A couple were told they faced a $200,000 (£146,500) medical bill when their baby was born prematurely in the US, despite them having travel insurance which covered her pregnancy.

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[+] -45 points 8 months ago (17 children)
  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 11 points 8 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago (6 children)

    I agree, the TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR BILL is completely reasonable, it's the insurance company's fault alone, there is literally nothing wrong with way we do medicine in the USA.

    On an unrelated note I wonder why Americans aren't having babies? It must be the queers.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Its a U.S. medical bill.

    The hospital asks for whatever the fuck it wants after it does the treatment.

    Then insurance says "we only pay a negotiate rate" and pays $25-$30K."

    I had intern from France a year back when I worked in research. He went skiing and broke his leg around 6 months in. The French healthcare system sent him a check for how much the medical treatment would cost in France. It was around 10% of the bill. He paid the 10% to the hospital.

    The hospital kept billing him and sent some of the bills to collections. He asked me what to do about it. "Tell them they have been fully paid by the French health system and to take it up with them. Then go back to France in 2 months and forget about it."

    He laugh and said they immediately stopped bothering him after that.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    Yes, but insurance companies benefit from large bills as well bcs the premiums go up, it's the main reason why over the years their profits are soaring. Their backoffice negotiating the bil is purely b2b shenanigans (same as recreational denying of coverage, them are just little profit optimisations). And it's not like their b2c approach differs that much.

    If non-free (healthcare) markets aren't regulated this is a normal, logical thing to occur.

    A broken leg costs (xray/mri, blood work, a cast, labour) are very low, like a couple of hundred monies.

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  • [+] -14 points 8 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Good point, so long as the system still technically works, it doesn't matter if it's too expensive for 25% of Americans to use it.

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  • [–] 15 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    In no first world country would the bill reach even half that amount. That is definitely a US problem.

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