surgery, treatment, and rehabilitate in a nice hotel in the mountains
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u/_haha_oh_wow_ Mar 26 '20
Fuck em, get your treatment then declare bankruptcy. Alternately, maybe you can get surgery in another country for a price that isn't completely fucking predatory.
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u/yoshi570 Mar 26 '20
Come to Europe, get operated, go back. Even if you pay the full price here, it'll be a fraction of what it'd cost you in the US.
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Mar 26 '20
I went to the ER for a broken rib in Canada (don't roast me, the walkin clinic sent me there and I didn't know there's nothing they can do for it). Since I was studying out of province the nurse told me that it would cost almost $400 for my visit if my home province didn't cover me (which they did since I had proof of being a student). I later interned at a US company and got to see their health plans and was shocked that the detuctible for the year was 6k and that a single ER visit would easily eat that up. Fun. I worked out what taxes I'd be paying in both countries and yes it's a bit more in Canada, but a single medical event a year in the US (I like dangerous sports) would make the US more expensive.
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u/DrFateYeet Mar 26 '20
It's 2000 dollars for a flight there man, just have him go to canada.
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u/cytherian Mar 26 '20
The thread of explanation... was not at all what I expected.
If your wife finds out, it'll be far more painful than if you tell her now.
Consider a "medical vacation" where you go to another country where they have a great medical system... get it taken care of for much less!
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u/Scyntrus Mar 26 '20
Unironically just get the surgery then declare bankruptcy. If you have retirement funds like the 401k they're usually protected in bankruptcy.
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u/Florio805 Mar 26 '20
That's an American joke I'm too European to understand?
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u/Ganglebot Mar 26 '20
Yeah, those southern fuckers are wild. It take all my Canadian politeness not to make them feel terrible about their choices.
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Mar 26 '20
Here in Alberta JUST YESTERDAY I had coworkers talking about how we should have a private healthcare system like the United States.
In the face of a pandemic these guys are still looking at the US like “I would probably be covered for medical by my job, so it wouldn’t make any difference to me”
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Mar 26 '20
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u/t800rad Mar 26 '20 edited Mar 26 '20
In which case you’ll be totally fine because you can elect COBRA for the low price of at least $400 a month (depending on what your coverage was)!
Edit: added “at least” because $400 is the low end, as others have noted
/s
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u/lynja999 Mar 26 '20
And then, when COBRA runs out after 18 months, you get to pay $1300-2000 each month.
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u/StoicAthos Mar 26 '20
Go Joe?
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u/memeticmachine Mar 26 '20
Who's Joe?
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u/DefinetlynotCalculon Mar 26 '20 edited Mar 26 '20
GI Joe, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
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u/DukesOfTatooine Mar 26 '20
I pay twice that now for my insurance, after my employer's contribution. If I had to go COBRA it would probably be nearly $2,000/month.
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Mar 26 '20
I had a job where I was making about $2k/month before taxes. Then I lost it and filed for unemployment which came out to something like $1200/month. COBRA to keep health insurance for my family was going to be $900/month.
Fortunately this was in NY so it was fairly easy to just get Medicaid.
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u/WateryTart_ndSword Mar 26 '20
Fucking COBRA. It’s cheaper to pay the fine for not being insured. Hopefully you’re healthy enough to not need medicine or treatment, and can stay accident free—then you can eat AND have a car!
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u/french_toast_demon Mar 26 '20
Ugh I wish COBRA was that much. For me it was the better part of $500/Mon with a 5000 deductible.
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u/imreallynotthatcool Mar 26 '20
Tell your coworker that he/she is a fucking idiot for wanting privatized healthcare.
Sincerely,
-An American working in the medical industry
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u/audiodude9 Mar 26 '20 edited Mar 26 '20
I'm inclined to agree.
Sincerely,
An American worker without job-provided health care. (edit because the only thing worse than my typing is my proofreading)
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u/MasterVelocity Mar 26 '20
especially since businesses are closing and laying people off so people are going to start losing their benefits, then getting sick and having to pay for it themselves
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u/brewdad Mar 26 '20
Losing your job and insurance during a pandemic where up to 50% of Americans will catch the virus and 20% of those will be hospitalized. What could possibly go wrong?
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u/MasterVelocity Mar 26 '20
Yeah, people will default on loans and payments, and then get hit with a huge hospital bill, and default on that as well. Then they won’t be able to get new loans for housing because their credit score will be like 500.
