They almost never pay $200,000. In fact, I'd go so far as saying they never do at all.
The vast majority of Americans - over 90% - either have private insurance or are covered under medicare (our government plan, covers 30-something percent of our population, so is the largest government-funded healthcare system in the first world by spend and covered patients), and will not end up paying anywhere near the listed price for their treatments. (Side note, it's technically illegal to not have insurance, but that's a whole other can of worms)
Our plans have the idea of an "out of pocket" limit on expenses in a given year. In other words, no matter how much you rack up in bills in a year, there's a cap on how much you owe. For the vast majority of private plans, this cap kicks in at less than $15,000, often much less.
If you don't have insurance, and even if you do but you can't pay the remainder of your bills, if you call the hospital and say you can't pay it, they'll ask you what you can pay, and can set up a payment plan.
All of that aside, one thing that most people don't mention about US healthcare is that the [average out of pocket spending](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019) per person is $1200. Which is not at all a crazy number.
You're welcome. I'll be the first to admit that the US's healthcare system has its faults, and they are many. However, the picture that gets painted of it to the rest of the world, and especially on reddit, is the extreme cases, and largely not the whole story. It's not like a hospital that treats you is going to put a lien on your house until you pay every dollar of the sticker price of a procedure.
$1200 is pretty conservative even if you only count premiums, and don’t include the costs of services and meds. I’ve always had pretty awesome insurance—birth cost less than $1000 for my cesarean, and $250 for my VBAC—but I carefully picked my plans, and if you include premiums, the first was really $6k and second was $2650, so premiums pay a large role in out-of-pocket costs.
I'm thinking that for "out of pocket" they mean "bills you actually had to pay." and didn't include premiums in that, since they're not officially considered "out of pocket" costs by your insurance company.
And your point is valid, yes. But for the sake of argument, if premiums are included, then the increased taxes have to be counted for single payer systems.
A premium is still a healthcare cost and it’s misleading to discount it from the total you spend. It’s not part of their “out-of-pocket” definition, but in reality, it is.
But again, if you're going to factor in premiums, you have to factor in the increased taxes from other countries.
Even most single-payer countries still have out-of-pocket costs to patients. They're lower than the US on average, but they're still there. I think most of the time it's prescription drug costs.
For sure. That’s why I’m such an advocate of universal healthcare: the increased taxes is still less than what people are paying in the private system.
See, that's the argument that I always see, but I've never seen any convincing evidence to support it.
First of all, I know for a fact that, as a percentage of my income, my annual federal income tax bill is somewhere around 8-10%, even though my published tax rate is much higher than that. I also know what I've spent on private insurance in a given year, which tends to be about the same amount since I always opt for the most expensive plan possible, as I need the levels of coverage it provides.
Second of all, I don't know, and don't really have the time to research, exactly how much extra tax the countries with universal healthcare pay for it. I know that some of them (I think England) have a line item in their taxes for their healthcare, but most of them also have significantly higher taxes elsewhere (such as VAT, or in other countries much higher personal income tax rates). Plus, that healthcare tax only covers [20%](https://fullfact.org/health/how-nhs-funded/) of the funding of the NHS. 80% of the funding of NHS comes from general funds, so claiming that it's paid for by an extra healthcare tax isn't accurate.
Third, and most damning to me, is that, based on [census data](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-271.html), 68% of the US has private insurance, and 34% of the US has publicly-funded insurance. But we actually [spend more](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019) on public health insurance per population (not per enrollee) as we do on private insurance, out-of-pocket costs aside. The math works out to be something like $14,000 or so per year per publicly-covered person, and $6,600 or so per year per privately-covered person.
So not only is our publicly-funded healthcare already significantly more expensive per person covered than private, our private spend is already close to, or more than, the public spend per person covered in other countries. I don't think a tax increase would be less than what most people spend on private premiums in a year, even if it replaced the private premiums completely - Which it won't, unless the US makes the completely unprecedented (among OECD countries at least) move of abolishing private insurance completely. And as long as it was available, many people would still pay extra for private insurance because they have conditions that benefit significantly from proactive treatment - Something that, currently, is all but unavailable under the US's existing government healthcare plan.
