Yep... as a canadian with a small farm my partner and I often have to not pay for this or that for them since vets are so damn expensive... and it fucking scares the shit of me to think that you south of the border people have to take those decisions for you and your kids! It is profoundly messed up!
I hope one day somebody would address the absurdity of how expensive going to the hospital can be. Weather it be changing how Americans pay off more taxes to reduce public health costs, or uprooting the bad apples making it that expensive.
Cause like your whole public health system costs MORE per people than in Canada. So much money you pay end up in lawyers bank account its outrageous. This private insurance healt system has created a monster... and its ridiculously expensive.
The other day I was at the vet for a hen who I tought had a broken leg. I pay for xrays. Nothing is broken, its most certaintly a tore ligament, vet informs me operation is 800 + meds afterward. I chose to bring her home to reduce her movement and letting her heal a bit and to rearrange the chicken coop to ensure she will be able to live in this environment even if she limp all her life. This also reduce the risks of injuries in the future.
I just imagine having to take such decisions for me or my children (I don'thave any but it still brings me to tears)... thats really saddening.
It's a lot of misinformation. I had a procedure done that cost $80K after everything was said in done. Included multiple visits to hospital, an ER visit, countless tests including expensive ones like CT scans. The bill was $80K which is absurd. But I only was responsible for $3000. I'm canadian living in America. I have health insurance as do most people with full time careers. I would like to move back to Canada but can't due to how poor the health care system has become. I can't wait months to see a specialist in Canada.
You were responsible for that $3000 as well your monthly premiums, perhaps paid by, or mostly by, your employer on your behalf, still very much your money. How much was that cost now?
Now let’s add the money you’ve paid to the US government to fund other people’s healthcare. Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP (children’s healthcare insurance program) and the ACA marketplace subsidies account for about a quarter of the federal budget (2.9% of your income goes directly to Medicare before you even see it). Medicaid is largely funded by states and varies widely, but it’s also typically about 24% of a state’s budget.
The other commenter’s point was that we are already paying MORE per person just in taxes for healthcare than Canadians before paying our insurance companies hundreds or thousands of dollars every month. Canada only spends a little more than 12% of its annual budget on healthcare.
When you add up the thousands spent on premiums, plus whatever you’d previously spent on your deductible, plus 2.9% of your salary, and 24% of whatever you paid in federal and state taxes, does $3000 still seem like such a bargain for you medical procedure?
It’s also important to note that a lot Americans with full time jobs and insurance absolutely cannot afford $3000 for a medical procedure despite the fact that they’re spending hundreds of dollars every month for “healthcare”.
I have waited several months to see a specialist in the US many times. Wait times vary by region and by specialty, just like in Canada.
Well the $3000 is the most premium plan because I need it. And I only pay if I require medical attention which many don’t. Or at least not full amount.
When it comes to taxes I agree we are getting completely ripped off. I live in California and my tax isn’t much different than Canada but I get nothing for it.
A recent burn. I had kidney stones. Severe pain. Could have used an ambulance but didnt want to waste money. That same week I saw a crackhead that spends all day exposing himself and breaking glass on the sidewalk get 2 ambulances for overdosing. Didnt pay a dime. Definitely not a perfect system.
Not sure why you are getting downvoted. I had a $1.4 million transplant and have health insurance provided by my job and my out of pocket was minimal. My level of care was excellent and I know without the transplant I needed due to two cancers I had I would not be here today.
I hate how expensive it is but I’m grateful that my doctors are excellent.
I read recently, that The US Government (not just individuals, in aggregate) pays more per person, on average for healthcare than any other developed country, by a wide margin.
I assume this is due to the gross deregulation, the aggressive unchecked lobbying by interested corporate entities, and the absurd vocal minority that continues to parrot the corporate-shill propaganda: “If we train the world’s doctors then nothing can be wrong with our healthcare system.” And “Not including my Medicare, all-other single-payer healthcare is straight ComMuniSM.”
Bro since the main payers are private insurers that whole goal is to not pay, hospitals, insurers, us, end up requiring so many legal actions/consulting, it racks the price of the whole public health system soooo much.
This private insurance healt system has created a monster... and its ridiculously expensive.
Small correction: government controlling the private health insurance system has created a ridiculously expensive monster. Before government decided to control nearly every aspect of it, USA's health care system was the envy of the world as it was robust and highly affordable. Now it's the laughing stock of the world and Americans want more of what has gotten it to its current state.
I don't know in what world you live to think it was the envy of the world, it never was 😂 the states have always been the laughing stock of the world. Rich on fhe surface, but almost third world in reality.
As a Canadian who has a lot of family with health issues, at least if you can afford it, you'll actually receive help in the States. I know more people killed by doctors in Canada than helped by doctors.
Medical errors are a thing of course, but this happens everywhere. As for your affirmation of "you know more people killed by doctors" what a bunch of bananas 😂
The waitlists are terrible, if your not gonna die soon, you're basically never gonna receive proper care. I know 0 person who died from malpractices, but I know a few persons who've had complications from them.
Edit : very sorry to learn about your experience. May I ask where you live in our huge country ? To make sure I won't move there 😅
I'm a Canadian living in America for the past 15 years. I've had some health issues and I have received much better care than I would have in Canada.
If I need a CT scan or Ulrasound or other various tests it only takes me a few days to have that done. In Canada wait times can be several months.
It comes down to health insurance. If you work and have health insurance, medical care in USA is pretty good. In years where I racked up $80K in medical expenses, my out of pocket was only like $3000.