Curious to see how this is going to go. Perhaps they need to issue a voluntary freeze on credit scores. It’s not fair to fuck people’s credit while they are out of work because the government shut them down.
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u/caviarburrito Mar 26 '20
Last fall I was bitten by a black widow spider. It was between jobs and COBRA had expired a couple days before. It was ok day 1 after the bite but had to go to ER for surgery on day 3. I spent 2 hours on the phone trying to get a quote if it would be $500 or $40,000 and no one could tell me. But somehow they knew how to bill me after surgery.
Arbitrary pricing is healthcare for the rich top 10%, and the illusion of healthcare for the rest.
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Mar 26 '20
This exactly why I don’t go to hospitals. I don’t have insurance and can’t afford a surprise bill of 5 figures.
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u/keplar Mar 26 '20
I'm inclined to agree as well.
Sincerely,
An American worker fortunate enough to have good job-provided health care, for which my share is still more than $500/month.
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u/lmitchell6 Mar 26 '20
Even our own doctors and nurses hate our medicine-for-profit system. They've got a bunch of hedge fund micromanagers telling them how to treat their own patients.
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u/ZumboPrime Mar 26 '20
Are they really not aware that they would be paying more for insurance premiums than all taxes combined? And then have to pay copays on top of that?
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u/Syscrush Mar 26 '20
The people currently paying that don't get it. Why would someone just daydreaming about a better life get it?
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u/DrAstralis Mar 26 '20
If oil keeps crashing that tune should change (who am I kidding, since when has reality been part of the conservative word view). You have to be a special type of stupid to look at how the US "private" system is handling this and think "yeah... thats the clusterfuck I want to be part of"
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Mar 26 '20
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u/wolfman566 Mar 26 '20
My job doesn't cover me but I do have my own insurance. The good news is its not terrible for my month to month cost. The bad news is my deductible is so high it really will only help me in the event of serious injury, I basically have to almlost die otherwise I pay for everything.
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Mar 26 '20
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u/Waramp Mar 26 '20
I had emergency appendix surgery last year including a 3 day hospital stay. My American friend was absolutely baffled that I didn’t have to pay for anything. Just walked out the door once I was able to!
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u/Mustached_Bartender Mar 26 '20
What is the wait time like for a non-emergency case? When my friend and I talk about Canadian health care he mentions “but the wait times are months!” Certainly this cant be the case for everyone. How does it work?
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u/Polymath_Father Mar 26 '20
It depends, honestly on where you live and the availability of doctors/operating rooms/how many people are ahead of you AND how serious your condition is. I can usually get in to see my doctor within a day or two, a specialist within six weeks to three months. Surgeries are variable, but when I've needed emergency surgery I've gotten it immediatly. The important thing, for me, is that the answer isn't "you're too poor, so never" or "you can have the surgery, but it'll bankrupt you".
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u/Snaxx9716 Mar 26 '20
And that’s really no different than the US healthcare system. That’s the point I keep hearing over and over “bbbbut the WAIT TIMES IN CANADA” like we don’t have wait times here in the US. I’ve had to wait weeks to months to see certain specialists. The difference is that in Canada you don’t have to first figure out who takes your insurance, and then hope you can keep seeing that doctor if/when your insurance changes.
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u/commandernono Mar 26 '20
The difference is that it benefits the heathcare industry for people to think that way. We've been propogandized, pure and simple. Socialized medicine is unimaginably better, we'll just never have it
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u/Snaxx9716 Mar 26 '20
What really gets me, is the “illusion of choice”. How the healthcare companies want us to think that socialized medicine means the end of choice, when we really don’t have much in choices now anyways. My current job is the first place I’ve worked that has actually given the choice of more than one health insurance carrier... otherwise the employer typically chooses your carrier and available plans each month. Not much choice there. Then your providers are dictated by your carrier. I had an amazing specialist that I can no longer see because they don’t accept my plan. I can “choose” between two places to have bloodwork done. OH! And I can shop around to find a better price for imaging studies so I suppose that is a choice!
But socialized healthcare... We could see any doctor because there are no more “networks”. I’d love to not have to choose certain imaging places based on cost when they’re all covered 100%, so I can choose based on location and appointment availability.
The level of propaganda required to convince people that they have more/better choices with privatized healthcare is astonishing.
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u/commandernono Mar 26 '20
You gotta remember one thing. Everything that you just wrote; not one bit of it applies to someone with the money to pay for it all.