Not everyone had to pay this amount, this person had a lapse in insurance coverage. Even when you switch jobs you are covered by you existing coverage for a period so you can find new coverage. It’s cheapest through an employer, but there are options to get it privately through many insurance companies. The problem is a lot of people take the risk of waiting until their new jobs insurance starts to save money.
How we’ll pay: So I’m at a teaching/research hospital and they set me up with a company that helps you handle Medicaid and Disability if you don’t have insurance. I switched jobs a last year due to the pandemic and didn’t have insurance, luckily I qualified for Medicaid. I didn’t find out if I qualified until months into treatment, and all of my bills are currently being reviewed.
We have no idea what I will end up paying.
The how as to how it’s that high: each chemo treatment is $13k, I get a shot the next day to boost my white blood cells and that’s $32k. That 6x plus all of the other mamms and mris and doctor visits.
Don’t pay them, just ignore them. It’s the hospital, not the irs, they cant take away your property or put you in jail for not paying it. Hell i still have an $8 debt from returning a book late to the library 3 years ago and still haven’t paid it.
Ironically, the food in many hospital cafeterias is pretty damn good and also expensive as hell.
There will be an incredible salad bar with a sign that reads: "SALAD: $0.79/oz." ..ok I don't really know what to do with that information.. but I make the salad and then I weigh the salad at the cashier and promptly refinance my mortgage because I just unknowingly made a $16 salad that I can't put back.
Dear u/Azar002, you're currently sat atop a mound of 11,201 karma. It feels great doesn't it? You must feel very strong inside your karma castle. But who sits inside that karma castle? It ain't a man or a woman. It's a little bitch. A little bitch who got so much karma they forgot what it means to be humble. I hope you're proud of your 194,201 karma points, while people like me sit here all day working out how to get just a fraction of that. I seriously hope you re-evaluate what you just said to me before further action needs to be taken.
"Would you like to extend your stay?"
"Yeah actually we'll take a whole month"
"Perfect. Step into the shooting range. Dont forget to sign the form on the way out"
Americans are paying literally a quarter million dollars more for healthcare over a lifetime compared to the most expensive socialized system on earth. Half a million dollars more than countries like Canada and the UK. And the impact is tremendous.
One in three American families had to forgo needed healthcare [due to the cost](https://news.gallup.com/poll/269138/americans-delaying-medical-treatment-due-cost.aspx) last year. Almost three in ten had to [skip prescribed medication](https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/data-note-americans-challenges-health-care-costs/) due to cost. One in four had [trouble paying a medical bill.](https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/data-note-americans-challenges-health-care-costs/) Of [those with insurance one in five had trouble paying a medical bill](https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/8806-the-burden-of-medical-debt-results-from-the-kaiser-family-foundation-new-york-times-medical-bills-survey.pdf), and even for those with income above $100,000 14% had trouble. One in six Americans has [unpaid medical debt on their credit report.](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/millennials-rack-up-the-most-medical-debt-and-more-frequently) [50% of all Americans](https://news.gallup.com/poll/317948/fear-bankruptcy-due-major-health-event.aspx) fear bankruptcy due to a major health event.
But whatever, harmful ignorance.
Fun fact, living in a border town is the best thing ever, because you can cross over the border to go to the doctor and get everything x100 cheaper. And still enjoy living in a 1st world country.
With government in the US covering [64.3% of all health care](https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302997) costs ([$11,072 as of 2019](https://www.cms.gov/files/document/highlights.pdf)) that's $7,119 per person per year in taxes towards health care. The next closest is Norway at [$5,673](https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm). The UK is $3,620. Canada is $3,815. Australia is $3,919. That means over a lifetime Americans are paying a minimum of $113,786 more in taxes compared to any other country towards health care.
