this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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American health care is fucked. That said:
I watched a promo for St Jude a few years back. They cover all expenses for families so they can focus on their kids. You should donate. They're awesome.
I feel like it's a no win situation.
Here in Canada, my coworker has needed back surgery since last year in September. He just got into a specialist for a consultation last week to get surgery scheduled. He's been living for almost an entire year on light duty at work with back pain.
I feel over the past 10 years our Government has mismanaged their financials and our healthcare and education systems have taken the beating for it. Public services are only as good as the people who are trusted to safeguard them.
In America, similar wait times for specialists/surgeries are common as well. You just also have to pay for them. My grandma's husband has been waiting years for a hip replacement which keeps getting rescheduled. My husband is scheduled for a colonoscopy 2 months from now. It normally would be free/low cost under insurance, since it is "preventative," but in his case it is a follow up check for a health problem which he has to get done every three years as a man in his 30's, so insurance no longer considers it "preventative." Therefore it will cost about $2500 after insurance (which he also pays for.) It's just ridiculous. Also the $2500 is only a ballpark figure based on the last time he had this done; there is no way to get anyone to tell you exactly how much a procedure will cost. They bill you afterwards, and it will change based on different "variables." It's sometimes difficult to even get them to tell you how much an office visit will cost. They do this so that you cannot shop around. Usually you will get several different bills at different times, for things like labs, fees, etc. Nobody in the process makes it transparent how many bills you will get. Some places are shadier than others, and will add fees that you shouldn't have even incurred, and you then have to call and ask for an itemized list to fight it, which is not normally provided. Most people don't bother to call, and end up owing thousands that go to collections, messing up their credit.
That makes me so incredibly sad to hear. I had a small sliver of hope that there would be a trade off with speed vs the cost, but it sounds like you will get medical attention no quicker than I would.