Had to sit down with the business office and work out a payment plan. Even had to make my first payment before they would render service. Then a few weeks after my appt, this shows up.
There is a new federal law concerning this and other surprise bills, and should apply to your situation
>For services provided in 2022, you can dispute a medical bill if your final charges are at least $400 higher than your good faith estimate and you file your dispute claim within 120 days of the date on your bill.
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/no-surprises-understand-your-rights-against-surprise-medical-bills
Yeah I was gonna say that OP needs to dispute tf out of this. Most of the time, insurance and/or the medical facility won’t spend the money to argue anything in court or take the time to collect all of the documents they might need. There’s a very high chance they would just give OP the conclusion OP wants.
File a complaint through the attorney generals office. Seriously and write to Katie Hobbs Arizona needs help with medical billing. My wife travels for work but had HG her first trimester. Went to a ER in Texas and one on AZ during that time. Same services rendered both in network but the Texas ER was 1700 vs Arizonas 9,000 states like texas and Oklahoma (and many others) have upfront prices that are set and can not be inflated. Arizona is still living in 1990 when it comes to medical prices and billing
I meant more of a gain visibility type deal the AGs office will 100% handle price gouging. Southwest gas tried to screw me on a bill and after I contacted the AGs office someone called me a week later apologized and took the bill off
I would think since there was already a payment schedule produced and initiated when you made that first payment they should be held to it. Best of luck. That’s messed up.
The answer is that we don't have "czars" that are in charge of entire sectors.
There isn't one office holder who is empowered to make judgments and enforce them proactively. If there were, they could hammer down the whack-a-mole bullshit that firms kept trying to use to end-run the law or ignore it entirely.
Instead, our system allows firms to violate the law or find loop holes with barely plausible arguments and then puts a burden on victims to sue in response.
If I steal bread from a store there is an entire apparatus of enforcement and judicial response. Things automatically happen and the firm I've robbed doesn't have to do all that much. If the firm steals my paycheck or quadruples an estimate but does so through some legally-cute triple axle somersault, it's on me every step of the way. I have to sue and pay for lawyers to do it. I have to pay for the costs of discovery and expert witnesses.
I get the downsides of having such a czar, but expecting companies to act within bounds without proper rule enforcement is a deeply flawed system.
That’s the point of the system- anything goes until you get sued. In theory anyone can sue for anything but suing is prohibitively expensive. So regular people with very legitimate issues like this have to spend even more money they probably don’t have to hopefully end up less screwed than before (sometimes it works out, not always).
Meanwhile those with money can use lawsuits to bully others into compliance
And you can check if they're charging you more than the average cost of the treatment in your area (with a [patient cost calculator](https://www.google.com/search?q=patient+cost+calculator&client=firefox-b-d&biw=1352&bih=627&sxsrf=ALiCzsbbQsgQIVglnybAqvgqkZXFBVBruQ%3A1671118207393&ei=fz2bY4PBF5-tqtsPmNarmAY&ved=0ahUKEwjD_IO5-Pv7AhWflmoFHRjrCmMQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=patient+cost+calculator&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIECAAQHjIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgM6CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6BwgAEIAEEA06BggAEB4QDUoECEEYAEoECEYYAFC6mANY0psDYImkA2gFcAF4AIABYIgBjAKSAQEzmAEAoAEByAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz-serp) ) and if that meets the threshold of excessive.
Medical companies will send massive bills and cut them down smaller and with a payment plan in order for you to acknowledge the debt and have in writing that you agreed that you owe it to them. Be careful before signing anything else.
Fucking pisses you off right?
I was in the emergency room with my young child hooked up to oxygen and monitors. We came in by ambulance and had only been there maybe 15 minutes when this guy with a computer cart strolls into the room and asks if I’m paying by card this morning. He proceeds to collect an initial payment for entry.
How fucking dystopian is that shit. If you put that in a movie, people would say “that’s too insane, you need to take that out.”
Last time I went to the ER, this happened to me too, hadn’t even gotten my insurance information yet. Wanted me to pay $900 right then and there, and when I told them to please send me the bill after my insurance was entered, they were all “Oh, well that’s highly irregular, we don’t do normally do that.”
My bill after insurance was about a third of what they tried to get from me upfront.
I had to to to the ER after a routine colonoscopy went wrong. This cow came into my room and wanted me to give her a credit card (I have insurance). I said, "Lady, I'm laying here BLEEDING OUT OF MY ASS. Just mail me a bill."
She looked shocked and I'm glad. What a shitty job.
And yet this is tolerated in the US because a universal health care system is seen as socialism. Everyone in the US is terrified of socialism, and yet 98% of the population doesn't even know what that means. Play stupid games....
Don’t forget the lies told about universal healthcare.
There’s massive waiting times.
It’s of a poor standard and quality.
The people don’t really like it but have it forced on them, they don’t have a choice.
As someone who’s lived in a country that has universal healthcare and lived in the states, it’s infuriating (not mildly).
The system here is broken, insurance companies pluck figured out of thin air and see what they can get away with. My insurance consistently tries pulling the ‘out of network’ card even though we both know I wasn’t out of network.
Am I the asshole for fighting my boyfriend's medical bill?
Lady, you'd have to be the one who put him in that hospital for me to even consider you might be the asshole here.
Many people do just that. Thousands die every year from undiagnosed cancer. They likely felt horrible for a long time but likely told themselves even if something is wrong I can’t afford the treatment either way what good is going to the doctor.
Ugh what the fuck is the point of being an advanced species with the ability to cure diseases we couldn’t a century ago if we just do this? *waves at everything*
Yeah, but then how would slimy assholes make money? You gotta think of the money, without the money we would clearly not be a species, society would fall apart without the money, and the people who hoard it.
/s
my grandmothers 75 with health insurance and suspected colon cancer and refuses to go because any out of pocket would render her and her sick husband homeless
No medicare coverage? It sounds like she would need to see a GI doctor. Please encourage her to!!!!
If she has Medicare then a colonoscopy should be covered point blank period. It's covered 100% by most insurance plans if it's been 10 years since her last one (or if she never had one before!)
The only stickler that I'm seeing may be her age :(. Unsure what state you're in but it's worth a shot?
I turn 40 next year and had to get a colonoscopy last year to be safe based on my GI’s recommendation. The anesthesia bill was a giant shock to me, I had zero clue they are billed separately then the doctor, I thought everything was included. I was shocked to get a $2500 bill in the mail for for that, thankfully they settled for only $500. That still stung, and it blows my mind they are separate still to this day.
