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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
More than 45% of non-elderly adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) report financial hardship due to the associated medical bills, according to a Yale research team. Worse still, about one in five report being unable to pay those medical bills at all, said the researchers.
This study appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
According to the study, which was scaled up from the data sample provided by the 2013-2017 National Health Interview Survey, the non-elderly American adults with ASCVD experiencing medical bill-related financial hardship represents an estimated 3.9 million individuals.
"It is remarkably disheartening to see how many people suffer severe financial adverse effects of having atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease," said Harlan Krumholz, M.D., Yale cardiologist and director of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE). "We have much work to do to ensure that people are spared the financial toxicity of disease that is imposed by our current healthcare system."
Of the group who indicated financial hardship, more than one in three reported that they have also experienced significant financial distress, cut back on purchasing basic necessities like food, and/or skimped on taking essential but costly medications in response to the burden of their medical bills.
Materials provided by Yale University.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 3, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Saturday February 16 2019, @10:41PM (11 children)
Yeah, that's my situation. $6000 deductible. Even with the pre-existing condition nonsense squashed, there's still excuse after excuse why whatever medical I need is not covered at all and I'll just have to pay out of pocket despite being insured. And it won't count towards the deductable. Lengthy delays and other barriers when trying to use the insurance. Can't go straight to the specialist you know you need, no, have to see the useless Primary Care Physician (PCP) first, to get a referral. Oh, and it costs whatever your copay is to see the PCP even if all you needed was one lousy referral. And for this "insurance" for 3 people, I'm supposed to pay $1300/month, reduced to $400/month by government support. $400/month is still a lot.
Need dental work? Fuck you, pay for it all yourself, that doesn't count as health.
I got popped in the eye last summer. Saw flashes of light the night of the day it happened. What you're supposed to do is get your eye checked right away, find out if the retina is detaching, because if it is, and you do nothing, you will lose vision, and may go totally blind in the injured eye. So I rushed to an eye doctor the next day, and paid out of pocket. If I had gone through insurance channels, it would have been 2 weeks before I would know. Have to make an appointment with the PCP, who'd give me a referral, then an appointment with the eye doctor. They have this funny attitude that if you need a referral, it's not an emergency so you have to wait for the next available appointment. But that would have been too long. If I was losing my eyesight, 2 weeks was too long to wait.
If it is an emergency, then the only place you can go that insurance will cover is the emergency room. If you won't, then it must not have been an emergency. But if you do go to the emergency, even with insurance it will be very, very, very expensive, way more than the out of pocket cost I coughed up for the eye examination.
The last option is to take care of it yourself. Maybe do nothing at all, just take your chances and hope your body can heal on its own. Do your best to self-diagnose. And if it seems you will get better or at least not get worse, don't visit any doctors. I could have gone that route.
I have no problem with paying a fair price for medicine. The problem is, the prices in the US aren't fair. Even when it doesn't seem too terribly bad, they're going to try to slip crap past you.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @05:43AM (3 children)
The Democrats fucked up big time when they didn't include a public option. It still wouldn't have been enough, but it would have addressed a bunch of this silliness.
Of course, the fact that the GOP kept launching attack after attack after attack until they got enough of it set aside didn't help anything. If it had been implemented as planned, it would have been much better than what we would up with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @06:31AM
Yep, if only the government run system didn't get messed up by politics it would work great.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @06:38AM (1 child)
The Democrats had a supermajority for a while. This can hardly be blamed on the GOP alone. The corporate democrats are the problem, and that's why groups like Justice Democrats exist to primary their asses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @09:05PM
"The Democrats had a supermajority for a while."
When? Seriously I'm drawing a blank on that.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday February 17 2019, @11:15PM (6 children)
Good lord, that's just awful, bzipitidoo.
I have posted this story here before I think, but in 2017 Mrs. Zombie fell down the stairs and fractured her ankle, badly.
She had a ride in an ambulance, several weeks in hospital, an operation, another stay in hospital complete with another operation, then several months of physiotherapy.
Total cost to me was $4 per hour for parking at the hospital when I visited (which is outrageous in my view) and about 4 $15 Physio charges, as Mrs. Zombie wanted some extra Physio work that was only partly covered.
You American Soylentals all argue about "co-pays" and "deductables" and how to negotiate with the hospital or whatever, but those of us who live in the rest of the world shrug and smile.
You guys have the worst possible health system, and right over your northern border is one that is so much better. I can't figure out why that is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @11:43PM (2 children)
Really? You think that was the "total cost"? You never pay taxes that go towards this?
Also, the US healthcare system is 100% overrun by scammers who are supported by and controlling the government.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday February 18 2019, @12:21AM (1 child)
No, of course not you A/C troll.
The point I was making (as if you didn't know) was that I didn't need to do "out of pocket" or "co-pay" or whatever other lunacy you guys in the US need to do.
I am well aware of who pays for the health services in my country, and I'm happy to play my part.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @12:48AM
So why did you use the term "total cost"?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Monday February 18 2019, @01:24AM (2 children)
> Total cost to me was $4 per hour for parking at the hospital
Yes, that is high. I wonder, are they trying to encourage you to walk, or take public transport or something? I would certainly have walked if there was a free parking space within 2km, and counted that as my exercise for the day.
> You guys have the worst possible health system, and right over your northern border is one that is so much better. I can't figure out why that is.
The American public actually would like a decent health care system. But several interests have colluded for decades against it. The main one is big business. Lot of management really believes slaves make better workers, so much so I often think that in a sense, the US Civil War is still being fought today. Employers like being able to offer health insurance to their employees, and not out of the goodness of their hearts either. What they really want is another hold over the employee. As in, be a shame if you lost your job and your pregnant wife had to give birth by the side of the road because you couldn't reach one of the few public hospitals quickly enough because the nearest is halfway across the state. Now, you will put in the effort necessary to finish this project on time, won't you, Mr. Zombie? Oh no, we're not asking you to work overtime! We didn't say that. That's your choice. Totally your choice. But you will see that the project is finished by the deadline, right? Right? Good man.
Then there's the ambulance chasing lawyers who like sky high prices, because that inflates the damages awarded, of which they typically get 1/3. Big Pharma is of course another interest in favor of the current mess. The doctors themselves don't mind raking in $200k annual pay either, for all they posture about being on the patients' sides.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @02:57AM
The reason healthcare is tied to employment in the US is because it is taxed less than salaries or wahes. Ie it is another thing the government causes:
https://www.marketplace.org/2017/06/28/health-care/how-did-we-end-health-insurance-being-tied-our-jobs [marketplace.org]
So as far as both business and government interests are the same I guess you are right.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday February 19 2019, @06:20AM
The Doctors probably average $200,000 up here as well. The couple I know seem to be doing well.