I was living in Germany in the '80s. My mom, a civilian US citizen, had to get a hysterectomy. She chose to go to a German hospital (as opposed to the US Military hospital) and just pay whatever it cost. She mentioned the other day she doesn't think they ever sent her a bill.
I live in America. But I'm originally from Ukraine. Therefore I have many friends and family from there and because of the current situation I've known many people that came and are still coming over from there and they keep asking the same question: you really have to pay for the ambulance?
Then I tell them ambulances are privet for profit companies. And you can see them loosing all faith in America.
Personal anecdote: my father died of cancer 4 years ago. When they were transferring him from the hospital to hospice the paramedics asked him if he was ready and Dad said yes, he was ready for the last car ride of his life... They sent us a 5000 dollar bill for a 15 minute drive.
We didn't pay it.
Acknowledging that leaving your dystopian hellhole called home is not a possibility for many people why are these people not on the streets protesting?
Diabetes care is criminal.
Maternity leave is criminal.
Labour laws are criminal.
And yet Americans writ large take it in the ass without batting an eye. Why?
Americans have been conditioned by media to think that their current state of things is desirable and even meritorious, as if having such services provided was....communist/socialist anit-american shit
We're slaves, it's hard for slaves to liberate themselves in a police state.
I agree though, we have to fight back
What little care we can receive is contingent on having a full time job. Putting food on our tables and keeping a roof over our heads is also contingent on having a full time job, if not a second job on top of that. Everyone is working all the time. We don't have time to go out onto the streets and protest. This is by design. This is our shitty system working exactly as it's intended, and it's designed to keep itself intact by forcing the people it fucks over to struggle to survive, so that we're so preoccupied with existing that we can't realistically enact change.
And there is much eye batting, don't get it twisted. It's just that batting eyes is about all we have energy for at the end of the day.
I work a salaried full time job that provides me absolutely zero health care coverage of any kind. I'm on the ultra-budget tier of healthcare.gov benefits and my taxes get brutalized every spring because I "earn too much" to be on it.
Given the opportunity I would gladly push a guillotine around town, and when that's done I'd push it toward the state capitol and beyond. That opportunity will never come.
I would say most people, if not distracted by things, don't want to be arrested and beat then disappeared, to also have your whole life opened up to the world and they make things up about you to make you look bad and like you're a terrorist or something. Not to mention a lot of people are severely broke so good luck getting out there. No one here seems to care about the other person either, it's all very individualistic by design to keep you from forming groups. Trying to convince people almost goes nowhere. It's not like people like taking this in the ass, they're either too stupid, too afraid, or too self absorbed if they happen to not be broke or ill. It's a lot of factors. Sure, you could say it's an excuse, but that is why (in my opinion) no one is seeming to do a lot. Not to mention, even if people are doing something, again, they're either labeled as a terrorist or it's not covered by the media at all; suppressed. Adding this as an edit: on top of all of the above mentioned stuff here, there is also no one who would try to save us or care. Our image as a nation is obviously not great everywhere else in the world. And don't mistake it, I'm not saying the US is entitled to help from anyone else, but judging by how things have been historically, no one is going to care about us. At least not as far as most people here who can actually use their braincells will know that no one anywhere else will care and may even celebrate the downfall or just straight up ignore this.
What is the expected results of such protest the monied interests and the top half have most of the money like 88% of the wealth and closer to 100% of the liquid wealth. This money pays for the campaigns of the politicians who are beholden to it.
And they probably even spoke English with him.
Of course they did. An US-american speaking any language but their version of English fluently is quite rare, if you don't count the latinos
Even in Canada and Mexico this mostly works the same
IIRC, an ambulance here in Canada costs 80 dollars, any treatment in hospital is free
A single accident or illness can ruin your life and your family
Spending a single day at school can kill a child
If they live though that day, they might learn that abstinence is great sex Ed
Police officers can kill you without reason with impunity
Your leaders are all millionaires who will do anything to squeeze money out of you and you never even protest?
The US is a god godawful place to live
Billionaires (with a b as white says).
Quiet frankly millionaires (at least 7 figure earners) while not awesome are not nearly as predatory as those who’s net worth are represented in billions.
I know expensive, shitty healthcare in the USA is a stereotype, but in my experience it's also largely true. Maybe it's because I'm not wealthy or connected enough to have access to the good stuff, though?
The bills for my latest medical emergency are rolling in now.
The $1,000 USD ambulance bill is almost a relief, since I've heard others say their ride cost several times more than that. I declined pretty much all medical care in the ambulance and all offers for medication/treatment, though, so maybe that's part of it. Had I lost consciousness, I likely wouldn't have been able to say no.
The $2,000 USD emergency room bill? That's just the part that I have to pay out of pocket. The actual price they charged my insurance is $6,000+ for my slightly more than 90 minutes on a stretcher in the hallway. And it doesn't seem to have covered anything specific because the imaging (which I didn't even need), treatment, medications (which I would have refused if I knew how much they charged but they don't know that and can't tell you ahead of time), individual nurses, etc are all billed as separate line items. I was even charged thousands of dollars by a doctor I never even saw in person. I joked in another thread recently about $45 tylenol, but that's actually true. I'm paying $45 for 800mg of tylenol.
