A woman got her leg caught in the gap of an Orange Line train — and then begged for no ambulance because of the cost (drug, companies)
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2018 America. The richest people in the country got record tax breaks to make them even richer, and a woman can't afford to pay a hospital bill so she BEGS the witnesses to her injury not to call first responders. Wow.
In fairness, she said (according to the OP; I didn't read the link): " “Do you know how much an ambulance costs?” "
She didn't say she couldn't afford it. In point of fact, only 2.5% of people in MA are uninsured. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business...RLN/story.html
Now perhaps she is one of them, or maybe not. Maybe she doesn't know that her HI covers the first responders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dspguy
Something like this happened to me a while ago (not as serious). Long story short, I crashed my bike and I was fortunate that a bystander saw it and came to help me. She drove me to a place that had a first-aid kit. However, someone called an ambulance for me. I really just wanted to sit down and catch my breath since it was a very jarring experience, but the ambulance crew that came to check me out wouldn't let me. Maybe because I was lightheaded they felt the need to take me, but it was not because I asked. I just really wanted to sit down for a few. Maybe they were just doing their job. I didn't really want to go to the ER over this. They sort of took advantage of my condition. I was just sort of in shock and wanted to be left alone.
I received minimal services at the hospital. X-rays were actually the cheapest line item. The total bill, my share, was $10000. That's one of the reasons I didn't want to go. Mind you, the people that did help me there were great. They pulled glass from my arm, gave me a tetanus shot - did their best to clean me up. But, I have no idea where the $10000 figure came from. Their itemized bill included $7500 in "general ER services" or something. And another $2250 for the doctor (for five minutes).
It is sad, but this is the world we live in in this country. People afraid to go to a hospital because they could be financially crippled. Even if they need the help. Someone said it elsewhere on the forum once, but many times, our financial fortune or ruin are due to circumstances entirely out of our control. Yet we are forced to pay for them because we don't have universal healthcare.
There was a story about something similar in Kaiser Health News yesterday. Adding stuff like "general ER services" is the latest thing, apparently. https://khn.org/news/how-er-bills-ca...ampaign=KHN%3A
Please note I am not expressing approval, just sayin'.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Floorist
Yesterday we drove 120 miles round trip to pick up a neighbor at the hospital, where he was life-flighted. Last Thursday, he had a seizure, probably because of working in 120 degree heat index all day. He fell on his driveway, fractured his skull and had bleeding in the brain. He still had bleeding in the brain when they released him directly from ICU. He had only been on the job 30 days and had no insurance. One of the nurses told his wife, they only released him because of no insurance. I have known him for 15 years and he did not recognize me. This is the state of health care in the US. His wife is unable to work, so if he dies, the state will be supporting his wife and two kids.
This story sounds horrific, and I'd take it with a grain of salt. From my experience of having been a "charge nurse" at times in a hospital, I know that hospitals try to get patients like this on Medicaid so they can get paid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci
Supplemental health insurance covers dental, eye care and prescriptions ( if your province doesn't cover them ) and is usually included with your employment.
There is a push for a national Pharmacare program and rumblings about dental and eye care perhaps being covered one day.
Once again, the Fraser Institute is a biased right-wing think tank sponsored in part by the American Koch Bros. Their goal is to rid Canada of UHC and public education.
Anyone with a brain in Canada, just laughs them off.
But back to the original story the OP posted.
Never would happen in Canada. People don't fret over the costs of an ambulance, even if it's an air rescue ambulance.
Wait, included with employment? Isn't this what we're supposedly trying to get away from here in the US?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathguy
So, wouldn't there be some sort of subsidized insurance available due to income level? You know, the affordable care act?
Please note, I'm not even against the idea of single payer but then what happens if people don't pay their taxes like they currently dodge social security etc. by working cash jobs?
Fast forward and "Steve" works cash jobs most his life, doesn't pay taxes, doesn't pay into Soc. Security.....are we then heartless scum for not giving him a social security check anyway?
There is currently a US govt. subsidized mechanism to attain healthcare and people aren't buying it and the excuses keep flowing.
With a few exceptions (it's complicated) you/your spouse have to pay into SS for 10 years to get SS and Medicare.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 07-03-2018 at 12:15 PM..
Until I was laid off, I would have agreed with you. I was relatively young and making a decent middle class salary with full medical and dental benefits. Layoffs, bankruptcies, medical problems and stuff were things that happened to other people, not to me. If something bad happened to someone, it was usually their fault.
But then it happened to me. I was laid off in a major bank closing. And btw, shocked to find out I was considered an "older worker" while in my 40s!
Once I was unemployed I began to eat through my savings. My asthma medications alone ballooned from $60 a month to $360+ a month, for medications which are readily available in countries like Canada and France for much much cheaper. All of a sudden, I began to realize that a major medical operation could basically ruin me.
Like someone else said, its like playing Russian roulette, you have no idea how much the doctor/hospital is going to charge you, how much the insurance is going to cover and whether they are going to cover it all. A poor person does not care as much, the government will pay for it. The rich can cover any medical expenses with their savings.
Its the middle class worker that has the problem of paying the bills. They are not used to taking government handouts like the poor, they do not have the financial resources to fall back on like the rich. If they get a huge bill, it could be life changing and they could be ruined.
Some people say we have the best medical system here in the United States. But once you are unemployed, once you have your eyes opened - you realize the United States has the WORST medical system in the Western world.
