You must log in or register to comment.
I had to think about this for an embarrassingly long time before I realise this was America and they don’t have the NHS. In the UK you should absolutely provide your identity to the hospital, so it can go on your medical record.
Don’t be embarrassed homie. We should be embarrassed for not running the streets and fixing this shit already.
Why so they can censor your blood type?
Out of pocket visit to the Dr, about $15-$20 Urgent care, $25 -$75 Emergency room, $100-$350
These are JUST FOR SHOWING UP AND HAVING INSURANCE, WHICH WE PAY $1000 MONTHLY. The rest of the bill is charged once you leave, mostly 50% of the remaining services.
Most people with work insurance are paying 40-50 percent, and their cost as an employee is calculated as their wages plus their benefits.
America is a dystopia. It’s perfectly capitalist.
I honestly believe Trump is here because we almost went to universal health care.
I honestly believe Trump is here because we almost went to universal health care.
Trump is here because you elected a reasonable black man (not even progressive , just reasonable, willing to comprimise etc) and the racists lost their fucking minds and went “I want the opposite, the guy that’s saying this guy came from kenya (lie)”.
The reality is that Trump is here because we thought we could play games. We thought we could demand perfection and were under the impression there was no way he would win again. He appealed to people because he speaks simply and the average person doesn’t think about these things.
And the racist fucks.
Trump does not ‘speak simply’. When he’s not rambling incoherently, he’s just bullying and abusing people. That’s apparently what Americans liked.
Maybe not now, but he was a bit more coherent in 2016. And by speaking simply, we mean he says things directly like “we’re going to solve all your problems!” It may be idiotic, it may never be a possibility, but he says ‘simple’ things that tell people what they want to hear.
Whoa, when I said speaks simply, it was not a compliment.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-fire-and-fury-smart-genius-obama-774169
Taxes pay more for healthcare per person in the US than the NHS. So taxpayers pay enough taxes for healthcare to get free healthcare, but then they have to pay a premium per month to get healthcare, but then they have to pay for more than the service cost in copays to pay for healthcare.
It is insane how americans are paying for triple or more for healthcare and getting none,
That is FAR too much for monthly insurance, you might want to shop around on marketplace instead of going private
My marketplace cost before assistance is about $1000 per person per month
I’m very sorry to hear that then
Well, the assistance makes it much more tolerable.
Mono swelled my throat shut a while ago. Urgent care sent me to the ER. ER looked at my throat, said they can’t help Mono. It cost $780 and 6 hours to find out they can’t help me.
Those costs are bullshit. The cost of the ER used to be much less if you got a referral. Also, I bet most of that is lab work.
deleted by creator
Where the hell are you getting $75 urgent care visits? And $20 doctor visits? I have a high deductible plan and these are like $150 for a doctor and $250 for urgent care.
My wife had a cyst drained and it cost us over $1,000 between 3 visits and them draining it once. Draining it was $600.
Hdhp are predatory. I have a marketplace plan, and I’m paying significant less.
Fuck that, I’ve paid good money for my medical insurance, the company can damn well start paying the hospital! I’ve got a lot more in common with the nurses, doctors, and support staff than I do with insurance parasites, I want them justly recompensed for their labor. Will the company try to renege on the contract by refusing as much coverage as they think they can get away with? That’s a lawsuit for another day, when I’m feeling better, and I’ll recruit the hospital administrators to my side.
My brother in Christ, are you assuming the hospital (and the pharmacy) isn’t also owned by the insurance company? And do you think that the profits will get passed on to the laborers?
My brother in Christ, are you assuming the hospital (and the pharmacy) isn’t also owned by the insurance company?
In most places they aren’t, and tbh its not always a bad thing when they are. The kaiser permanente model actually leads to better outcomes than in most hospital networks because it actually incentivizes preventative care.
It also gives them no incentive to try to control the cost of care or negotiate strongly on their customers’ behalf as an insurance company.
Right, but they aren’t just operating as an insurance company. They also own and operate the hospital, meaning there has to be a balance between the profitability of the hospital network weighted against the profitability of the insurance company.
In the end, it usually means that there isn’t a competition between the insurance and providers, rather two parties working together to manage cost while providing better service.
Which means it pays to provide preventative care, it pays to educate their patient population, and it pays to provide outcome based medicine.
Vertical integration of healthcare is a lot closer to something like universal care than what you usually see in america. It’s not perfect, but it’s usually better than the current norm.
It’s my understanding that vertical integration is the norm in the US, though. UnitedHealth bought something like 250 companies in 2024 alone. CVS owns Aetna, and MinuteClinic, and Caremark (a PBM), and multiple pharmacy chains, with the result being that they don’t care where in the value chain the money winds up, because it’s still in house at the end of the day. And they certainly aren’t going to fight the other parts of the conglomerate to get a better deal for patients, with the result being that there are no longer incentives (from competition) to cap costs, resulting in the US spending almost 20% of GDP on healthcare.
t’s my understanding that vertical integration is the norm in the US, though
Not really, corporations including insurance and private equity are increasingly buying up physician owned private practices, but that’s only estimated to be like 30% atm.