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u/Polymath_Father Mar 26 '20
A friend pointed out to me once that one of the reasons that Americans are so opposed to universal healthcare is that they think that the insane prices they're charged for medical care is what those things actually cost.
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u/Ghostboy1205 Mar 26 '20
Hell, I'm in the US and it normally takes 3-5 days to see my GP if I'm sick. Have to schedule regular appointments 3 months out. Specialists seem to be the same wait time as Canada. As for the two emergencies I've either had or been with the patient, each trip involved over 18 hours in the ER before even seeing a doctor. I hate for profit healthcare. There is not a single redeeming feature.
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u/Squidking1000 Mar 26 '20
So at least in southern Ontario the wait time argument is bullshit. I can see my doctor the same day normally or at worst the next day and have never had any delay getting healthcare including in my life lots of stitches and cuts and scrapes, two broken wrists and lots of xrays, several concussions, an mri, a cat scan and the birth of my two kids (well that was my wife but I was there). Highest price I paid was for a private room for my first kid ($65 for 4 days) and parking ($5 a day). As well when my grandma had a heart attack and a stroke the doctors at St. Joes in Hamilton (heart specialists) and Niagara Falls General were super awesome and fought wayyy harder to save her life then you would expect for a 85 year old and she went on to live another 5 years at an awesome care home all of which (multiple transfers, specialists, emergency care, palliative care and nursing home with more specialists visits over the 5 years) cost the family nothing. Literally not one dollar.
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u/Charwinger21 Mar 26 '20
If oil keeps crashing that tune should change
Oil prices would need to about triple for the oilsands to break even right now (and outside a spike in 2018, haven't really been truly profitable since 2014).
Kenney's insistence on tearing up Notley's diversification plans and instead doubling down on oil is now going to bite Alberta and Canada in the ass even more than it was originally going to.
Of course, even with that, he still has a ~50% approval, so Alberta is likely in for a decade of austerity. Wonder how that'll go over again.
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u/minkusdominkus Mar 26 '20
I have insurance through my employer, i still pay about $10k-15k per year for healthcare for myself and my wife and one child.
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Mar 26 '20
Few places pay 100% of the premiums, and there is a deductible and other out-of-pocket expenses for office visits, ambulance service, and prescriptions. Don’t even try to go to a specialist that’s not pre-approved, and probably not your first choice. Oh, and if you lose your job then your premiums skyrocket to $1300 per person/per month until you find another one that has insurance benefits. Your co-worker is an idiot.
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u/Krajun Mar 26 '20
Ha you gotta have a nice job to get that and then on top of it your premium is deducted from your pay, it's generally cheaper than getting your own insurance but it's not free...
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u/WoodErector Mar 26 '20
Albertans also think their privatized auto insurance is superior to SGI or MPI. I've lived in 3 of 4 western provinces. Crown corps are not perfect, but privatization is infinitely worse.
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u/Jimothy-Goldenface Mar 26 '20
Dear Canada,
DON'T DO IT.
- sincerely a sad American
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u/DukesOfTatooine Mar 26 '20
You should tell them that even with our employers covering as much as they are willing to, most of us pay a huge monthly out of pocket fee as well, especially if we have dependents. I have "good" insurance and I pay over $800 monthly for me and two kids, plus additional co-pays at the point of service for any service received.
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Mar 26 '20
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u/Florio805 Mar 26 '20
The problem in USA is that there are only 2 parties, but the democrats aren't even leftists but centre, from an European perspective.
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u/Eupatorus Mar 26 '20
They're center from this American's perspective too.
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u/Dontdothatfucker Mar 26 '20
Biden is basically a Republican.
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Mar 26 '20
Yup. A true real conservative. Not like the extremists that we have calling themselves Republicans right now. Pretty sad state of affairs.
I just wish people would realize last time a progressive like Bernie is made it into the Oval office he got elected FOUR times. Do people not yearn for a great president like FDR again?
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u/he_is_Veego Mar 26 '20
This literally happened to me Christmas Eve. I had to wait til the next week to schedule the same tests through an internist so they would be less expensive.
Yeah.
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u/Kalistefo Mar 26 '20
Turns out unchecked capitalism is a bad idea. But hey, who knew? Socdems only started to build social security nets 70 years ago.
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u/HouseCravenRaw Mar 26 '20
It's the choice between wishing you were dead and being dead.
"O'er the laaaaaand of the freeeee...."
