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Couple left with $200k bill after baby born in US (www.bbc.co.uk)
submitted 6 months ago* by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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A couple were told they faced a $200,000 (£146,500) medical bill when their baby was born prematurely in the US, despite them having travel insurance which covered her pregnancy.

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[–] 36 points 6 months ago (7 children)

My son was born at 24 weeks. Modern NICUs are an absolute marvel. They took this tiny little guy at the cusp of viability to a healthy, happy, normal baby boy over the next three months.

The pricetag for this treatment was half a million dollars. But, fortunately, we were eligible for Medicaid. A sum that would have bankrupted us was neatly covered by the state.

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  • [–] 24 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Except tax payers now get to send their hard earned money directly to the leeches that work at insurance companies.

    No matter if the system works out for individuals with insurance Americans get screwed with the way it is at the moment.

    You all need to fight for universal health care so that shit isn't marked up 5000% so that insurances companies make billions for doing nothing but complicate everything

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago*

    private insurance is heavily subsidized by OUR TAXES anyways, but is unvailable or extremely inaccessible to most people. propaganda has convinced the right more than the left that private insurance results in "faster time, appts and guaranteed care" but it does not appear to be in most cases, because insurance can easily nitpick dim/nickle everything of your care(multiple tests, each doctor appointment, what the doctor is doing, who is reading your results,,,,etc)

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago

    You all need to fight for universal health care

    We've been fighting for over a century. It's a horrifying monster that's only grown bigger and stronger over time.

    Closest anyone has come to slaying the beast is Luigi Mangione and look what happened to him.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago

    I've been through both experiences with medicaid for one birth and insurance for another which needed NICU support (fucking huge shout-out to the awesome hospital staff that was supportive through it all). The vast differences of the experience is just mind numbing and the stress is through the roof trying to get around all the billing and headaches. I've thought of doing a write-up to share the experience but it's just so much I feel like it would be a whole side project trying to document the whole ordeal over months of anguish.

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