What did you learn today?

[anon2571578]

Well changes are a’brewin lately. A blue wave is hitting the South and Midwest, so apparently hell is capable of freezing over (and I don’t mean Hell, Michigan) so anything is possible.

[Elle79]

I suppose it’s swings n roundabouts, if it’s something truly urgent (cancer etc) it’s usually quite quick in UK (although that sometimes depends on where you live) but anything non-urgent, which unfortunately includes mental health issues (unless you’re a clear danger to others) can be many months, TBH I ended up sorting out my own therapy as couldn’t wait 6 months.

[juice]

TBH I ended up sorting out my own therapy as couldn’t wait 6 months.

But still didn’t bankrupt you and put you out on the street, so there’s that.

[Elle79]

True that.

[CarlKeller]

You’d be amazed. I went to the ER after a cyst on my back burst (I panicked and didn’t wait to just go to urgent care in the morning) and got hit with a $2600 bill, and that was with my insurance. Everything you’ve heard about the American healthcare system is true but worse.

@Elle79 I can confirm this. I thought i cracked a rib so I went to the ER and had 1 Ibuprofen, a breathing test (blowing into some plastic bag) and took 3 xrays. The bill came out to slightly over $3,000. The US healthcare system is a nightmare.

The funny part about this is the xray guy thought he spotted something peculiar near my chest (thought it might cancerous growth) so he wanted to take an xtra xray. Turns out the peculiar mass turned out to be my nipple…That’s another $800 to confirm that I do have nipples.

[juice]

The funny part about this is the xray guy thought he spotted something peculiar near my chest (thought it might cancerous growth) so he wanted to take an xtra xray. Turns out the peculiar mass turned out to be my nipple…That’s another $800 to confirm that I do have nipples.

But all that money pays for quality. As your example so clearly demonstrates.

[PaulL]

are you actually just left to die if can’t afford care???

No, but one of the reasons costs here are so high is that the hospitals are required to care for the indigent. They pass the costs on to patients who have insurance, which pays for it, mostly.

The thing with ambulance rides is that if it’s medically necessary, your insurance covers most of the cost, and you pay enough of it to make you think twice before doing it again. If it’s not medically necessary, you end up paying the whole cost.

But don’t get me wrong, America has the best health care system in the world—it couldn’t possibly be improved upon! [/s]

[PaulL]

Most Americans tend to agree. But getting it changed has been impossible because something something communism something something Obamacare death panels something something.

If members of Congress weren’t allowed to have health insurance as long as a single citizen of the nation lacked it, things would change pretty quickly. Unfortunately, to make that happen would require . . . a law passed by Congress!

Nobody is refused care but if you have any assets they will find them. Of course I have heard that in some countries you may need to wait months to see a specialist. I don’t know what path is best.

Which is better/worse: to have to wait in line because others have a greater need, or to not be able to get care at all, because the insurance company won’t pay for it? Sounds like rationing either way, to me!

But of course, the people making the decisions for the rest of us can always afford care, even if they have to pay out of pocket. . . .

[anon2571578]

If members of Congress weren’t allowed to have health insurance as long as a single citizen of the nation lacked it, things would change pretty quickly. Unfortunately, to make that happen would require . . . a law passed by Congress!

Lol true that. It doesn’t help that some Congresspeople and Senators are so far removed from reality that they think living in a house means you aren’t poor. Only marginally better than Fox News thinking owning a fridge means you’re middle class.

[juice]

one of the reasons costs here are so high is that the hospitals are required to care for the indigent.

Ah, you mean “people”? Seems like a crazy mission statement for a hospital.

Only marginally better than Fox News thinking owning a fridge means you’re middle class.

One of those fancy French-door fridges? Or just any old fridge?

[anon2571578]

One of those fancy French-door fridges? Or just any old fridge?

I’ll save you a click on a Fox link by letting Twitter summarize it:

[juice]

OK, seems pretty standard Fox.

But - I have to ask - are those REALLY the fonts they use? REALLY?

I mean, the graphics are primary-school level anyway, but those fonts. Man.

[anon2571578]

What do you expect, them to use Verdana like some sort of socialist?

[juice]

Calibri is the king of fonts.

[PetaMarie]

When I taught English in another country, some of the teachers were local and the remainder from various other countries. We were discussing end-of-life decisions like whether to pull the plug if a loved one is really ill. An American lady said in the USA it’s determined by finances: If you don’t have money, you let the person die. End of discussion.

And this is why I quit nursing. I watched doctors see the same disease process in two different people and offer the person with better insurance good treatment options and the poor person with no health insurance some scolding for getting themselves in this situation, advice and a script that would be a band aid, never a cure. I couldn’t watch it happen anymore. Oh, and a really old woman asked me to end her life because her adult grand children kept okaying more and more treatments and she was ready to die but they had power of attorney and wouldn’t let her. Our healthcare system is bonkers and heartbreaking.

[anon2571578]

Calibri is the king of fonts.

Comic Sans deserved better.

[juice]

Comic Sans deserved better.

It deserved to die. If only MS wasn’t funding its healthcare, that would have happened.

[PetaMarie]

Comic Sans deserved better

Comic Sans is for first grade graduation cards and mommy groups.

[anon2571578]

Comic Sans is for first grade graduation cards and mommy groups.

And dylexics. For as much as I also get enjoyment out of mocking Comic Sans, it’s still one of the most dyslexic-friendly fonts available for free.

[Gaff]

I had an experience once where someone was visiting me in the US and didn’t have insurance. The unexpected happened and they ended up in an ambulance, dying, going to the ER at a nearby hospital. The first mishap was when they couldn’t drive this person to the hospital literally 2 minutes away from where I lived at the time for some weird reason (I think they were from outside this city or something), and instead took the 20-25 minute drive to the hospital the next city down.

Anyway, this person was pretty much on a deathbed for a few weeks until at the end they made a miraculous recovery (honestly, it was amazing). Since I was there every day with them I can remember being hounded by different people from the hospital’s finance department several times a day. They would leave notes in the room, write notes on the whiteboards in the room, wait for me to show up and talk to me, virtually anything to get details. I explained so many times that they had no insurance, here are their details, here is their (miniscule) pension income, etc. Yes, their fault for visiting the US without insurance, but the message wasn’t getting across. They even tried to get me to sign things which were pretty much “you’ll help cover this person’s costs” even though I had no legal obligation.

Ultimately they were sent a bill for around $1,600,000 at the end of their care. I wrote a very polite letter back to the hospital restating everything I’d said over the past few weeks several times a day, and the bill was “forgiven”. That was just the hospital’s bill though, there were separate bills from each doctor and several facilities within the hospital that eventually trickled through. I think the end-cost was close to $3,000,000. It was all settled in the end, but a very scary experience.

Forgot to mention, they received the minimum treatment required to get them back to not dying, and being dischargeable from the hospital. From that point they would normally get lots of follow-up care from things like Occupational Therapy, but of course nobody would see them because of lack of insurance, and paying privately was going to be a weekly five-figure sum. I found some working options in the end through charity care but it was pretty much getting them back on their legs so they could fly back home and get proper treatment for what they had suffered.