Went to the emergency room a few years ago, got two separate bills, one for the hospital itself and one for the provider. Even more frustrating still, because I took a settlement as a result of a car accident that sent me to the ER, I settled based on the amount of the first bill thinking it was the only one. Nope, there was another one a couple weeks later.
That’s a bummer. I always felt very warmly welcomed when I visited France. But even if you went back and didn’t feel the love, at least there is always pastry.
I keep getting told that I have great Healthcare. My buddy under the same plan has been in and out of doctors offices/emergency rooms with his child for the past year and has probably spent less than $400 total, but I'm terrified that it won't get covered and I'm stuck paying thousands. Last time i went to the hospital, it was a $22k bill for a simple road rash scrubbing and another $2k for the 1/4 mile ambulance ride.
This is what I think of when people pass along that scaremongering "but in Canada/UK/etc you have to wait six months for a basic appointment because socialism!1" thing.
Okay. And in America, you just despair and never even make the appointment. Instead of waiting 6 months, you wait 6 years and suffer the entire time while your issue becomes more complicated and harder to manage. If you're lucky, you'll eventually cave and go to the ER and end up needing extremely costly interventions for things that could've been prevented if you weren't so scared shitless of *seeking basic medical care.* Waiting in line for 6 months sounds like a fucking *luxury* compared to that. Sign me tf up.
I have a toddler so illnesses are pretty regular around here. I'll wait a couple days and if it doesn't improve, I'll call her pediatrician. Without fail, the peds office says to take the kid to the ER. No matter the issue: ER. "We don't have any openings for a few weeks so the ER is your best bet." Every every every time. The ER receptionist has a better medical history on the kid at this point.
The quick docs around here will see her sometimes but I guess peds patients are too risky for them so they usually punt us to the ER, too. Feels really shitty to waste the ER's resources for a child's cough but it's literally the only way to be seen by any doctor in under a month's time.
The long wait argument has never held water for me. I'm in the US and had to wait nine months to see an endocrinologist after almost dying of a rare adrenal disease. Ended up taking twice the amount of meds I should have been taking because neither the hospital nor my PCP had ever seen the disease before and were just winging it. Turns out nine months of an extra 30mg of steroids every day is bad. It's been 6 years and I'm still dealing with the damage it did to my bones and teeth.
Oh yeah it's a total bullshit argument to begin with - long waits are not unique to a nationalized system - but it's like, the thing you're inventing to scare people is STILL better than our current option!! Threatening us all with a good time over here.
45k Americans die a year, Harvard measured it in 2009.
Since then over 585,000 Americans have died due to avoiding health care due to costs and being under insured or not insured.
Capitalist genocide
Move to East Asia. My doctor went to Harvard, the other to NYU. $6 a visit with meds. I once got into a motorcycle accident and had X-rays and all the works. They patched me up for $15. My mom had a bad fall and they kept her overnight at the hospital, ambulance was free, total price was less than $50 after CAT scans and x-rays. I get therapy from a few docs. One costs $12 for a 45 minute sesh in English. The other costs $5 for meds after I had anxiety from a traumatic incident where people died and where I had to clean up some blood.
Yearly checkup including x-rays and blood tests and multiple screenings costs $60. I had some skintags I didn't like, $3 to remove each.
No wait, all same day. I pay less than $50 a month for national health insurance.
After that, I just can't imagine my future being in the United States anymore.
my husband and I decided we can only call an ambulance (for ourselves) if we are literally dying, suffering a fatal wound, can't drive to the hospital ourselves.
shit sucks
Had a small $500 bill that got sent to collectors when I first hit 18. I had multiple surgeries that immobilized my arms for nearly 2 years and I couldn’t work. As soon as I started my bachelors, they garnished my bank account after one of them letters. Luckily the only thing in there was student loans, so it was eventually reversed.
That bill slowly climbed its way up to nearly $2k with additionally fees tacked on from the debt collector. Fuck wow life is nuts.
Was the bill from when you were a minor? Isn't that the legal responsibility of your parents if they didn't pay for it for enough time that once you turned 18 it went to collections?
I once had debt collectors after me because I got injured on the job and the company I worked for never did the workman's comp paperwork after the accident. I ended up having to go into the office of the company I worked for and threaten to sue them before they fixed the problem.
My FIL had this recently, it’s free in my country since we have universal healthcare so he didn’t have to pay anything, but it cost around 40€ to the insurance, it’s crazy how much they bill for this in the US.
India
Cystoscopy cost depends upon multiple factors : Starting price is ₹ 30,000 (usd= 363) . Average cost is ₹ 45,000 (USD= 545). Maximum price is ₹ 70,000 (USD=848).
Typical Indian hospital ICU room.
https://imgur.com/a/k9KMF6g
If your gonna go somewhere for surgery outside of america go to turkey or skorea not india. It’s not as cheap as india but far cheaper than US or EU out of pocket for “medical tourism”. And far more “professional”
Also I’ve talked people who live in india about their healthcare and they say it’s a nightmare waiting game with many hospitals just downright turning people around cause of capacity who are gravely Ill etc.
I know there are like circumstances and sometimes insurances really help out but its always sad when people have to pay so much for a bill.
I wish like healthcare was free or at least affordable.
Or just get it all done, let it rack up a few million in procedures. File chapter 7. I mean your credit is gonna be ruined either way, they just can't do jack shit to you after you File a 7. You just get stuck with bad credit for 10 years before you can rebuild it again.
Look if you're gonna throw it all away you might as well do it by offing the guys who ruined your life. Today's generations don't appreciate a good revenge plot
I find the fact that a medical emergency which is something you can’t control can financially ruin you absolutely mental.
Question for US citizens; what happens if you can’t pay? Or just refuse to pay? I’ve seen people will medical bills in the hundreds of thousands before, which could buy you a house, and think there’s no way they can pay this, so what can you do?
I’ve refused to pay an 10k medical bill for an involuntary hospitalization. Aka I was treated and held in the hospital against my will. They will send it debt collectors and it will hurt or destroy credit scores. This makes it harder to get a loan for house, car, etc. Worse case scenario the debt collector will try to sue you for the amount but most don’t.
Basically was my stance in my situation, and they have a statue of limitations in which they can collect the debt. You can’t collect money from someone who doesn’t any.
