so what's the problem with our healthcare?

[backwoodsbob]

as some know I was in a bad accident...I was in icu for four days and got out Friday.


My bill so far?..$1,400

Tell me again how much my healthcare sucks.

We NEED TO HAVE EVERY American on such good care.I Nearly died and 8 days later I am posting here.Tell's you a lot about our awful system.

We have an awesome system but we need to make it available to everyone

[Cleita]

1. No one every complained about the quality of our health care.

What sucks is that a large portion of our population can't afford it.

[backwoodsbob]

2. yep

that is the problem

[L0oniX]

3. Gee wiz ...my wife spent 4 days and 3 nights in the hospital for "vertigo" ...$47,000 bill.

The assholes ran every test in the book and didn't fix shit. I fixed her by performing the Epley maneuver. They wouldn't do it! You must have had good some unusual good luck to escape with a $1400 bill ...or you are lying and shilling. One MRI usually costs that much.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

6. Holy shit, that terrifies me...

as someone who also gets vertigo.

[L0oniX]

9. Not kidding ...I was floored when I saw the bill. Even her doctor would not perform the manuever.

I had to wait until any staff was out of the room and then performed the manuever. I found out about it and looked it up on Youtube and saw the manuever and did it.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

10. I believe you. I once spent an hour in the ER on an antibiotic drip...

for an infected cat bite, and the bill was a whopping $2,800. I was insured; hope you guys are, too. No one can give an exact cause for the vertigo -- stress, aging, dislocated crystals, virus -- and they just throw antiverts at you. Frustrating.

[AnnaLee]

7. What was the total bill?

Do you have insurance or government subsidized medical or Medicare? If so, could you find out what the total bill for all payers was?

Also, could you tell us what the $1400 paid for since it is "so far" and I, myself, don't know what treatment your condition required.

[Honeycombe8]

11. You are a fortunate son.

I just used the term for funsies, but seriously, you are fortunate. You have employer provided insurance, and it sounds like it's good. Millions don't. Either they have not so good individual policies, or not so good employer provided insurance, or nothing because they aren't poor enough for Medicaid, or they have Medicaid. Medicaid provides SOME care, but very little, and not very good (I had a relative on Medicaid). Medicaid in a lot of instances is minimal care. Still, it's care, if you can find a provider who takes Medicaid.

I have employer provided insurance, too, although I have to pay toward the premium. How much would I have to pay after 8 days in ICU? I have a deductible ($1k I think), then I pay 10% or 20% of covered expenses (for in network), then 100% of noncovered expenses (and there are always noncovered expenses). I have an annual out of pocket expense cap...I think it's $5k. I expect that's what I would end up having to pay for that stay (actually, I have to pay more, and then I get reimbursed from my company to get my out of pocket cap down to $5k).

[Rex]

12. You or us?

Your healthcare looks great, others or the collective 'us' not so much. Or at least for millions. Glad you are better, that is scary.

[SheilaT]

13. I like to brag that I have

the Republican Health Care Plan. I don't get sick.

And I'm not joking. I really am very, very healthy. I also happen to work for a large organization -- a hospital, no less -- which has very good health care coverage. One of my co-workers has a couple of chronic conditions and she's as happy with the plan as someone with a couple of chronic conditions can possibly be.

[madrchsod]

14. my hospital bill so far is close to 300,000 dollars

so far medicare is picking up all but 20 thousand...by the time i`m done i`m figuring close to 310,000 and maybe 25,000 that i may have to pay.bankruptcy court here i come!

[StrayKat]

15. There are many problems with US healthcare.

The one area the US does OK in is trauma treatment, so your experience with the system after your accident probably was good. However, the US is not nearly as good at treating or addressing chronic conditions or multisystem disorders. Chronic disease is also more costly.

[progressoid]

16. Snort.

$1400.00. That's funny. Either you have much better insurance than most of us or you have a lot more bills in the mail.

My wife had a steroid injection that took 30 minutes and so far we are over $3600.00

THAT's what is wrong with healthcare. It's expensive, inconsistent and unfair.

[StrayKat]

18. It's expensive, inconsistent and unfair.

You're very right about this. From a Dept of Health and Human Services factsheet:

However, actual spending is distributed unevenly across individuals, different segments of the population, specific diseases, and payers. For example, analysis of health care spending shows that:

-Five percent of the population accounts for almost half (49 percent) of total health care expenses.
-The 15 most expensive health conditions account for 44 percent of total health care expenses.
-Patients with multiple chronic conditions cost up to seven times as much as patients with only one chronic condition.

[Mr.Bill]

17. Insurance companies are what's wrong.

They take one out of every three dollars spent on healthcare in this country.

I have a relative who retired from the insurance industry a multi-millionare at age 55. And she never provided any healthcare for anyone. She never fixed anyone's car after an accident. She never rebuilt anyone's burned down house. She moved paper around on a desk and helped Cigna maximize profits for their stockholders with your money.

[Cleita]

19. We have a winner!

I see you and I share the same hatred of the insurance industry. They are the most parasitical and useless paper pushers in the nation. They are really good for nothing.