(no subject)
Jan. 25th, 2010 02:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aidenfireI was talking to my mom last night, and she said that she received the bill for when I was in the hospital for a while right before break.
Total cost? $2800.
Cost to us, after insurance? $25.
WOW. 1) insurance is amazing, and 2) holy shit that's so expensive! I mean, I know they ran a lot of tests and stuff but I was only in the ER for like nine hours, how could it cost so much? What do you do if you don't have insurance in the US?
Total cost? $2800.
Cost to us, after insurance? $25.
WOW. 1) insurance is amazing, and 2) holy shit that's so expensive! I mean, I know they ran a lot of tests and stuff but I was only in the ER for like nine hours, how could it cost so much? What do you do if you don't have insurance in the US?
no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 08:07 am (UTC)There are a LOT of people who simply do not go to the doctor (ever) even when they KNOW there is something desperately wrong (they feel lumps. they get dizzy every time they stand up. they have chest pains), because they are uninsured and they know the bill would be crushing. And of course, if they wait until it's life-threatening, then the hospital will treat them and eventually write off the bill, so for something acute and non-chronic, that's sometimes a valid strategy, but even then, they know, sometimes, they they SHOULD have gone and gotten ordinary treatment and don't want to be chastised for that, so they STILL don't go. And then they die.
It's SO MESSED UP that this is the basic system we live in, and it makes me mad.