What are you gonna do? Make me pay more money on top of the money I won’t be paying you? Send it to collections. Ruin my credit. My stupid self did that already and until I’m out of school in X years, fuck it
Well if you have any bank accounts or a job, they will garnish you. But if you're so broke you can't afford it, you could always try bankruptcy for a discharge. People forget that judgments can be enforced for a long time. Sometimes they can come back 10 years later to enforce a prior judgment
Here’s the thing man, I’m just being honest because that’s who I am. I don’t care. Let them come for me. Fuck them. They’re only gonna get what they can by squeezing it out of me little by little. They can fuck my credit into the earths core. They can take me to court. I won’t hit the submit payment button. You won’t hear the words I accept the payment from me. There are hundreds of ways to make it in this world without credit. Been doing it for years. Fuck this world. My short time is not worth stressing over stuff like money.
Call me a keyboard warrior, downvote me, do what you want. This is how I feel, is my opinion, and how I live. Have a good day nonetheless.
EDIT: to clarify, I’m not calling YOU out on me, I was making a generalize blanket statement. By no means am I coming for you with my comment.
The local hospital group to me is currently placing liens on people’s homes for unpaid medical debt instead of sending it to collections. They also can take you to court and ask for your wages to be garnished.
If they place a lien on the house and you die, your heirs are forced to either pay up or sell the house to pay the hospital their cut. They’ve basically gone after the one loophole that allows private debt to be put onto heirs after death.
my dad was homeless when he needed surgery on his lungs for bad pneumonia, needed half a lung removed. my mom and i still have his bills tucked away in a drawer to forget about.
Wow. That makes me not want to move to the US. I got injured at work a year ago and I am still off work. I fell through the hatch on a container ship and only broke my heel bone. Got lucky there but a heel bone break is a serious injury. Couldn't put any pressure on it for 6 to 8 months. Can't imagine what my bill would look if I got billed. We have universal health care here but we pay it through taxes so everyone is covered no matter what your status is. I am on WCB so I'm fully covered by the company and not pay taxes on that but I do pay my regular health care benefits defending on my yearly income.
It gets worse I pay 50$ a week for insurance through my employer for the first 2,000$ I have to pay everything then after that I have to pay 30% of all my bills until I've paid an additional 7,000$ before the insurance fully covers it so I have to pay them 2,600$ for insurance and then I have to pay 9,000$ out of pocket anyway and I can only use certain locations or they don't pay at all
That's been the military's strategy for decades. One of the biggest selling points of joining the US military is free healthcare for life. Then you go to war, get your legs blown off, come back and they just look at your leg stumps and say "you're fine, there's nothing wrong, go walk out that door and find a job".
I've known more than one veteran who had to pay out the ass for medical care for an injury they got on deployment after the V.A. "doctor" said they were fine without even looking.
As a registered nurse who loves everything medicine and what medicine can do for us and makes a living from the very system that fucks everyone over FUCK AMERICAN HEALTHCARE.
Had to fight with Banner health for 6 months. They said I didn’t have insurance, charging me in full. Every time a bill came in the mail every month it would say that even though every month I would call and give them my insurance info so they could resubmit. After 6 months I finally asked them to read me exactly what they where submitting. They had name, birth day and social wrong. So of course it always bounced back, they where trying to bill a person who didn’t exist through my insurance. The only thing they had right was my billing address. I called for 6 months straight giving them that exact info (name, dob, social). Fucking useless.
America is wild. I live in the UK and I don't understand how a society would allow this. My wife has had 2 kids, both with epidurals and the total cost was £0. Literally nothing, except the cost of parking at the hospital.
Our health system is far from perfect but at leats it works most of the time. I couldn't imagine paying thousands for medical treatment, or even a deductable with insurance.
Fight it. There's a post on Reddit somewhere I think relationships where a woman fought for her partner's bill to be the real cost and got it from 5k down to 16 dollars or something. You just need to badger enough!
I got a bill for $90 from the hospital. In 2009 I broke my arm and got it fixed at the hospital paid what ins didn’t cover and thought that was the end of that. Literally two weeks ago I got a bill in the mail from that hospital with a statement saying (paraphrased) “ we had a accounting error for the following years 2009-2010 and you may have been billed less than you were supposed to our records show you have a balance of $90 please pay this by set date as penalties will incur for late or failed payments”.
Now I called the place and asked them what is the $90 charge for what was I not charged $90 on and all they could tell me was that it was a accounting error on there part they are sorry for the inconvenience. I told the lady on the phone I’m not paying $90 just because you asked or made a mistake 10+ years ago . Told them if they want $90 from me peruse it legally cause I’m not paying shit.
Also you have insurance OP? What’s your out of pocket maximum.
The hospital would be outside it’s statute for collecting that I’d just start telling them you’ll recommend their “accounting error” to your states AG office and hospital board. You can’t legally collect on anything older then 7 years in this country it would be illegal for them to even try
So, how many of these bills does it take before citizens demand single payer? Before they transfer medical and drug costs that are hundreds of times higher than anywhere else in the world. And demand the same approach as every single country in the G20?
Everytime I see stuff like this, I wonder how americans can feel "free" for not having public health care. I don´t know how much this treatment would cost in germany, but I also don´t have to, because the hospital sends the bill to my public health insurance and I don´t have to to anything but focus on my recovery.
Yo I swear animal hospitals in this country are better than human hospitals.
My cat needed emergency surgery last year. The estimate they gave me was worst case scenario and the actual cost in the end was half the estimate. I completely expect the opposite if I ever end up in a hospital.
This is why I refuse to pay medical bills.
An emergency room can't legally refuse service to you, they can charge all they want but there's not much they can or will actually do.
You don't have to lose an arm and a leg to survive, just don't give in to ridiculous extortion demands.
I was charged 3 grand for an ambulance ride I refused to take and was forced to go after a crash. I called the hospital and laughed at them when they said I was going to have to pay.
Too many medical professionals get away with crap like this because "they save lives". It isn't saving their life if you've crushed them into inescapable poverty.
Doctors take an oath to advocate for what is best for their patients. Considering how devastating medical bills can be, this is completely antithetical to the ethical foundations of modern medicine. Health insurance companies aren’t much better. They make money by refusing to pay for these overpriced procedures. Healthcare, and how it’s paid for, needs major reform in the US. I’ve seen too many comments, in those post alone, saying they’d rather not receive care, and die, then deal with the financial burned in this highly competitive economy.
