Remember a month or so ago when I split my scalp open and got an ambulance ride to the ER and a CT scan and an EKG and some staples whacked into my head? The bill came.
It was $200.
Well, that was my out-of-pocket. The actual bill was $4,598.37.
Well, that’s what the insurance company paid by contract. The actual actual bill was $25,546.25.
It’s like I got a twenty-five grand bonus just because I have a job.
The American medical system is insane.
Still waiting on the ambulance invoice.
@gknauss I don't talk about it much, but I have some pretty serious concerns about how the value of the medical industry is calculated.
Like, not to sound like I need to adjust my tin-foil hat, but... When insurance companies own hospitals and hospitals own insurance companies, what control in the metrics alone guards against a hospital "charging" itself a hojillion dollars for a procedure that is then covered nearly completely by insurance, just to make the service sound valuable?
@cstross And to be clear, I only paid $200 out of pocket.
But under different circumstances — circumstances not of my own making — I could easily have been (literally or figuratively) bled dry.
The American system sucks.
@stuart_begg @gknauss not sure what you're thankful about, the current right wing government in "centre-left" clothing are continuing the previous government's job of dismantling Medicare, and at pace.
Bulk billing doctors are closing, procedures that were free before Labor came to power and now $100+. And, well, ambulances aren't free in Australia (upwards of $2000 in regional VIC) #auspol
@gknauss Also, insurance as good as yours used to be available to any USian who could afford it, regardless of their employer.
Not any more. Sure my insurance premiums dropped quite a bit, but now I've got a $9500 deductible, hardly any providers are covered at all, and even if I meet the deductible (which can only happen by using covered providers) they don't cover that much after that. Cool cool.
@gknauss I was present when an American presented themselves for emergency medical treatment in the UK. They kept trying to find out how much it would cost and how they had to pay, and initially had trouble understanding that these questions were irrelevant.
(This was a large number of years ago. I think at the time there was a difference between emergency and non-emergency treatment. I don't know what the rules are now.)
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