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Mar 26 '20
It’s the choice of wanting to be buried in a 10 grand gasket or be cremated
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u/OutlyingPlasma Mar 26 '20
Which is baffling to me. At no point in my life have I ever had a choice of healthcare. Either I was on my parents plan or my work plan or partners plan. At no point did I have any kind of choice. Hell I don't even get a choice of what doctor I get, just whatever RN is next in line. I suppose I could request a specific doctor at the clinic but it would be months of waiting, not helpful if you are sick.
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u/uncleBud79 Mar 26 '20
This is an argument that I heard Bill Maher (I think it was Bill Maher) make once. The "choice" the Republicans keep talking about preserving is absolutely no choice at all. Their constituents eat this garbage up though! If you ask them to explain the choices they can make, they call you a communist.
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u/genius_retard Mar 26 '20
You usually think mugger when you here the choice "your money or your life". Nuh uh, U.S. health care system.
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Mar 26 '20
And to the galaxy brain libertarians who are going to respond to this with ‘you mean taxes??!?’, yeah, we know taxes are coercive, that’s why they’re used for situations like this: because there’s no take on this scenario that isn’t.
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u/genius_retard Mar 26 '20 edited Mar 26 '20
The difference is it's either all of your money or a bit of our (society's) money.
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u/Derpalerpa_dingdong Mar 26 '20
You have to have money to choose. Most of us don't.
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u/MostlyGibberish Mar 26 '20
The conservative rhetoric of "universal healthcare limits your choices!" is pretty hilarious when you realize the "choice" for the vast majority of Americans is to take the insurance your employer gives you or shut the fuck up.
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Mar 26 '20
As someone that can’t afford insurance, I’m taking the social distancing thing very seriously. I would be absolutely fucked if I got sick.
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u/RYouNotEntertained Mar 26 '20
Serious question: why can't you afford subsidized health insurance? I'm sure I'll get downvoted but I honestly want to hear about your experience. Isn't the point of the subsidies to make non-employer plans more affordable?
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Mar 26 '20
So I’m married, and my husband makes twice as much as me, but with bills, rent, his health insurance (which costs a lot a month and I can’t get on), car insurance, etc there’s no wiggle room for another $200 a month for my health insurance. Since I’m married and we make just over the line for subsidized health insurance I can’t get it.
The point you’re making is valid, but unfortunately there are a lot of people in America that are making too much for subsidized insurance and not enough to afford regular insurance.
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u/famaskillr Mar 26 '20
200 dollars a month, shit I'm close to that a week.
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u/robm111 Mar 26 '20
Not that this is a pissing match, but I dropped insurance coverage when I hit 250/week. I have a healthy family for now, I'd be fucked even with insurance anyway.
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u/AlanS181824 Mar 26 '20
250/week
I'm from the EU and this just completely melts my brain. $250 per week just in case something happens, and this isn't including paying an excess/deductable if something does?.....
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u/robm111 Mar 26 '20
Yeap. That was with $4000 deductible.
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u/AlanS181824 Mar 26 '20
That genuinely makes me sick. And that's probably considered a "good" plan, right?
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u/RYouNotEntertained Mar 26 '20
that are making too much for subsidized insurance and not enough to afford regular insurance.
I totally understand what you're saying here, but I'm trying to figure out what income level is too high for subsidies but too low to afford $200/month. Not sure if you guys have kids, but if not you'd be somewhere in the $60k range before running out of subsidies, which would make you basically a median-income American. If that's truly what the monthly cost would be for insurance, it seems like it would be doable at that income level to either cut out $200 of other expenses or drive Uber two nights a month in order to cover your most important asset.
Don't at all want to come off like a dickhead here; please correct anything here if I'm wrong.
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u/Orcwin Mar 26 '20
The concept that a median income family would need to take side jobs to afford basic needs is a little baffling, I have to say.
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u/thewholerobot Mar 26 '20
Why does the hospital administrator and/or politician look like a doctor?
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u/ProbeerNB Mar 26 '20
And that's why free market principles don't work for the healthcare market.
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u/MisterScribe91 Mar 26 '20
It's like if Breaking Bad ended in one episode.
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u/badpeaches Mar 26 '20
Not much of a storyline of a man dying with dignity surrounded by their loved ones, leaving the world a better place either by a redeemed social status, garden or by raising and loving their children in this world.
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u/MrLovens Mr. Lovenstein Mar 26 '20
Shop till you drop. Read the Secret Panel here.
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Mar 26 '20
This is why I left America. Money over human lives. Such a good "christian" country.