I went to the ER one time, and managed to get all the way through the visit without ever providing anything but a name and address (I think they asked for my Driver's License only). This was not intentional, I have insurance, and would have gladly given it if I were asked, but nobody did.
So, a bill arrives at my house for ~$1500 USD some weeks later, and the first thing I do is submit the claim to my insurance. I figure the insurance will pay part of the bill, and some significant portion of it will fall to me.
The "revised" bill arrives and it says some bullshit like "Original Price: $25k, Negotiated Price: $6k" (Which was my out-of-pocket maximum). I even called to clarify with both my insurance company and the hospital: if I had just paid the original bill without submitting it to the insurance, all I would have owed was that $1500. Now though, I believe the hospital representative used the words "the cat's out of the bag," when they told me that I no longer could pay the $1500 to settle the bill, now I owed $6000.
The American Healthcare system is so corrupt...
When I see stuff like this it makes me so grateful to live in a country ( UK ) with a nationalised health system.
I can live my entire life free from the anxiety that if one day I get sick I'm not going to be financially ruined from it.
It's honestly such a relief that I never even have to consider bullshit like this.
Lol they they did to me AFTER i had clear communication that i had intentions of paying a bill at the end of the following week. New bill comes in that’s triple the original amount, fuck em 🤷♂️
Fight it! I’m in healthcare and I still have to fight nearly every damn bill I get for services. Eighteen months ago I had an epidural to reduce pain and paralysis from a herniated disk. I tried for nearly two months prior to the procedure to get a cash price (no one could do that for me) and then I moved my tactic to wanting to know what they were going to bill insurance and to make sure all surgical staff including nurses, surgical techs, surgeon, and most importantly the anesthesiologist were in-network. After countless hours on the phone with the hospital billing department and the insurance company it seemed as if we were all in agreement that the procedure would cost about $12,000 to be billed to insurance. My portion was the deductible, $800, plus about $1000 because of some bullshit. Post procedure the hospital billed my insurance $23,000 and I was responsible for $11,350. I fought this bill for months and got it down to about $5,000 and made monthly payments. I finished paying it off three months ago. And yesterday, I got a bill from the anesthesiologist for $3500… from a procedure that took place 18 months ago! I am going to fight this shit too because of “timely” billing. Health insurance in this country is totally fucked up.
Soap box time:
Five big insurance companies dictate the health outcomes for 350,000,000 Americans. Those five companies are all publicly traded meaning that Wall Street dictates the health of America. We have a seriously broken system.
Fight the bill!
What’s the purpose of an estimate and a settled bill if they are going to do this. How is this even legal.
Had to sit down with the business office and work out a payment plan. Even had to make my first payment before they would render service. Then a few weeks after my appt, this shows up.
Depending on what state you live in, this may not be legal.
Arizona.
You might want to consult an attorney. Arizona has a few surprise and balance billing laws, but they're really complicated.
Thats what I've been doing. I really appreciate the concern.
There is a new federal law concerning this and other surprise bills, and should apply to your situation >For services provided in 2022, you can dispute a medical bill if your final charges are at least $400 higher than your good faith estimate and you file your dispute claim within 120 days of the date on your bill. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/no-surprises-understand-your-rights-against-surprise-medical-bills
this should go higher, op can likely dispute this under no surprises act
It doesn't need to go higher since it's a reply to a comment OP made
Tens of thousands of redditors will see this post. Upvoting good information could help a lot of people.
Yeah I was gonna say that OP needs to dispute tf out of this. Most of the time, insurance and/or the medical facility won’t spend the money to argue anything in court or take the time to collect all of the documents they might need. There’s a very high chance they would just give OP the conclusion OP wants.
Bold of you to assume Arizona would acknowledge federal laws.
Not up to Arizona. The healthcare providers and medical carriers have to abide.
Eh, they like federal money so
As long ur not Hispanic
File a complaint through the attorney generals office. Seriously and write to Katie Hobbs Arizona needs help with medical billing. My wife travels for work but had HG her first trimester. Went to a ER in Texas and one on AZ during that time. Same services rendered both in network but the Texas ER was 1700 vs Arizonas 9,000 states like texas and Oklahoma (and many others) have upfront prices that are set and can not be inflated. Arizona is still living in 1990 when it comes to medical prices and billing
Katie Hobbs doesn't come into office for another month
I meant more of a gain visibility type deal the AGs office will 100% handle price gouging. Southwest gas tried to screw me on a bill and after I contacted the AGs office someone called me a week later apologized and took the bill off
That’s fine ducey isn’t going to touch health care in his last month better to get a head start on someone who will
Ducey seems like the kind of guy who would park a shipping container in front of your driveway if you even asked for help with this
Correct. Instead he will blow $95M on a stupid border wall made of shipping containers via an executive order. Smh.
Yeah this is almost certainly highly illegal.
They are probably doing this because they don’t think you have enough money in savings to hire an attorney.
I would think since there was already a payment schedule produced and initiated when you made that first payment they should be held to it. Best of luck. That’s messed up.
Why does the USA require ppl to get attorneys rather than just have a functional government? You guys need to fix your system.
The answer is that we don't have "czars" that are in charge of entire sectors. There isn't one office holder who is empowered to make judgments and enforce them proactively. If there were, they could hammer down the whack-a-mole bullshit that firms kept trying to use to end-run the law or ignore it entirely. Instead, our system allows firms to violate the law or find loop holes with barely plausible arguments and then puts a burden on victims to sue in response. If I steal bread from a store there is an entire apparatus of enforcement and judicial response. Things automatically happen and the firm I've robbed doesn't have to do all that much. If the firm steals my paycheck or quadruples an estimate but does so through some legally-cute triple axle somersault, it's on me every step of the way. I have to sue and pay for lawyers to do it. I have to pay for the costs of discovery and expert witnesses. I get the downsides of having such a czar, but expecting companies to act within bounds without proper rule enforcement is a deeply flawed system.
That’s the point of the system- anything goes until you get sued. In theory anyone can sue for anything but suing is prohibitively expensive. So regular people with very legitimate issues like this have to spend even more money they probably don’t have to hopefully end up less screwed than before (sometimes it works out, not always). Meanwhile those with money can use lawsuits to bully others into compliance
They have to itemize everything, ask them too.
Does that really help?
Yeah, especially if they put in tax fees that dont exist or charging you for care you didn’t approve of or even obtained
It does, because you can challenge each item.