They generally don’t buy into actual hospital networks because they aren’t exactly the biggest money makers in the market. Most states mandate hospitals have some kind of emergency clinic, which are basically huge money sinks.
value chain the money winds up, because it’s still in house at the end of the day. And they certainly aren’t going to fight the other parts of the conglomerate to get a better deal for patients, with the result being that there are no longer incentives (from competition)
Eh, I think this is kinda a rudimentary understanding of healthcare cost. There’s not actually a lot of profit to be extracted from the vast majority of the healthcare system. It’s nearly entirely done by private healthcare insurances relying on the fact that they offload customers with high expenses to socialized networks asap.
US spending almost 20% of GDP on healthcare.
This is mainly because healthcare is a natural monopoly and we lack universal coverage. The rise in healthcare costs is mostly caused because uninsured patients drive up the cost of care for everyone when there only option is emergent care.
Mine is not. UCLA exists for the benefit of UCLA, but fortunately that includes providing excellent medical care in order to keep their reputation as an outstanding teaching hospital.
It’s not. UCLA exists for the benefit of UCLA, but fortunately that includes providing excellent medical care in order to keep their reputation as an outstanding teaching hospital.
In the USA, they care more about the health of your wallet than your health.
To any Euros reading this: yes, it’s that bad. Even worse, most people call it “the best” system in the world.
Even in the US this doesn’t seem like a good idea.
It is not if you actually want to be fixed. They will get you stable but that doesn’t mean ok or “good” outcomes.
no visitors also means there’s no one to provide medical history or advocate for you if you become too sick to speak for yourself. So you do need at least one person who can be trusted to also uphold the same level of secrecy for your benefit. MUTUAL AID, PEOPLE. The community needs to resist.
Now that said all of this is gonna go fits up once they gut EMTALA and it becomes legal to hold off on CPR until they can rifle through your wallet for an insurance card.
Does this even work? Will they even treat you or let you leave without ID?
theyre only required by law to stabilize you. youre not getting ‘cured’.
if you lose a finger for example, they don’t have to put it back on… only prevent you from bleeding out.
Stabilize for anyone unfamiliar is
Probably not going to die in the next 24 hours from easily identifiable injuries.
Because then they can become liable.
You can be very unhealthy with multiple broken bones, cancer, be dying softly and still be “stable”.
They are legally required to stabilize you. That is to say, they they will not heal you, they’will not cure you. They get you stable enough to get you the fuck out of the door.
If you have cancer. They will not do shit.
If you have a broken bone. They will straighten it, if they can, no cast, and kick you r the fuck out. You will still have a broken bone, and you will still need surgery to heal it.
Been bounced before with broken bones. It sucked.
They will not do jack shit to straighten a broken bone. They make you sit in triage until you give up and leave or escort you out by security if you raise a stink.
Sat in triage for 38 hours before with a broken leg.
deleted by creator
I wonder about that too. Perhaps if it is severe enough?
deleted by creator
These days they’ll assume you’re mexican and deport you to sri lanka, untreated ofcourse
Yes they will treat you. But they will harass the shit out of you. I couldn’t properly identify myself or another victim after a critical accident and the other person almost lost their arm. I was failing all the other questions too (date, president, etc) but they wouldn’t stop asking like clockwork. It took hours to get an MRI and xray. I had two broken vertebrae in my upper back and severely concussed. They just kept giving the other passenger blood transfusions but refused to operate. They finally did a temp surgery on their arm but didn’t do a full surgery until after they were identified and it was confirmed they were well insured (union). It was a mess. Hospital and medical insurance took their entire settlement as payment for that shitty service too. We were struck by a drunk driver. Oh, and we both had stellar insurance (different unions but good insurance) and neither ambulance would take it. 5k for mine and I think theirs was more. And again, the whole settlement went to the insurance to pay the hospitals for that stellar bedside manner of letting me suffer for hours confused af and them almost die and lose their arm. Second surgeon was not happy. The other guy also was checked in as a John Doe at another hospital and they lost all of their teeth and most of their lower jaw. Also horrible delayed service. They care more about figuring out who you are so they know you’re “in network” than treating you.
Dam, I’m sorry you went through that. That’s horrible
I recently had my first medical emergency, and I’m in the USA. It actually is pretty abysmal.
In my case, I wasn’t literally on death’s door, but I had an injury that I could not stop the bleeding from (and obviously could not tell how bad things were).
So, the first responder was able to control the bleeding during the ambulance ride. And once that part was done, they moved right into the ID, billing info, and insurance info right there in the ambulance.
I still needed additional emergency care, of course. So, we arrive at the emergency room, they check my vitals, and then as soon as the nurse is done with that part, and before I received any treatment, they were asking me for the same ID, billing info, and insurance questions.
Even with insurance that costs nearly $1,000 USD a month, I had to pay entirely for the ambulance ride and the emergency room doctor’s fees (both were classified as out of network), as well as the co-insurance (20% of the inflated “insurance” cost for treatment that was “in-network”), and so on.
