Like ‘hey, your baby is not covered, it's 43 minutes under due’

Yes. You're right. Our healthcare system is absolutely bonkers bananas insane, and that's before you calculate in the cruelty. And as US citizen, I strongly advise everyone who isn't to avoid this country like the plague.

However, if I travel to Switzerland or Canada or Italy or wherever, as a tourist, I am not covered if I go in the hospital. I still need to carry travel insurance, and if I don't, or if it doesn't cover something, then those countries with their modern, sensible healthcare systems will charge me out of pocket, just like an American hospital. The difference is that in America, even the citizens aren't covered by default, and the amounts are astronomical compared to other countries.

It's a shitty system all around, and frankly, I genuinely believe that if it weren't for America's weird fetish for as much money as you can possibly choke on, we would probably have started building an actual universal healthcare system for the global community, so that you're covered by default even when traveling. But like with most things, the right wing nonsense has held us so far back that that is so unlikely as to seem utterly impossible

If I'm going to be paying $200,000 for medical procedures then they better be replacing my liver or something. How could a pregnancy possibly cost that much money?

They probably asked 6 grand just for pulling out a splinter.

NICUs are capital and professional labor intensive. I got to meet the team of doctors and nurses who kept my son alive and thriving for the three months between birth and due date. Idk what the magic number to care for him should have been, but I don't think six figures is an unfair estimate in any socio-economic system.

The question after that is "Who paid for it?" And, in my case, it was Medicaid, which was a huge relief. These poor bastards clearly didn't have the option.

If i take a boat and sail to a known cannibal island, where people like me have gone and been eaten before, and I then get eaten, there's no one to blame but me. The US is simply not a good place to travel to at this time. It would have been even more hell for them if they had to over stay their visa.

Hospital: we gonna steal ur baby lol

Parents: oh no, you are going to feed it, bathe it, care for it, educate it, all on your own dime? Oh the humanity

Hospital: wait no not like that-

E: hospital: that's filthy socialism!

ICE, on the other hand, we send them to do all manner of things outside the US.

some are worse than others. I've noticed going to a prompt care is much faster than going to 'emergency room'. depends a lot on location and how busy they are that day. i haven't been seen w/o insurance since 70s when i broke my hand in a fight. doubt they ever got paid for that cast.

That's just blatantly false. I'm all for hating companies that gouge people to make money, but insurance isn't inherently a scam. Insurance, when implemented properly, is paying a low regular premium to offset a risk you can't afford should it hit. I've insured my house against burning down, because I can afford to pay a small amount once a month while a fire (while unlikely) would bankrupt me. Most likely, I'll lose money in the long run by paying for that insurance, but that's not the point. The point is that I can afford to lose money over a 30-50 year period, but I cannot afford to lose my house at any single point during the next 30-50 years.