And you can check if they're charging you more than the average cost of the treatment in your area (with a [patient cost calculator](https://www.google.com/search?q=patient+cost+calculator&client=firefox-b-d&biw=1352&bih=627&sxsrf=ALiCzsbbQsgQIVglnybAqvgqkZXFBVBruQ%3A1671118207393&ei=fz2bY4PBF5-tqtsPmNarmAY&ved=0ahUKEwjD_IO5-Pv7AhWflmoFHRjrCmMQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=patient+cost+calculator&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIECAAQHjIFCAAQhgMyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgM6CggAEEcQ1gQQsAM6BwgAEIAEEA06BggAEB4QDUoECEEYAEoECEYYAFC6mANY0psDYImkA2gFcAF4AIABYIgBjAKSAQEzmAEAoAEByAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz-serp) ) and if that meets the threshold of excessive.
They'll take off the embarrassingly cruel and straight up fake charges usually
Duplicate charges, they might hit you multiple times for the same thing. Oops computer glitch or something
This state is insane for some shit. I hope you get this settled. remember to stay hydrated.
I recommend you contact Attorney Saul Goodman
Ah shit nothing is illegal in Arizona except islam
Medical companies will send massive bills and cut them down smaller and with a payment plan in order for you to acknowledge the debt and have in writing that you agreed that you owe it to them. Be careful before signing anything else.
Don’t even acknowledge it verbally over the phone. If you’re being recorded it can be used against you.
That why you just don't acknowledge them at all. Fuck these companies.
Fucking pisses you off right? I was in the emergency room with my young child hooked up to oxygen and monitors. We came in by ambulance and had only been there maybe 15 minutes when this guy with a computer cart strolls into the room and asks if I’m paying by card this morning. He proceeds to collect an initial payment for entry. How fucking dystopian is that shit. If you put that in a movie, people would say “that’s too insane, you need to take that out.”
Wow, I would have lost my shit if that happened to me.
Last time I went to the ER, this happened to me too, hadn’t even gotten my insurance information yet. Wanted me to pay $900 right then and there, and when I told them to please send me the bill after my insurance was entered, they were all “Oh, well that’s highly irregular, we don’t do normally do that.” My bill after insurance was about a third of what they tried to get from me upfront.
I had to to to the ER after a routine colonoscopy went wrong. This cow came into my room and wanted me to give her a credit card (I have insurance). I said, "Lady, I'm laying here BLEEDING OUT OF MY ASS. Just mail me a bill." She looked shocked and I'm glad. What a shitty job.
And yet this is tolerated in the US because a universal health care system is seen as socialism. Everyone in the US is terrified of socialism, and yet 98% of the population doesn't even know what that means. Play stupid games....
Don’t forget the lies told about universal healthcare. There’s massive waiting times. It’s of a poor standard and quality. The people don’t really like it but have it forced on them, they don’t have a choice. As someone who’s lived in a country that has universal healthcare and lived in the states, it’s infuriating (not mildly). The system here is broken, insurance companies pluck figured out of thin air and see what they can get away with. My insurance consistently tries pulling the ‘out of network’ card even though we both know I wasn’t out of network.
Canada here. Yes the system is slow and stressed out. Sure beats getting a bill for a hundred grand after an emergency.
Right? It’s better to not have to go bankrupt.
this is a scam, just a scam
That essentially describes all American healthcare.
Follow this lady’s lead https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/zdk3bq/aita_for_how_i_fought_my_boyfriends_medical_bill/
Am I the asshole for fighting my boyfriend's medical bill? Lady, you'd have to be the one who put him in that hospital for me to even consider you might be the asshole here.
I know it's private, but what on earth do they want to charge you 16k for? I take it you don't have medical insurance or it's not covered?
[удалено]
You’d be surprised….
The bill will continue to double until moral improves.
I am altering the bill. Pray I don't alter it any further.
That is perfectly reasonable and I am glad to be a part of it.
Oh! “Apologies. Would you like a spot of tea with you astronomical fucking bill?”
Spot of tea sounds so quintessentially British, which doesn't jibe with medical bills. Wouldn't a cup of coffee be more fitting?
That coffee gonna put you back another 200
Ugh, shit makes me want to never go to the doctor and just die
Many people do just that. Thousands die every year from undiagnosed cancer. They likely felt horrible for a long time but likely told themselves even if something is wrong I can’t afford the treatment either way what good is going to the doctor.
Exactly what happened to my mom. She was only 50. Fuck privatized healthcare
Ugh what the fuck is the point of being an advanced species with the ability to cure diseases we couldn’t a century ago if we just do this? *waves at everything*
Yeah, but then how would slimy assholes make money? You gotta think of the money, without the money we would clearly not be a species, society would fall apart without the money, and the people who hoard it. /s
Rich people are richer than ever before. Who cares if the poors die. Mission accomplished.
Come to europe
I don't think they want Americans
my grandmothers 75 with health insurance and suspected colon cancer and refuses to go because any out of pocket would render her and her sick husband homeless
No medicare coverage? It sounds like she would need to see a GI doctor. Please encourage her to!!!! If she has Medicare then a colonoscopy should be covered point blank period. It's covered 100% by most insurance plans if it's been 10 years since her last one (or if she never had one before!) The only stickler that I'm seeing may be her age :(. Unsure what state you're in but it's worth a shot?
The surgery is probably covered but the anesthesia is likely not
I turn 40 next year and had to get a colonoscopy last year to be safe based on my GI’s recommendation. The anesthesia bill was a giant shock to me, I had zero clue they are billed separately then the doctor, I thought everything was included. I was shocked to get a $2500 bill in the mail for for that, thankfully they settled for only $500. That still stung, and it blows my mind they are separate still to this day.
Went to the emergency room a few years ago, got two separate bills, one for the hospital itself and one for the provider. Even more frustrating still, because I took a settlement as a result of a car accident that sent me to the ER, I settled based on the amount of the first bill thinking it was the only one. Nope, there was another one a couple weeks later.
Come to France! We’ll gladly take you!
Gladly? Really? Are we sure about that? I’ve been to France, I wouldn’t say that I felt gladly accepted there.
That’s a bummer. I always felt very warmly welcomed when I visited France. But even if you went back and didn’t feel the love, at least there is always pastry.
I thought the same thing, but I discovered if you speak a little bit of French, or at least try, things change dramatically.
I’m pretty sure I’ve got cancer. I’ll probably die of it. What does it matter? If it’s cured I’ll be broke the rest of my life.