So I can understand why this type of advice is going around.
On the other hand, if your emergency room visit requires follow-up care and/or prescription medication, giving false (or no) identifying information will complicated that part so I hope you have good black/grey market connections or a relative with a pharmacy’s worth of old prescriptions they didn’t finish.
The concept of an “out of network ambulance” makes my blood boil
Oh, hello, yes you are probably a real human then! Nice to meet you!
Oh shit they’re on to me
Uhhh
Health insurance provides an important service to the economy, making sure that consumers have access to a variety of providers. Really it’s about protecting Americans’ freedom of choice when it comes to their health and bodies!
I like this idea but I struggle to believe it would work.
Went to the hospital for a kidney stone a few years ago. When I was released, 3 security guards crowded the front door to the hospital and wouldn’t let me leave for an extra hour and a half because they were adamant I had to pay my bill then and there.
They had all my information, didn’t even bother trying to go through my insurance, just “no, you owe us 2400 right now” and threatening to call the cops.
Me, a 110lbs woman fucked up on dilauded was ready to tussle but ended up paying before I left cause I didn’t want to deal with the police.
They ended up charging me, and then my insurance as well. I talked to my insurance who then bullied them into paying me back. Took 6 months but I did manage to get paid back.
Bravo for the insurance provider, then… I guess?
Yeah for real, the hospital gave no shits until the phrase “insurance fraud” came up and suddenly everyone was super nice and accommodating 😮💨
What the fuck??? I’ve never heard of anything like this! Damn, I’m sorry that happened to you. Was it a for profit hospital or in the south? I’ve never even heard of something like this happening at all…
This was a for profit religious hospital known for their poor ER performance but it was the closest one and I was throwing up from pain in my mom’s backseat so we figured how bad could it be.
“For-profit” hospitals and prisons make my blood boil
You people live a dystopia.
Don’t worry, we’re painfully aware.
Pfffft not enough of us. Conservatives will go “B-B-BUT CANADA WUD MAKE U WAIT A BAJILLION YEARS FOR A BRAIN EXPLOSION”
Holy shit, that’s insane. No wonder the US has triple the healthcare spending of their peers with worse health outcomes.
I’ve honestly wondered why i don’t hear more people doing this?
How would you hear about it if it “never happened”?
Because if you wanted to be actually healed it’s a terrible idea
Why? What benefit could I possibly have to keep my identity a secret in a hospital emergency? They need access to my NHS records so they know my medical history, blood type, current medications, etc.
They’d treat me regardless, but it would be very weird and suspicious if I didn’t identify myself. They might even call the police because of it, because who does that?
Take just a moment to appreciate how shite the US healthcare system is that this post is sound medical advice.
Help. The insurance company is inside the house.
Americans.
Yes this is absolutely an American thing, if you can avoid it at the least don’t take the ambulance unless you want a $5000 bill
You let your doctors know your blood type? What if they use that to find out who you are and bill you
This is probably a bot, but also potentially someone in psychosis doing their psychosis shit.
When I’m having a medical emergency at home, my first step is always to get into my car and drive at least 5 miles away.
there have been several cases over the years of people plowing their car into the ER waiting room when the heat attack / stroke finally gets too severe.
See that’s how they track you
True but that won’t be me, I’ve had plenty of experience with medical emergencies and know how to handle myself.
You fool, driving your own car. You need to drive the car of someone unrelated to you.
Hell yeah, double emergency
Pretty sure the advice here is to just go anonymously suicide by cop. When you do that in GTA you wake up fully healed outside the hospital. Must work IRL too
deleted by creator
“Show up as a ghost and leave as one.”
This is counterproductive to my goals of having the most medical debt of any American to ever live and then die without paying. I’m playing for high score
Godspeed 🫡
Last year I had to be taken to the hospital for an emergency and stayed for three days.
This is how much I was billed:Every time I hear about American healthcare it makes me appreciate the NHS that little bit more.
Minus the transphobia.
Yes, I know, perfect is the evil of good, but good healthcare is a neverending process: we must always try to improve it for the people.
Having recognition of the gender and enabling informed consent would go a long, long way, in eliminating waiting lists and problems that indeed also affect cis people.
Yeah, though it’s not confined to just the NHS given some of the recent rhetoric I’ve been seeing. Obviously the transphobia is bad but it’s potentially marginally better than also being bankrupted by it. Not trying to step on the very real issue of the transphobia here though. Sucks that we don’t really have any good parties to be voting for right now…
Whats wrong with the green party? I voted for them in the last election, seem good enough.
Yeah I should have clarified, there’s some decent ones but the chance of them getting anything is fleeting. I voted green last election actually.
I mean, there’s the Greens, Sinn Feinn, and the Scottish National Party. I’d argue they’re pretty close to good for the average worker. Corbyn’s new party would also be nice. But the real issue is FPTP. If that were abolished in favour of proportional representation (and Green favours that), that’d help.