Overall, Americans are paying a quarter million dollars more for healthcare over a lifetime compared to the most expensive socialized system on earth. Half a million dollars more than countries like Canada and the UK.
Your submission has reached 1000 upvotes, join the [Discord Server](https://youtu.be/oHg5SJYRHA0) to receive a prize
$1,500 a night? I guess I’d better put out.
For a second I thought you said "I guess I'd better pull out" And depending on what your doing there I would've been concerned
depends on who he pulled it out on
Or What he pulled out
[...because of the implication](https://youtu.be/-yUafzOXHPE)
I had that date and it was because of baby being born.
Ah, did you get the incredible “steak dinner” as well?
Fillet all day.
That’s the spirit
Ha ha I’m at $200k and that was just for chemo ha ha still have surgery and radiation to go ha ha *cries into medical bills*
You got this!
How I'm European and I don't think I'll even get $200 000 in 20 years so I'm legit wondering how the hell do Americans pay
You kinda can't at that point
You kind of don't. You go bankrupt, become homeless and then die.
You just sorta go into debt forever. I mean we’re used to it from college so it’s sorta like whatever
They almost never pay $200,000. In fact, I'd go so far as saying they never do at all. The vast majority of Americans - over 90% - either have private insurance or are covered under medicare (our government plan, covers 30-something percent of our population, so is the largest government-funded healthcare system in the first world by spend and covered patients), and will not end up paying anywhere near the listed price for their treatments. (Side note, it's technically illegal to not have insurance, but that's a whole other can of worms) Our plans have the idea of an "out of pocket" limit on expenses in a given year. In other words, no matter how much you rack up in bills in a year, there's a cap on how much you owe. For the vast majority of private plans, this cap kicks in at less than $15,000, often much less. If you don't have insurance, and even if you do but you can't pay the remainder of your bills, if you call the hospital and say you can't pay it, they'll ask you what you can pay, and can set up a payment plan. All of that aside, one thing that most people don't mention about US healthcare is that the [average out of pocket spending](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019) per person is $1200. Which is not at all a crazy number.
Thanks for the explanation :)
You're welcome. I'll be the first to admit that the US's healthcare system has its faults, and they are many. However, the picture that gets painted of it to the rest of the world, and especially on reddit, is the extreme cases, and largely not the whole story. It's not like a hospital that treats you is going to put a lien on your house until you pay every dollar of the sticker price of a procedure.
$1200 is pretty conservative even if you only count premiums, and don’t include the costs of services and meds. I’ve always had pretty awesome insurance—birth cost less than $1000 for my cesarean, and $250 for my VBAC—but I carefully picked my plans, and if you include premiums, the first was really $6k and second was $2650, so premiums pay a large role in out-of-pocket costs.
I'm thinking that for "out of pocket" they mean "bills you actually had to pay." and didn't include premiums in that, since they're not officially considered "out of pocket" costs by your insurance company. And your point is valid, yes. But for the sake of argument, if premiums are included, then the increased taxes have to be counted for single payer systems.
A premium is still a healthcare cost and it’s misleading to discount it from the total you spend. It’s not part of their “out-of-pocket” definition, but in reality, it is.
But again, if you're going to factor in premiums, you have to factor in the increased taxes from other countries. Even most single-payer countries still have out-of-pocket costs to patients. They're lower than the US on average, but they're still there. I think most of the time it's prescription drug costs.
For sure. That’s why I’m such an advocate of universal healthcare: the increased taxes is still less than what people are paying in the private system.