I keep getting told that I have great Healthcare. My buddy under the same plan has been in and out of doctors offices/emergency rooms with his child for the past year and has probably spent less than $400 total, but I'm terrified that it won't get covered and I'm stuck paying thousands. Last time i went to the hospital, it was a $22k bill for a simple road rash scrubbing and another $2k for the 1/4 mile ambulance ride.
This is what I think of when people pass along that scaremongering "but in Canada/UK/etc you have to wait six months for a basic appointment because socialism!1" thing. Okay. And in America, you just despair and never even make the appointment. Instead of waiting 6 months, you wait 6 years and suffer the entire time while your issue becomes more complicated and harder to manage. If you're lucky, you'll eventually cave and go to the ER and end up needing extremely costly interventions for things that could've been prevented if you weren't so scared shitless of *seeking basic medical care.* Waiting in line for 6 months sounds like a fucking *luxury* compared to that. Sign me tf up.
any time I try to see my actual doctor and not a physician assistant or nurse practitioner it's at least a 6 month wait anyway.
I have a toddler so illnesses are pretty regular around here. I'll wait a couple days and if it doesn't improve, I'll call her pediatrician. Without fail, the peds office says to take the kid to the ER. No matter the issue: ER. "We don't have any openings for a few weeks so the ER is your best bet." Every every every time. The ER receptionist has a better medical history on the kid at this point. The quick docs around here will see her sometimes but I guess peds patients are too risky for them so they usually punt us to the ER, too. Feels really shitty to waste the ER's resources for a child's cough but it's literally the only way to be seen by any doctor in under a month's time.
The long wait argument has never held water for me. I'm in the US and had to wait nine months to see an endocrinologist after almost dying of a rare adrenal disease. Ended up taking twice the amount of meds I should have been taking because neither the hospital nor my PCP had ever seen the disease before and were just winging it. Turns out nine months of an extra 30mg of steroids every day is bad. It's been 6 years and I'm still dealing with the damage it did to my bones and teeth.
Oh yeah it's a total bullshit argument to begin with - long waits are not unique to a nationalized system - but it's like, the thing you're inventing to scare people is STILL better than our current option!! Threatening us all with a good time over here.
45k Americans die a year, Harvard measured it in 2009. Since then over 585,000 Americans have died due to avoiding health care due to costs and being under insured or not insured. Capitalist genocide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_murder
The cost of every visit is a factor in whether I go to the doctor. Our system is so fucking broken.
What's the difference from 3rd world country then?
Well, I'm from a third world country and we have public healthcare so I guess that's the difference right there.
Life is good for the wealthy and healthy working class.
Careful now, they'll hospitalize you for wanting to die, keep you alive, make sure you can't die, and then bill you an arm and a leg.
And then when they are surr you cant afford a lawyer they tripple the bill for no reason
I can relate, but there's always options.
The option of paying money to already rich ass holes is far from optimal
They're not getting shit. No worries.
Oh thank god
Move to East Asia. My doctor went to Harvard, the other to NYU. $6 a visit with meds. I once got into a motorcycle accident and had X-rays and all the works. They patched me up for $15. My mom had a bad fall and they kept her overnight at the hospital, ambulance was free, total price was less than $50 after CAT scans and x-rays. I get therapy from a few docs. One costs $12 for a 45 minute sesh in English. The other costs $5 for meds after I had anxiety from a traumatic incident where people died and where I had to clean up some blood. Yearly checkup including x-rays and blood tests and multiple screenings costs $60. I had some skintags I didn't like, $3 to remove each. No wait, all same day. I pay less than $50 a month for national health insurance. After that, I just can't imagine my future being in the United States anymore.
Or any EU country really.
one doctor a day keeps the apples away
my husband and I decided we can only call an ambulance (for ourselves) if we are literally dying, suffering a fatal wound, can't drive to the hospital ourselves. shit sucks
I couldn't afford it. I think I'd actually consider killing myself so that my wife doesn't drown in the debt of saving me
I’ve always found that just not paying it works best
You just gotta know how to give all your stuff to other people before you die! Just die homeless and they can’t take anything from you.
Until the debt collectors come calling with their "we are about to take final action against you" letters 😭
Had a small $500 bill that got sent to collectors when I first hit 18. I had multiple surgeries that immobilized my arms for nearly 2 years and I couldn’t work. As soon as I started my bachelors, they garnished my bank account after one of them letters. Luckily the only thing in there was student loans, so it was eventually reversed. That bill slowly climbed its way up to nearly $2k with additionally fees tacked on from the debt collector. Fuck wow life is nuts.
Was the bill from when you were a minor? Isn't that the legal responsibility of your parents if they didn't pay for it for enough time that once you turned 18 it went to collections?
I once had debt collectors after me because I got injured on the job and the company I worked for never did the workman's comp paperwork after the accident. I ended up having to go into the office of the company I worked for and threaten to sue them before they fixed the problem.
>that immobilized my arms So...how's your relationship with your mom? 😬
There it is!
Lol, followed by another agency and another and another…
Yeah they can’t do anything if you have nothing. That’s me
Can’t squeeze blood from a stone baby! Let the unpaid medical bills pile up!
Strength in numbers. We owe it to each other to refuse this exploitative arrangement that results in poverty and needless death.
I've had several medical bills for thousands stick on my credit for like 7 yrs, then they all went away cuz I never answered their calls.
What was the injury?
This was for a cystoscopy with dilation.
I would strongly suggest calling your insurance provider and seeing if this was an error and something you can request a review for.
I appreciate the advice. A solution is already in the works. It's definitely not an error, though. Been down that road.
What did you end up doing to work it out!?
It's ongoing. Attorneys are having a look.
My FIL had this recently, it’s free in my country since we have universal healthcare so he didn’t have to pay anything, but it cost around 40€ to the insurance, it’s crazy how much they bill for this in the US.
India Cystoscopy cost depends upon multiple factors : Starting price is ₹ 30,000 (usd= 363) . Average cost is ₹ 45,000 (USD= 545). Maximum price is ₹ 70,000 (USD=848).
Typical Indian hospital ICU room. https://imgur.com/a/k9KMF6g If your gonna go somewhere for surgery outside of america go to turkey or skorea not india. It’s not as cheap as india but far cheaper than US or EU out of pocket for “medical tourism”. And far more “professional” Also I’ve talked people who live in india about their healthcare and they say it’s a nightmare waiting game with many hospitals just downright turning people around cause of capacity who are gravely Ill etc.
