this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Not on a theoretical level, but how would you practically have to pay costs, access specialist doctors?

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[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In the US, the reality is that we don't know.

Now that I'm insured, healthcare actually costs more than when I wasn't. And I'm not talking about premiums - I'm talking about copays and deductibles being non-negotiable.

For instance, I thought I may have hurt my ear scuba diving a few weeks ago, so I went to the ER to see if my eardrum was perforated (ENT visits can take months to get).

They told me it was, had me pay a $300 copay, prescribed me $130 eardrops my insurance wouldn't cover, and referred me to an ENT.

When I finally got to an ENT, they told me that my eardrum wasn't every perforated and the ER did didn't know what they were talking about.

Then I got an additional bill from the ER for another $1800 because my insurance company refused to pay the bill.

Had I been unisured the hospital bill would have been maybe $250 all-in after negotiations, but since I have insurance it's $2100 for a wildly wrong diagnosis that ended up costing me another $430 in specialists and prescriptions.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago