Here in Canada, that bill would be basically nothing. There might be a parking charge for visitors to complain about or maybe some hospital food that costs too much for visitors, but the treatment and the stay would be free. If that was my mom, she would have to pay off that bill for 69 years (nice. I actually calculated it) if she spent everything she ever makes each year on that bill. Never mind groceries or bills.
If that man lives to the life expectancy mark, he would have to pay over $183,000 each year (never mind interest or whatever else happens). The average senior above 65 makes only $25,600 a year. This man is doomed unless he’s secretly rich.
The truth is that we DO need healthcare reform in America- but it isn’t as bad as many make it out to be. Medros posts some details below on this case- but the way our system works is basically because of certain laws and companies being frugal. A hospital bill in America gets inflated because insurance is allowed to negotiate rates. So they may pay let’s say for example- 60% of the charge right? So- if something costs the hospital $5 and they need to make $5 profit to be stable, they charge $10, insurance will agree to pay $6- and they only get $1.
So they have to mark it up so that insurance pays $10 after the 40% is removed. But insurance will do surveys and readjust, and the cycle continues. The dark humor comes in when we realize that since the hospital has to charge $100k for a much cheaper operation- and the law says they can’t charge one rate to insurance and one rate to the uninsured- they have to charge the higher rate to everyone. But... the reason there if you recall is that insurance pays a different amount since they negotiated a deal!
To simplify: the law says that insurance and uninsured people have to be charged the same- so the uninsured get higher bulls because insurance pays a different price than invoice...
But there in lies the key! They weren’t sent a different bill- it was the same bill and they NEGOTIATED IT. People are allowed to negotiate hospital bills. If the “real cost” of a $100k visit was $10k... the hospital can take $10 and break even- and $12 would still be profit to cover expansions and such. Since someone looking at a $200k a year medical bill probably will never pay it- a smart person would rather take SOME of that money than insist on all of it and get nothing.
Hospitals, medical companies, and even the government have programs that can reduce or eliminate some of the debt from medical bills- but a person has to know the resources are there and how to use them- which is why most hospitals have case workers- really it’s perhaps less about getting a bill off your plate and more about getting them reimbursed.
If that sounds messed up... IT IS! But... it isn’t what media and many folks make it out to be. You also cannot he denied life saving or critical care because you can’t pay. But.....
There’s a problem lurking behind the whole thing that social medicine doesn’t really address....
the government is already highly involved in healthcare. It already subsidizes both patient care as well as providers and even suppliers. It makes and enforces the rules and regulations of the industry. Not to mention that income qualified Americans can and DO get government provides healthcare. Senior citizens- most of them- get government health benefits- including this guy.
So.... it turns out the US government is REALLY bad at healthcare. REALLY bad. If you listen to a lot of these horror stories- they come from people who are on or qualified for government benefits. When tasked with providing for just a SMALL FRACTION of Americans- the quality of care declines dramatically and the expense to the individual doesn’t really improve much. When you add the costs of administration for government provided healthcare to existing healthcare costs- we can see that there’s a huge potential there for the government to screw up. And let’s not forget they already make the rules- and the rules are confusing and prohibitive.
We an already see in other areas exclusive to government control like the military- how having the same people who regulate and make the rules and budgets and decisions for an organization have exclusive control of it- leads to corruption and nepotism. In the private medical field- we already have trouble where the people supposed to “police” the industry sit on the boards or have major personal stakes in the companies they are supposed to reign in.
When we look at programs like public schools- we can really see how well the government does when it is given control. From poor quality of education to the salary of teachers, to the overcrowding of classrooms and cutting of programs.
In the end- as much as we need healthcare reform- government healthcare probably isn’t the best solution for America- at least not until and unless we could see major changes in government. If you experience, or talk to/read about stories of military life in the US- the paperwork and hoops involved- the screw ups and frustrations in everything from time off to pay to schools and housing and relocation aka moving from one house to another using government resources... and what is involved to straighten that stuff out when it goes wrong...
Don’t get me wrong. The military does a good job of a lot of tough tasks. But just process that the worlds largest employers, operating on $680 billion dollars a year- struggles with logistics and funding for 1.3 million people and their dependents. If we round up and add vets- we are looking at about 30 million- and the VA is amazing- but with its government funding and administration- the horror stories that come out of the VA aren’t usually bills- they’re red tape nightmares, wrongful death, poor treatment sometimes causing permanent damage, declining of coverage for necessary treatment a private hospital has prescribed and so on
Other countries make government healthcare work- but for better and worse- The USA isn’t other countries. Government healthcare isn’t likely that magic potion for America that many think it is. It’s most likely trading one set of problems for another- and for some that is a good trade, for others not so much. I’d like to see us get our medical welfare system working to a standard of care and use and then expand that as opposed to goin through the upheaval of a functional but flawed system for a new one that probably... if the government is involved... will just... be Terrible.
Sorry I'm replying 5 days later, but thanks for the information, seriously! I don't really know how it all works because where I'm from it just, well, works. Thanks for the read and the insight!
lol. No worries, and thank you for taking the time to read and reply. To be honest- most people in the USA don’t know how it works either. A big part of many problems we have is simply that American people don’t really understand how or why fundamental things work- which can easily confuse and anger people. Worse- the system IS broken- but because people don’t understand how it works- they don’t really know where to focus on fixing it- so they either pour effort into the wrong things or like someone who doesn’t know how to fix something around the house- they just decide to throw it out and get a new one. But our healthcare system is far from perfect- it does need fixes, and citizens need to be able to understand it and have access to information and resources.
There also are special financial rules that apply only to COVID-19. Congress set aside more than $100 billion to help hospitals and insurance companies defray the costs of the pandemic, in part to encourage people to seek testing and treatment (including those with no insurance). As a result, Flor probably won’t have to pay even his Medicare Advantage policy’s out-of-pocket charges, which could have amounted to $6,000.
I'm in my last exam week and working everyday, so I'm a bit stressed, but I promise imma be back
Also thanks :)
the government is already highly involved in healthcare. It already subsidizes both patient care as well as providers and even suppliers. It makes and enforces the rules and regulations of the industry. Not to mention that income qualified Americans can and DO get government provides healthcare. Senior citizens- most of them- get government health benefits- including this guy.