Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

[elialshadowpine]

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

By Steven Brill

1. Routine Care, Unforgettable BillsWhen Sean Recchi, a 42-year-old from Lancaster, Ohio, was told last March that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, his wife Stephanie knew she had to get him to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Stephanie’s father had been treated there 10 years earlier

Comments

[blackpuddle]

I have health insurance and I'm still paying out the ass for a surgery I had in December. I'm like, wait, why am I paying into this at all if I'm getting tons and tons of medical bills anyway?

I don't even want to go into my friends that have EDS and need special wheelchairs and treatments. They're beyond screwed. This country sucks if you have medical problems weather you have insurance or not.

[maladaptive]

I'm like, wait, why am I paying into this at all if I'm getting tons and tons of medical bills anyway?

I'm having this feeling right now and I'm looking for new insurance. I pay for "dental" and had about $1,500 worth of work done... and my insurance covered $28.

$28.

That's less than I'd paid into the dental plan! Not to mention the rest of the medical plan at about $400/month... fortunately I haven't needed anything, though, because I don't want to know what happens when I get "we don't cover that."

[blackpuddle]

That is absolutely ridiculous. $28 fucking dollars??? That's such BS!!!

I haven't even used my dental yet. Mostly because I cant' afford to because of all my other bills. It's probably going to be scary when I finally do.

[idemandjustice]

Dental is terrible. Vision isn't much better, too. I had one appointment, arranged for new reading glasses, etc, and discovered my insurance's coverage was $5. After that I decided to just clip coupons and go out of network, because that cost's less than using my ridiculous excuse for insurance.

[peace_piper]

Again, just another dental insurance woe: my insurance will only cover EMERGENCY EXTRACTIONS. Not cleaning, not cavities, not fillings, only emergencies. What the fuck? It's cheaper and keeps me from having extractions if I can get preventive care, but they won't pay for that!

[elialshadowpine]

Dental is fucking awful. Even with insurance it's still ridiculous.

[bushy_brow]

I'm like, wait, why am I paying into this at all if I'm getting tons and tons of medical bills anyway?

"Insurance" is just a legal protections racket, tbh. :-/

[elialshadowpine]

Just getting the EDS diagnosis is hellish. I know a lot of people who have it, and I've lost track of the number of people that have heard me talk about my own issues and said I should talk to a doc (becaues regularly having to wiggle joints back into place is not exactly normal). Except there is nobody in my state that diagnoses h-EDS. My partner has been diagnosed with hypermobility syndrome in the past, and there is some talk about re-classifying HMS as h-EDS, and as they have all the symptoms of POTS too... except, good luck getting insurance to cover going out of state. *sigh*

[moonshaz]

Are you talking about Ehlers-Danlos syndrome?

I had no idea what EDS meant, so I googled, and this (which I had never heard of before) is the only thing that came up that sounds like it might be relevant.

Not sure about the meaning of HMS, h-EDS, or POTS either. (Not trying to be nosy, just want to be able to follow the conversation!)

[elialshadowpine]

Sorry! Yes, Ehlers-Danlos. HMS is Hypermobility Syndrome, h-EDS is hypermobility type EDS, and POTS is... frack, I don't remember what it stands for but it's a condition that causes vertigo and dizziness (among other things) that is connected as being related to EDS.