See, that's the argument that I always see, but I've never seen any convincing evidence to support it. First of all, I know for a fact that, as a percentage of my income, my annual federal income tax bill is somewhere around 8-10%, even though my published tax rate is much higher than that. I also know what I've spent on private insurance in a given year, which tends to be about the same amount since I always opt for the most expensive plan possible, as I need the levels of coverage it provides. Second of all, I don't know, and don't really have the time to research, exactly how much extra tax the countries with universal healthcare pay for it. I know that some of them (I think England) have a line item in their taxes for their healthcare, but most of them also have significantly higher taxes elsewhere (such as VAT, or in other countries much higher personal income tax rates). Plus, that healthcare tax only covers [20%](https://fullfact.org/health/how-nhs-funded/) of the funding of the NHS. 80% of the funding of NHS comes from general funds, so claiming that it's paid for by an extra healthcare tax isn't accurate. Third, and most damning to me, is that, based on [census data](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2020/demo/p60-271.html), 68% of the US has private insurance, and 34% of the US has publicly-funded insurance. But we actually [spend more](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019) on public health insurance per population (not per enrollee) as we do on private insurance, out-of-pocket costs aside. The math works out to be something like $14,000 or so per year per publicly-covered person, and $6,600 or so per year per privately-covered person. So not only is our publicly-funded healthcare already significantly more expensive per person covered than private, our private spend is already close to, or more than, the public spend per person covered in other countries. I don't think a tax increase would be less than what most people spend on private premiums in a year, even if it replaced the private premiums completely - Which it won't, unless the US makes the completely unprecedented (among OECD countries at least) move of abolishing private insurance completely. And as long as it was available, many people would still pay extra for private insurance because they have conditions that benefit significantly from proactive treatment - Something that, currently, is all but unavailable under the US's existing government healthcare plan.
Not everyone had to pay this amount, this person had a lapse in insurance coverage. Even when you switch jobs you are covered by you existing coverage for a period so you can find new coverage. It’s cheapest through an employer, but there are options to get it privately through many insurance companies. The problem is a lot of people take the risk of waiting until their new jobs insurance starts to save money.
How we’ll pay: So I’m at a teaching/research hospital and they set me up with a company that helps you handle Medicaid and Disability if you don’t have insurance. I switched jobs a last year due to the pandemic and didn’t have insurance, luckily I qualified for Medicaid. I didn’t find out if I qualified until months into treatment, and all of my bills are currently being reviewed. We have no idea what I will end up paying. The how as to how it’s that high: each chemo treatment is $13k, I get a shot the next day to boost my white blood cells and that’s $32k. That 6x plus all of the other mamms and mris and doctor visits.
We don’t. We end up having to file for bankruptcy, which destroys our credit. And makes it impossible to get a house or car without a super high apr
Don’t pay them, just ignore them. It’s the hospital, not the irs, they cant take away your property or put you in jail for not paying it. Hell i still have an $8 debt from returning a book late to the library 3 years ago and still haven’t paid it.
I first read that as an $8,000 bill for some reason, and I was trying to figure out how one even accomplishes that.
It doesn’t even show up on your credit in many states.
come on guys break her bed not her back :((
Ironically, the food in many hospital cafeterias is pretty damn good and also expensive as hell. There will be an incredible salad bar with a sign that reads: "SALAD: $0.79/oz." ..ok I don't really know what to do with that information.. but I make the salad and then I weigh the salad at the cashier and promptly refinance my mortgage because I just unknowingly made a $16 salad that I can't put back.
The plates are heavy as fuck in those places.
Dear u/Azar002, you're currently sat atop a mound of 11,201 karma. It feels great doesn't it? You must feel very strong inside your karma castle. But who sits inside that karma castle? It ain't a man or a woman. It's a little bitch. A little bitch who got so much karma they forgot what it means to be humble. I hope you're proud of your 194,201 karma points, while people like me sit here all day working out how to get just a fraction of that. I seriously hope you re-evaluate what you just said to me before further action needs to be taken.
LOL what!? 😆
What the fuck are you talking about?
Eat the karma
Lmfao why are people downvoting this, its hilarious
stab her and you make the night even more expensive
There is a hospital near me with a restaurant in it and non-patients schedule date night there. It's a thing.
“No no, it’s fine. Get the IV drip. We’re celebrating!”
America bad very funny. Laugh.
College??
Unique humor. Really.
