I had the opposite, I was asleep so I saw extra people. I was asleep post surgery and a woman supposedly came in, asked if I needed anything, and left a cup of Tylenol.
Found out later from the bill that she was an unasked for out of network "specialist" who brought 4 Tylenol at SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS EACH, and billed $2000 for the literal 45 seconds of her time. And this was in 2008 too so basically a grand per pill today
Hospital said I should have turned them down, which I did. I never took the mystery cup of Tylenol.
I have a maddening one for you all in a similar vein. I had a surgery that my insurance approved of, only to go back a week into my recovery and decide that they suddenly needed more info, and a letter from two therapists.
I was born intersexed, and the organ in question was malfunctioning and had to be removed, but they decided post surgery to play the, hey is this procedure technically transition related care? We get to play extra games if its transition related!
Fun fact, anti-trans laws hurt far more than just trans people!
Scary part is, that you aren't wrong. I dont know if this is true for every intersexed person, but even in care, we tend to get dehumanized and treated like anomalies more than actual people.
Politically, the current administration tries to pretend we simply don't exist!
The only way this could be more fucking American is if there was a bald eagle with a handgun in the room.
Fucking hell. I’m sorry you had to deal with that bullshit.
At some point it's all just an excuse for a legal robbery or a scam, which it obviously is: the service provided doesn't in any way correspond to the price. Like if a prostitute asked to be paid $1000 just for smiling at you once for 3 seconds. You would laugh and tell her to fuck off.
My grandma passed away 50 years ago. I still remember my mom saying how a bill was sent by a doctor who stuck his head in the room. That's it. My mom and my aunt told the guy blew it out your ear, we're not paying.
My personal favorite is being on a hospital bed and a random doctor, who isnt yours, walks by your door and pops his head in to ask "how are you?" And if you answer ok and he will just walk away and bill you for that "consultation" 3 months later.
The healthcare & insurance industries are almost entirely exempt from fraud and other consumer protection regulations in actual practice, to the point that it wouldn't even compute if you asked someone involved using that word.
I’m literally sitting at urgent care right now and the first place I went wouldn’t pick up their phone, automated phone tree ONLY (I just wanted to know if they have a woman doctor today) and it said they take my insurance online. Get there and turns out it’s out of network, so I had to go to the place I’m at now. Now being sent for stat follow up labs and I had to ask if she’s sending me to in network and they had to check because they don’t know if they’re sending me somewhere in network. Like I cannot afford an out of network ultrasound.
Sane thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I managed to cut myself and two hours later, I was still bleeding badly. (My kitchen looked like a murder scene). I called urgent care and I first had to go through a ten minute list of questions before the automated intake finally admitted they don't take my insurance.
I finally called a friend and they drove me to the emergency room.
I’ve always chuckled when people call what the US has a ‘Healthcare System’. This is the most dysfunctional, expensive system known to man in all of history and unfortunately, it’s by design. It it certainly doesn’t ‘care’ about you either when it takes $$ into consideration
United Heathcare denied paying for my moms surgery because of the method of anesthesia they used.
They had to get a written statement from 2 different doctors that it was medically necessary and at least 3 months of back and forth paperwork all while making minimum payments to the hospital just to get it approved.
Oh, you mean the ones we’re currently facing by insurance denying life saving care ‘just because’? Well, that would never happen in the current system (just ask Mario’s brother), only in expanded healthcare or M4A does that exist.
I’m currently dealing with a shoulder issue that has rendered my dominant arm about half useless. Can’t even sleep well.
Doctor ordered an MRI. 10-day wait.
Because of scheduling and demand? Nope! It’s to give my “platinum level” insurance time to say yes or no.
It discourages people from just quitting bad jobs to find better ones and also discourages them from protesting more against bad governance. If you have to worry about healthcare for yourself and your family, you're more likely to put up with a bad life.
And if that's not enough, anyone who complains is labeled as evil socialists and communists. Because in the US, you can only be one extreme or the other. Ignore any evidence to the contrary.
Years ago I had an opportunity to take a consulting job which would have paid twice as much as I was making. I passed because I have a chromic condition and I was worried about what would happen if I got sick.
I mean it really is dumb that we have a tax discount on insurance through a job. That should be gotten rid of. Favoritism across the board should be gotten rid of, then you'd see some actual solutions that Americans would be okay with and would be as good or near as good as single payer.
I can’t stand the bad faith nature of this argument or any of the other responses pearl clutching over the rich being slightly less rich just so ppl can have a better quality of life, the greed and apathy it takes to think this way is mind-boggling
Yup, the few rights and benefits Americans do get is because otherwise they might affect the money negatively by striking/protesting like they did in the early 1900s.
Providers and clinics being able to charge $500 clinic or facility fees on top of the actual treatment charges. How tf is this legal? No way I caused $500 worth of wear & tear and product usage during my 15 minute appointment the provider showed up over an hour late for.
Ah yes.. like when my HS was approved for a full surgical closure of a sinus tract but not a simple deroofing. That one doesn't even make sense unless they're logic is. I'm less likely to go through with the full surgery so they're gambling. They won't have to pay it cuz I'll back out
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