Its the same thing in socialized medicine. You have no idea if the state will cover it or do so in a timely manner. If you are unemployed , and unhealthy its better to have socialized medicine. If you are employed and healthy its worse.
No idea why people freak out over medical bills. My ex racked up $10,000 worth of hospital bills (that was after insurance paid!) and told the hospital she could only afford $75/mo. The set up a payment plan and she paid that amount every month. After two years the hospital wrote it off as a loss.
LOL not everywhere.
The hospital took everything from a coworker then harassed him every few months with a court date until the statute of limitations s ran out.
current boss had a nice garnishment from a roving OUT OF NETWORK X ray company that prowls his IN NETWORK hospital emergency room. 5K for an X ray.
In fairness, she said (according to the OP; I didn't read the link): " “Do you know how much an ambulance costs?” "
She didn't say she couldn't afford it. In point of fact, only 2.5% of people in MA are uninsured. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business...RLN/story.html
Now perhaps she is one of them, or maybe not. Maybe she doesn't know that her HI covers the first responders.
There was a story about something similar in Kaiser Health News yesterday. Adding stuff like "general ER services" is the latest thing, apparently. https://khn.org/news/how-er-bills-ca...ampaign=KHN%3A
Please note I am not expressing approval, just sayin'.
This story sounds horrific, and I'd take it with a grain of salt. From my experience of having been a "charge nurse" at times in a hospital, I know that hospitals try to get patients like this on Medicaid so they can get paid.
Wait, included with employment? Isn't this what we're supposedly trying to get away from here in the US?
With a few exceptions (it's complicated) you/your spouse have to pay into SS for 10 years to get SS and Medicare.
Medicaid is impossible to get in Missouri if you have a job, even though hw only had his current job for a month. Kids can get it but not adults.
Its the same thing in socialized medicine. You have no idea if the state will cover it or do so in a timely manner. If you are unemployed , and unhealthy its better to have socialized medicine. If you are employed and healthy its worse.
All economic frauds work one side of an equation.
Like I said, until you seen it with your own eyes, you keep believing the lies.
I have seen it with the asthma medications and how they charge as much as 5 times more in the United States then they do in Canada or the EU for the same exact medicine with the same exact dose made by the same exact pharmaceutical company. Its just that the Canadian and European governments do not allow the private pharmaceutical companies to price gouge people the way the American government does.
And I only have asthma, I cannot imagine what people who have more expensive prescriptions are doing. Some I expect, are doing without the medicine their doctor recommended for them. Because they live in a country where health care is run by huge private health care companies that bought the government.
But who cares if Grandma cannot afford her meds or the Smith's have to sell their house to get their 12 year old daughter treated for childhood cancer because insurance won't pay or Uncle Joe won't get a checkup because he is afraid of the bills - as long as the corporate stock price keeps going up, right?
I have great healthcare insurance & Medicare. It was important to me to have it so I make sure I'm covered and it doesn't cost that much. Whenever I need medical care, I go receive it with no concern. I never get a bill for services.
I have great healthcare insurance & Medicare. It was important to me to have it so I make sure I'm covered and it doesn't cost that much. Whenever I need medical care, I go receive it with no concern. I never get a bill for services.
Wow, you must be extremely low income. The only people I know who don't get a bill for services have no income at all. Great that it doesn't cost that much for you!
....oh wait...I just saw you have Medicare. Yes, that does make it more affordable. Having government step in to help with insurance...
Retaliatory tariffs are not taxes. Are you suggesting sanctions on Iran should be dropped as well based on the economic argument?
And VAT taxes work like tariffs when the US trades with VAT countries. They tax US imports and their exports have no taxes. Few seem to understand this.
Wow, you must be extremely low income. The only people I know who don't get a bill for services have no income at all. Great that it doesn't cost that much for you!
....oh wait...I just saw you have Medicare. Yes, that does make it more affordable. Having government step in to help with insurance...
“Having the government step in to help”? Medicare is not Medicaid. I dont know about you, but I pay a lot of money into Medicare, and will continue to do so as long as I am working. And unlike social security, there is no cap, so I pay it all year long. Over 35 years, with compound interest, that is a ton of cash they are “holding for me”.
I cant speak for the poster to whom you are responding, but by the time I am 65, if Medicare hasn’t closed up shop and absconded with my money, I will take the Medicare with no shame.
Wow, you must be extremely low income. The only people I know who don't get a bill for services have no income at all. Great that it doesn't cost that much for you!
....oh wait...I just saw you have Medicare. Yes, that does make it more affordable. Having government step in to help with insurance...
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnesthesiaMD
“Having the government step in to help”? Medicare is not Medicaid. I dont know about you, but I pay a lot of money into Medicare, and will continue to do so as long as I am working. And unlike social security, there is no cap, so I pay it all year long. Over 35 years, with compound interest, that is a ton of cash they are “holding for me”.
I cant speak for the poster to whom you are responding, but by the time I am 65, if Medicare hasn’t closed up shop and absconded with my money, I will take the Medicare with no shame.
Taking these two together. I agree with AnesthesiaMD, and will add, that Medicare does not pay for everything. Only Part "A", hospitalization, is free, and it doesn't cover everything. Part "B", basically major medical, is voluntary and requires a premium, and has deductibles and copays. You can also buy supplemental policies that pay for things that A and B don't pay for, including most prescription drugs. https://www.medicare.gov/your-medica...at-glance.html
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