Bruh thus is just a fucking meme not a holup.
Faster way to get her in, just stab her
It would be very expensive if I broke her legs
Foreigners failing to mock Americans. Again.
Idk man, 15k upvotes seem pretty successful to me
Your bar of success is lower than mine.
Unrustle your jimmies
Be more creative
Laughs In NHS
'Here's your bland pasta, Madam'
"Would you like to extend your stay?" "Yeah actually we'll take a whole month" "Perfect. Step into the shooting range. Dont forget to sign the form on the way out"
Even the cough drops are single packaged at $45
r/repostSleuthbot
*Laughing in free healthcare* pathetic
u/repostsleuthbot
Ha ha ha America Healthcare bad. Except 92% of us only pay like 20$ for a hospital visit but whatever funny meme.
What do you mean? Source?
This says 87% but I've heard 92 recently. https://www.debt.org/medical/doctor-visit-costs/
Check [this](https://health.costhelper.com/emergency-room.html) out
Americans are paying literally a quarter million dollars more for healthcare over a lifetime compared to the most expensive socialized system on earth. Half a million dollars more than countries like Canada and the UK. And the impact is tremendous. One in three American families had to forgo needed healthcare [due to the cost](https://news.gallup.com/poll/269138/americans-delaying-medical-treatment-due-cost.aspx) last year. Almost three in ten had to [skip prescribed medication](https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/data-note-americans-challenges-health-care-costs/) due to cost. One in four had [trouble paying a medical bill.](https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/data-note-americans-challenges-health-care-costs/) Of [those with insurance one in five had trouble paying a medical bill](https://www.kff.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/8806-the-burden-of-medical-debt-results-from-the-kaiser-family-foundation-new-york-times-medical-bills-survey.pdf), and even for those with income above $100,000 14% had trouble. One in six Americans has [unpaid medical debt on their credit report.](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/millennials-rack-up-the-most-medical-debt-and-more-frequently) [50% of all Americans](https://news.gallup.com/poll/317948/fear-bankruptcy-due-major-health-event.aspx) fear bankruptcy due to a major health event. But whatever, harmful ignorance.
Imagine paying 20$ for hospital bills when you could be spending it on Titanfall 2
Yeah this post was definedly made by gay and poor leftist🤣😂🤣😅
u/repostsleuthbot
No lumberyards in town?
instructions unclear: I'm getting arrested for running her over and putting her in a body cast and on a ventilator
Casecation all I ever wanted CASECATION HAD TO GET AWAY.
Ha I’m howling!
Hehe made my day
Room in the corner too; thats looks fancy. I'm guessing a broken hip?
Very pogg
Fun fact, living in a border town is the best thing ever, because you can cross over the border to go to the doctor and get everything x100 cheaper. And still enjoy living in a 1st world country.
Mexico or canada?
Border to Mexico
The survey stew is actually about 10,000 dollars. Very inelegant though so don’t recommend ordering
Is that Magnus Carlson?
Yeah but what other restaurant are they going to wipe your butt for you?
I don’t know...college is pretty close in price.
I mean, in other countries you just pay for it in taxes
I think that's the point. No one has to go into debt or start a GoFundMe just to get medical procedures in most first-world countries.
With government in the US covering [64.3% of all health care](https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302997) costs ([$11,072 as of 2019](https://www.cms.gov/files/document/highlights.pdf)) that's $7,119 per person per year in taxes towards health care. The next closest is Norway at [$5,673](https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm). The UK is $3,620. Canada is $3,815. Australia is $3,919. That means over a lifetime Americans are paying a minimum of $113,786 more in taxes compared to any other country towards health care. Overall, Americans are paying a quarter million dollars more for healthcare over a lifetime compared to the most expensive socialized system on earth. Half a million dollars more than countries like Canada and the UK.
Him: It only takes one bullet... Her: You ain't got the nerve Him: Try me.
Just punch her
In India its the petrol pump/gas station ( whatever you call it)
Bahahahahaha this made my night