Months later, the billing part isn't even finalized. New claims/bills showed up literally 2 days ago, well after I thought I was done paying. Thousands of dollars out of pocket, on top of paying a thousand dollars a month for insurance.
At least the medical professionals that treated me were great.
I know expensive, shitty healthcare in the USA is a stereotype, but in my experience it's also largely true
I had a brain injury from a bicycle accident. The fact that my health has bounced back, but my finances likely never will, tells me everything I need to know about our system. One injury, and I now have a lifetime of bills to pay off. I guess it makes sense in some sick way, I do owe them my life, but man, they don’t let me forget (even if my broken brain tries).
Over 60% of all private bankruptcies in the US are due to medical issues. The system is broken
Two major studies in California found 70% of the homeless were employed "productive" members of society before injury/illness forced loss of income, then housing. Yes the system is broken.
The system is working as designed.
It’s designed to be predatory and evil.
This is crazy. I once stayed at a hospital for two months, countless ultrasounds, even an invasive procedure where they sent probes down my veins, two MRI's and the final cost was around 5k... payed by state supplied insurance. I payed 0 and even got payed 80% of my wages... cause that's the law.
9 months of chemo, countless tests, scans, meds, consults, two stints in ICU....$0
'Straayaaaaa
At least the medical professionals that treated me were great
last time i was in the hospital in the states the nurses and the hospitalist intentionally tried to kill me via malpractice.
I've had good hospital experiences, but not in the last ten years.
as a European it blows my mind that this is not the norm is many parts of the world :(
Yeah, this was my take too.
Guy seems amazed by it, I thought I'd missed something...
In America, it's actually cheaper just to discard the kid and start over.
"Ah, shucks, this one broke! Shame, had a good run too"
IRL Roguelike. Restart when you get some some bad RNG.
I once was visiting Detroit and got very drunk My airbnb. wasn’t far from the bar and I was way too loaded for a taxi to take me back, and it was a nice night so I decided to walk back to the airbnb I made it about 200 steps and felt something Hit me in the head. Someone was grabbing at my pocket and I guess I successfully stopped them from stealth by my wallet since it’s all ripped.
Anyway my head is split open and there’s blood fucking everywhere. I tried dialing 911on my phone. Not sure if you’ve ever tried making a call on a bloood covered phone when you can’t see because you’re blind drunk and your vision is obscured by blood but it’s impossible. Anyway, a couple of people see me and get me an ambulance.
Now, I’m from Canada, and I THINK that I had international health insurance from work but I’m not sure. Anyway, they deal with the blood and tell me I’ll need stitches in the emergency room but I’m still loaded and the bleeding stopped so I ask if I can just leave and they’re like: no.
I call my buddy who shows up to take me back to the airbnb but I tell him: I’m not getting stuck with a fucking American hospital bill. Fuck this. Just walk out and I’ll meet you out front. I wait until the nurse is out of eye sight, crouch low and run past the admissions desk and out into the street, where my friend calls a very kind cab driver who sold us some decent cocaine.
I once collapsed and lost consciousness in the streets in Russia. Someone must have called an ambulance. I woke up in a hospital with a woman yelling at me for my insurance number. (I am a Russian citizen but I have never lived there, I tried explaining I had a traveller's insurance, but she didn't understand what I meant.) Anyway, after I got treated they released me basically as Jane Doe, I never got billed anything.
Over the course of the years I had to go to a hospital in Russia two more times. Each time they would rather not bother with figuring out how international insurance works (basically, I would pay a bill and then send it in to the insurance company and they would reimburse me - I explained that over and over) and just let me go free of charge.
The treatment was good and professional and stereotypically unkind. I'm still amazed by how they'd rather not bill you because they aren't sure what you're talking about than try to get the money and let you figure out how to pay it. Too much of a hassle I guess.
I think a lot of people in the US have their head so far up their ass being racist and doing other xenophobia, they'd rather drown in their own shit than than have "one of them" get something "for free".
Without exception, every problem with the US has a straightforward and realizable solution being blocked by a piece of shit who cannot accept even the slimmest of chances that someone they consider undeserving might possibly, in some small way, benefit.
That's what 60+ years of fascism-directed conservative politics distributed by the likes of Fox News, systematic defunding of public education, and an almost complete halt in wage increases so 90% of the population no longer has any discretionary income and is essentially forced to work paycheck to paycheck has given us. It's working exactly as intended.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
-President Lyndon B. Johnson
"just whatsapped me"
Lol, fuck off, he sent you a message, not all apps and websites need to become a fucking verb
nah I like to flex that one of my friends Signaled me
at least that's an actual English verb
War plans?
Yeah some of us are poor enough to never forget how obscenely predatory America in general, and capitalism in specific, are.
First time in America? Everything is going to be like the new black mirror ep1. Everything subscription
This is the most “American abroad” story I ever read lol
Just to avoid any false impressions: healthcare is not free in Germany. You should always get travel health insurance. Having said that, it's pretty affordable. I pay about €80 a year for me and my wife for worldwide coverage.
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