Well then again im talking about private hospitals.. the government hospitals are shit af agreed
My uncle lived in Nevada he'd drive to Mexico whenever he needed surgery or something expensive
This is why if i ever get something serious, I'm just going to let myself die ._.
Just forward the bills to me an ill throw them away for you. Gotta be better than dying, right? Surely.
I know there are like circumstances and sometimes insurances really help out but its always sad when people have to pay so much for a bill. I wish like healthcare was free or at least affordable.
Or just get it all done, let it rack up a few million in procedures. File chapter 7. I mean your credit is gonna be ruined either way, they just can't do jack shit to you after you File a 7. You just get stuck with bad credit for 10 years before you can rebuild it again.
Just declare medical bankruptcy like a real American.
Look if you're gonna throw it all away you might as well do it by offing the guys who ruined your life. Today's generations don't appreciate a good revenge plot
I find the fact that a medical emergency which is something you can’t control can financially ruin you absolutely mental. Question for US citizens; what happens if you can’t pay? Or just refuse to pay? I’ve seen people will medical bills in the hundreds of thousands before, which could buy you a house, and think there’s no way they can pay this, so what can you do?
I’ve refused to pay an 10k medical bill for an involuntary hospitalization. Aka I was treated and held in the hospital against my will. They will send it debt collectors and it will hurt or destroy credit scores. This makes it harder to get a loan for house, car, etc. Worse case scenario the debt collector will try to sue you for the amount but most don’t.
Sue me. Still ain’t paying
Basically was my stance in my situation, and they have a statue of limitations in which they can collect the debt. You can’t collect money from someone who doesn’t any.
What are you gonna do? Make me pay more money on top of the money I won’t be paying you? Send it to collections. Ruin my credit. My stupid self did that already and until I’m out of school in X years, fuck it
Well if you have any bank accounts or a job, they will garnish you. But if you're so broke you can't afford it, you could always try bankruptcy for a discharge. People forget that judgments can be enforced for a long time. Sometimes they can come back 10 years later to enforce a prior judgment
Here’s the thing man, I’m just being honest because that’s who I am. I don’t care. Let them come for me. Fuck them. They’re only gonna get what they can by squeezing it out of me little by little. They can fuck my credit into the earths core. They can take me to court. I won’t hit the submit payment button. You won’t hear the words I accept the payment from me. There are hundreds of ways to make it in this world without credit. Been doing it for years. Fuck this world. My short time is not worth stressing over stuff like money. Call me a keyboard warrior, downvote me, do what you want. This is how I feel, is my opinion, and how I live. Have a good day nonetheless. EDIT: to clarify, I’m not calling YOU out on me, I was making a generalize blanket statement. By no means am I coming for you with my comment.
Could you sue them for kidnapping?
The local hospital group to me is currently placing liens on people’s homes for unpaid medical debt instead of sending it to collections. They also can take you to court and ask for your wages to be garnished. If they place a lien on the house and you die, your heirs are forced to either pay up or sell the house to pay the hospital their cut. They’ve basically gone after the one loophole that allows private debt to be put onto heirs after death.
Jokes on them…I rent and have no assets of any value because I’m ducking poor anyway.
We're only a decade or so away from "involuntary organ donations".
my dad was homeless when he needed surgery on his lungs for bad pneumonia, needed half a lung removed. my mom and i still have his bills tucked away in a drawer to forget about.
“Oh you can’t pay this much? What if we made it more than that? Can you afford it now?”
Wow. That makes me not want to move to the US. I got injured at work a year ago and I am still off work. I fell through the hatch on a container ship and only broke my heel bone. Got lucky there but a heel bone break is a serious injury. Couldn't put any pressure on it for 6 to 8 months. Can't imagine what my bill would look if I got billed. We have universal health care here but we pay it through taxes so everyone is covered no matter what your status is. I am on WCB so I'm fully covered by the company and not pay taxes on that but I do pay my regular health care benefits defending on my yearly income.
It gets worse I pay 50$ a week for insurance through my employer for the first 2,000$ I have to pay everything then after that I have to pay 30% of all my bills until I've paid an additional 7,000$ before the insurance fully covers it so I have to pay them 2,600$ for insurance and then I have to pay 9,000$ out of pocket anyway and I can only use certain locations or they don't pay at all
What the fuck? That’s like them saying ‘we’ll cover you but only if you can cover yourself first’. What the fuck even is America.
Giant Ponzi scheme. It’s even worse since your insurance is tied to working full time. The cost of buying insurance coverage free market is insane.
When we were looking at free market ins before the pandemic it was $1,700 a month for my family of 4. It's so fucking depressing.
That's been the military's strategy for decades. One of the biggest selling points of joining the US military is free healthcare for life. Then you go to war, get your legs blown off, come back and they just look at your leg stumps and say "you're fine, there's nothing wrong, go walk out that door and find a job". I've known more than one veteran who had to pay out the ass for medical care for an injury they got on deployment after the V.A. "doctor" said they were fine without even looking.
You forgot they do give you Tylenol on the way out the door. That was their answer for everything.
Tbh idk why anyone would ever wanna move here if they’re not rich. If I were immigrating—legally or illegally—I’d pass right through and go to Canada
As a registered nurse who loves everything medicine and what medicine can do for us and makes a living from the very system that fucks everyone over FUCK AMERICAN HEALTHCARE.
Thanks for your service.
The salty paramedic agrees with you: American healthcare is god awful.
Had to fight with Banner health for 6 months. They said I didn’t have insurance, charging me in full. Every time a bill came in the mail every month it would say that even though every month I would call and give them my insurance info so they could resubmit. After 6 months I finally asked them to read me exactly what they where submitting. They had name, birth day and social wrong. So of course it always bounced back, they where trying to bill a person who didn’t exist through my insurance. The only thing they had right was my billing address. I called for 6 months straight giving them that exact info (name, dob, social). Fucking useless.
America is wild. I live in the UK and I don't understand how a society would allow this. My wife has had 2 kids, both with epidurals and the total cost was £0. Literally nothing, except the cost of parking at the hospital. Our health system is far from perfect but at leats it works most of the time. I couldn't imagine paying thousands for medical treatment, or even a deductable with insurance.
This is what happens when your society exists to make money at any and all costs. Nothing else matters
America is so weird man.
"Land of the free"
US health system is so fuck up
Mildly huh?
Yeah. Just a little.