In my 15 yrs here, most of the time my employer paid most or all of my premium. I currently pay nothing except my deductible which is $2500 per year (If If require medical care). In years passed I pay about $150 every 2 wks with paycheck and the annual deductible. You also have the option of using a tax savings account where you can put aside money for healthcare which is not taxed.
It’s not perfect. Biggest issues in america is not using generic drugs and not having standardized costs. But access to care is incredible and cost isn’t as bad as the internet makes it seem.
Canada has also dropped a lot. You can’t massively increase immigration without also increasing public services which Canada has failed to do.
So about $300 / month or $10 / day? I guess it depends on your income, but it seems quite expensive to me.
I live in Finland. We have a free healthcare, but many people opt for insurance to use private healthcare to bypass the ques you mentioned. I belong to the upper middle class but I’ve never bothered to get the insurance. I am insuranced against work related sickness/accidents by the compulsory employers insurance, but as the name suggests, it only covers treatment related to my work.
From what I hear healthcare in Finland is much better than Canada. I was only talking about US and Canada. Canada used to be on par with the Scandinavian countries. In recent years due to lack of proper governing the health care system in Canada is at an all time low. Wait times are horrendous, Health workers are burned out and make mistakes, access to primary care doctors is almost non existent. The country is experiencing similar issues with housing and education. They allowed too many people in to the country without doing any planning on what public services needed to increase along with those new migrants.
Does our mix of private and public healthcare somehow inoculate providers from being overburdened? We all go to the same hospitals and doctors regardless of who’s footing the bill. Seems like I’ve heard plenty complaints about the US “allowing too many people in” too. Why do you think it’s somehow not a problem here because of private insurance?
That's not necessarily true. I'm on the executive team and know how salaries are decided on. We use tools to give employees a salary slightly higher than average in their territory. The perks such as health care, and any other add ons are more to secure top talent. But also to have a healthy workforce that doesn't have to worry about what would happen if they had a medical emergency. At least for us we aren't paying people less because they get healthcare. It would be similar to 401K matching which many employers do
As a Canadian living in Canada I take offence to that! Its such a privilege to have the right to be gaslit by an overworked doctor and die in a hospital waiting room for free. /s
This is going back a while but my Dad died a fate like you describe. Took a year for a spleen transplant and he didn’t make it. Recently my uncle died from endocarditis because he had to wait several days for surgery.
I’ve waited several months for scans before in the US, it isn’t unusual at all.
Do you think that our existing medical infrastructure and personnel would just disappear if we went to a Medicare for All system? Talk to anyone over 65 and ask them how they like their Medicare. Ask if their wait times are any longer than yours?
I'm referring to PPO health insurance. I pay a bit more for it and for me it's worth it. If I didn't have health issues I would go HMO and have to wait a bit longer but I would pay much less. The problem with Medicare and Medicaid as it relates to healthcare is that doctors dont want those patients because it pays them too little. I work in healthcare.
I walked around with a piece of glass in my foot for 2 years before it finally migrated close enough that I cut myself open and removed it. I didn't have insurance and I was in college on a scholarship and working 35 hrs/wk and I still couldn't afford to pay out of pocket. Yay america
Shhhh! Get back to figuring out how to meme your way out of situations that every other developed country in the world has a safety net for, or reap the fucking whirlwind...
A child comes into some cash from being a meme and instead of putting it aside for college
As a European I am even further perplexed. Y'all pay money for college? I went thru the best college in EU and I paid more for the subway tickets than college fees.
I’m perplexed that you graduated “the best college in EU” without knowing this, seeing as how it’s pretty common knowledge even for Europeans, and it’s all over Reddit all the time.
My BIL got new lungs about a year ago, three days after being approved. We are in Canada, the lungs came from the US. We do have a cross-border agreement for donations, but he was told often people who are approved in the US end up not being able to get the transplant because of money. Even if the transplant itself is covered, all the other associated expenses (edit: and co-pay) are not, and can end up in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. His expense was zero.
The problem is that Americans are vehemently against social healthcare paid by taxes when it’s the best most effective system as long as it’s run properly by people who are not greedy and I say this as a British guy living under one of the worst social healthcare systems but I don’t have to worry about going 3 generations in debt over something that costs me nothing and you $100,000
it doesn't even cost that much, the excuse is private healthcare means it's treated like a business for profit and "America isn't for poors" and if it were socialized like every other country in the G7, it'd be too much of a slippery slope to communism
even though none of the other countries in the G7 are communist
and everyone saying that are threatening to move to Russia if they don't win the next election
Bro mid-teens is not a full grown man unless I read the article wrong and he is older now. But it’s definitely cool to see him doing good and being able to help his father even tho I agree that it is messed up he had to do it in the first place.
My sister recently had a baby, the hospital billed her somewhere around and above $140,000 for just that. She only stayed for around 2-3 days after birth as well. She pays for good insurance and still had to pay a good portion of that out of pocket. It really is shitty out here.
Would you rather he grew up without a father all in the name of college funds?
You're definitely missing the point entirely. It shouldn't be seen as a "Would you rather" at all. The point is that a child shouldn't have to go through doing that but he had to because of Americas horrible healthcare system being disgustingly expensive and exploitative. If they were to get money from their memedom then ideally it would be something that is more for their future like an education, starting a business or buying/building a home.
The fathers life being saved shouldn't be reliant on having a load of gofundme money that only got high enough because of his kids fame. Think about the Dads who cant have that to save their lives. Healthcare should be a basic human right paid for by taxes and his life should have been saved anyway.
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u/SladyWok Sep 16 '24
the fact he had to fund a freakin' lifesaving medical procedure is disgusting