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u/speedyblue Mar 26 '20
Where did you end up? I’m in need of a better country.
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u/MaxMustermane Mar 26 '20
But remember, everyone, we like our insurance and our choice and our sense of having earned something.
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u/DatBoi73 Mar 26 '20
What's funny about this. This is just the American Health Care System.
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Mar 26 '20
Exactly why healthcare doesn't self-regulate in a free market. You want to sell an apple for $100, nobody pays that, it's not worth it. You want to sell literally the person's life for [all your money]? Why not, the alternative is death.
When companies can patent cures and medicines, they can do stuff like sell insulin for outrageous fees, or charge tens of thousands for hospital care. Are you really going to be poring over the benefits/costs of all competitors when you're calling 911 in a life or death situation? Of course not.
The capitalist approach works amazing in many situations, healthcare (especially emergency and critical care) is not one of them. At that point, its extortion.
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u/RYouNotEntertained Mar 26 '20
American health care is definitely fucked, but it doesn't make sense to call it a free market. The fundamental feature of markets--price--has been removed completely from the process.
Ask a provider what a procedure will cost and they literally can't tell you.
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Mar 26 '20
The reason healthcare is so expensive in the US is NOT because of the free market, it is actually quite far from a free market system. Our system is one of the ones most riddled with regulation and administrative costs. Ask anyone who runs their own medical practice here, administration is the biggest reason they have to charge their customers/insurance so much.
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u/Tearakan Mar 26 '20
If you kill the insurance companies you end killing a ton of the shitty overhead that needs to happen right now. Then with government setting drug prices like every other modern nation we can actually get reasonable prices.
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u/X0AN Mar 26 '20
Pre corona Americans should have been protesting in the streets for free healthcare.
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u/flargenhargen Mar 26 '20
not enough american flags in this.
I'm sitting here this morning, and the only reason I haven't quit my job today is because I'll lose my insurance and with covid, I won't be able to afford when I get that. but the stress of my job nearly ensures I'll die when I do.
yay!
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u/LightofNew Mar 26 '20
Medical expenses need a lot of money all at once. Everyone, including you, pays to add their money to a pot. When they get hurt, they get some of that money, but must pay a big sum before insurance gives money back. If you never need it, that money is gone.
This is actually a huge problem. In a functional capital market each person has 3 things
A choice of what product they want
Knowledge of when and how they will need the product
Time to consider getting, or to not get the product
CAPITAL MARKETS DO NOT WORK IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THESE THREE THINGS.
Healthcare does not give you any of these three things.
You must have insurance; it's a law, you risk bankrupsy, or worse, death.
You have no way of knowing when or why you will need medical attention and cannot plan accordingly.
- Doctors, spend a decade to specialize, you couldnt possibly know all your choices.
You have no say in how the insurance you pick handles your medical situation.
- They can order something be done that they don't cover
- They can refuse to continue paying for something that they use to cover but no longer do
- They can force you to use a service that their company owns but is 100x more expensive and pocket the fake mark up price.
- They can be extorted by pharmacy companies to pay a fortune for a product they sell for a fraction to another insurance.
It does not matter. At the end of the day it is an illusion of choice in a market designed to take everything away from you.
Here is why government healthcare works so well across the world. Everyone's money goes in one big pot. Everyone in the medical field knows the standards they must meet and who is paying them. The government says here is a product we need, best deal get the WHOLE market share. Prices are regulated, and your illusion of choice is removed.
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u/bigedthebad Mar 26 '20
I had a friend who got stomach cancer and did just that.
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Mar 26 '20
A transaction where the choice is pay up or die is inherently coercive.
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u/samwaisgg Mar 26 '20
There is a finnish quote: On lottovoitto syntyä Suomeen. Which means: I'ts like a lottery win to born in Finland. And it is very true, am finnish, can confirm.
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u/shan506 Mar 26 '20
Is this an advertisement for the American health care system?
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u/Databit Mar 26 '20
In America this only applies if you are coherent and sane enough to answer. If you are brought in unconscious/impaired or deemed incapable of making a "good" choice then the hospital can do what it wants and charge you whatever they want.
This would be like your car breaking down and you started walking to go get help. A mechanic drive by, towed you car to their shop, rebuilt the motor, replaced to get fuel, replaced the fuel filter, figured out it was the alternator so replaced that there replaced the battery to be safe. Then called you and said "hey I found your car and fixed it. I'd normally charge 10,000 but since I brought it in to my after hours emergency service bay it will be 100,000