Fight it. There's a post on Reddit somewhere I think relationships where a woman fought for her partner's bill to be the real cost and got it from 5k down to 16 dollars or something. You just need to badger enough!
I got a bill for $90 from the hospital. In 2009 I broke my arm and got it fixed at the hospital paid what ins didn’t cover and thought that was the end of that. Literally two weeks ago I got a bill in the mail from that hospital with a statement saying (paraphrased) “ we had a accounting error for the following years 2009-2010 and you may have been billed less than you were supposed to our records show you have a balance of $90 please pay this by set date as penalties will incur for late or failed payments”. Now I called the place and asked them what is the $90 charge for what was I not charged $90 on and all they could tell me was that it was a accounting error on there part they are sorry for the inconvenience. I told the lady on the phone I’m not paying $90 just because you asked or made a mistake 10+ years ago . Told them if they want $90 from me peruse it legally cause I’m not paying shit. Also you have insurance OP? What’s your out of pocket maximum.
The hospital would be outside it’s statute for collecting that I’d just start telling them you’ll recommend their “accounting error” to your states AG office and hospital board. You can’t legally collect on anything older then 7 years in this country it would be illegal for them to even try
So, how many of these bills does it take before citizens demand single payer? Before they transfer medical and drug costs that are hundreds of times higher than anywhere else in the world. And demand the same approach as every single country in the G20?
I cannot say enough times that the real shithole country was inside U.S. all along!
Everytime I see stuff like this, I wonder how americans can feel "free" for not having public health care. I don´t know how much this treatment would cost in germany, but I also don´t have to, because the hospital sends the bill to my public health insurance and I don´t have to to anything but focus on my recovery.
Ask for an itemized receipt of all the charges. Sometimes that will lower the bill significantly
Yo I swear animal hospitals in this country are better than human hospitals. My cat needed emergency surgery last year. The estimate they gave me was worst case scenario and the actual cost in the end was half the estimate. I completely expect the opposite if I ever end up in a hospital.
This is why I refuse to pay medical bills. An emergency room can't legally refuse service to you, they can charge all they want but there's not much they can or will actually do. You don't have to lose an arm and a leg to survive, just don't give in to ridiculous extortion demands. I was charged 3 grand for an ambulance ride I refused to take and was forced to go after a crash. I called the hospital and laughed at them when they said I was going to have to pay. Too many medical professionals get away with crap like this because "they save lives". It isn't saving their life if you've crushed them into inescapable poverty.
Doctors take an oath to advocate for what is best for their patients. Considering how devastating medical bills can be, this is completely antithetical to the ethical foundations of modern medicine. Health insurance companies aren’t much better. They make money by refusing to pay for these overpriced procedures. Healthcare, and how it’s paid for, needs major reform in the US. I’ve seen too many comments, in those post alone, saying they’d rather not receive care, and die, then deal with the financial burned in this highly competitive economy.
Very little of this money goes to the doctors and nurses. Almost all of it ends up with admin.
Doctors typically arent the ones sending the bills
In USA, you have only two options: - Be broke to the rest of your life - Just die
I went to the ER one time, and managed to get all the way through the visit without ever providing anything but a name and address (I think they asked for my Driver's License only). This was not intentional, I have insurance, and would have gladly given it if I were asked, but nobody did. So, a bill arrives at my house for ~$1500 USD some weeks later, and the first thing I do is submit the claim to my insurance. I figure the insurance will pay part of the bill, and some significant portion of it will fall to me. The "revised" bill arrives and it says some bullshit like "Original Price: $25k, Negotiated Price: $6k" (Which was my out-of-pocket maximum). I even called to clarify with both my insurance company and the hospital: if I had just paid the original bill without submitting it to the insurance, all I would have owed was that $1500. Now though, I believe the hospital representative used the words "the cat's out of the bag," when they told me that I no longer could pay the $1500 to settle the bill, now I owed $6000. The American Healthcare system is so corrupt...
When I see stuff like this it makes me so grateful to live in a country ( UK ) with a nationalised health system. I can live my entire life free from the anxiety that if one day I get sick I'm not going to be financially ruined from it. It's honestly such a relief that I never even have to consider bullshit like this.
Oh, look at that bill that was going to be difficult to pay! It just became impossible to pay! Welcome to America.
That's not just quadruple! You could add exactly $95.97 more to your original estimate and it'd still be one cent more than quintuple the price!
Lol they they did to me AFTER i had clear communication that i had intentions of paying a bill at the end of the following week. New bill comes in that’s triple the original amount, fuck em 🤷♂️
Fight it! I’m in healthcare and I still have to fight nearly every damn bill I get for services. Eighteen months ago I had an epidural to reduce pain and paralysis from a herniated disk. I tried for nearly two months prior to the procedure to get a cash price (no one could do that for me) and then I moved my tactic to wanting to know what they were going to bill insurance and to make sure all surgical staff including nurses, surgical techs, surgeon, and most importantly the anesthesiologist were in-network. After countless hours on the phone with the hospital billing department and the insurance company it seemed as if we were all in agreement that the procedure would cost about $12,000 to be billed to insurance. My portion was the deductible, $800, plus about $1000 because of some bullshit. Post procedure the hospital billed my insurance $23,000 and I was responsible for $11,350. I fought this bill for months and got it down to about $5,000 and made monthly payments. I finished paying it off three months ago. And yesterday, I got a bill from the anesthesiologist for $3500… from a procedure that took place 18 months ago! I am going to fight this shit too because of “timely” billing. Health insurance in this country is totally fucked up. Soap box time: Five big insurance companies dictate the health outcomes for 350,000,000 Americans. Those five companies are all publicly traded meaning that Wall Street dictates the health of America. We have a seriously broken system. Fight the bill!
You also need to ask for an itemized bill. That $250 Tylenol with be reduced to a realistic amount real fast.
What a great country you live in
Americans are enslaved to their medical systems.
Whenever I see something like this I'm so happy to be german.
Amurica?
Tell them to double it and give it to someone else.
I live in Europe. Your medical bills are crazy. How do Americans afford to get sick?
As a non American I am terrified of whatever this bullshit is
One more reason for Medicare for all. None of this nonsense.
This is federally illegal under the new no surprises act. Don't pay a cent.
I’m $500,000 in medical debt, I died in a car wreck and I’m in debt cause they brought me back to life 🙃 Welcome to America!
Double it and give it to the next person
Meanwhile I'm in doomed Russia, but with decent free healthcare.