American Families Are Being Crushed By Medical Debt

[Luxman]

Medical debt is the number one cause of personal bankruptcies in America.

http://www.businessinsider.com/nchs-financial-burden-of-medical-care-2014-1

 

[SabrinaDeep]

Doh! Uninsured and uncovered people struggle to pay their medical bills. I could have said that, if asked, without making any research to be honest.
My question is: why do Americans need so much medical assistance? Everybody i know in the States they have their kids in therapy for something; 4yo kids treated for hyperactivity; people going to the shrink after their grandmother dies; and what about all the times people go to the doctor while being perfectly healthy?
The other day i was reading an article about annual checkups in the US: checj it out too - http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...ctor_when_you_re_not_sick_does_more_harm.html

Hypochondria is costly. And by the way, kids are supposed to be hyper active: limiting it with treatments can only lead to more problems and more medical expenses.

 

[Mr. Daystar]

Well, for me, it's mostly hydrocortizone shots, and c-pap supplies, and other assorted prescriptions.

 

[Ace Bandage]

People go to the doctor way too goddamn much. I go to the doctor when I break something or I'm too sick too work. Otherwise, I drink some orange juice and suck it up. I haven't sought treatment from a doctor in almost ten years. I don't have any debt tied up in medical bills.

My brother on the other hand is drowning in medical bills. Whenever his kids get the slightest hint of an illness, his wife takes them to see the doctor. And his kids are sick all the time. Seriously, it's like they take the kids out in public and let them lick doorknobs. They have a staggering amount of debt from medical expenses. Couple that with student loan and credit card debt and they might never get out of the hole. On the one hand I feel bad for them, but then again, it's their own goddamn fault.

Debt sucks. I strongly recommend avoiding it. Also, avoid going to the doctor unless you absolutely have to.

 

[Mr. Daystar]

People go to the doctor way too goddamn much. I go to the doctor when I break something or I'm too sick too work. Otherwise, I drink some orange juice and suck it up. I haven't sought treatment from a doctor in almost ten years. I don't have any debt tied up in medical bills.

My brother on the other hand is drowning in medical bills. Whenever his kids get the slightest hint of an illness, his wife takes them to see the doctor. And his kids are sick all the time. Seriously, it's like they take the kids out in public and let them lick doorknobs. They have a staggering amount of debt from medical expenses. Couple that with student loan and credit card debt and they might never get out of the hole. On the one hand I feel bad for them, but then again, it's their own goddamn fault.

Debt sucks. I strongly recommend avoiding it. Also, avoid going to the doctor unless you absolutely have to.

While I agree with you completely, doctors won't give you a bottomless prescription bottle of certain meds, and I wouldn't know thing one about shooting up myself with cortazone. I do however rarely, if ever go when it's flu/cold related, unless it goes into my lungs....mainly because I have COPD. But yeah, to many people need to be coddled as soon as they get the sniffles.

 

[Harley Spencer]

Definitely agree here, too many people go to the doctor way too often for unnecessary things. Last year I got sick with a stomach flu around the end of January, and it was the worst sickness I'd had in a good while, to the point where I could not move from my bed without getting sick, nearly every 5 minutes I had to get up. I was supposed to meet with a photographer to discuss a possible shoot, and I texted him that I was just way too sick to go out. A few days later when I finally met up with him, he said he had a cold and asked if I'd gone to the doctor for my flu, to which I said no. He admitted that he goes to the doctor for every single cold he gets. Completely unnecessary. I survived the stomach flu with no medicine whatsoever, and you can't handle a little cold? Come on.

Heck, I'm sick right now. Some sort of cold, maybe the flu, I don't know. Am I going to the doctor? Hell no. I'm toughing it out, sucking it up, and I'm even still working. Did a photo shoot and video yesterday, and have tons of work to do today, and will still have plenty more work left to last me for, well, pretty much all the time. I don't get days off.

Growing up, if myself or one of my siblings got sick, we had to tough it out and go to school, no matter how bad it was. Meanwhile, most of the other kids stayed home even if they had a little headache. My family couldn't afford to go see the doctor, so doctor visits were made for serious matters only. It wasn't until I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, an atrophied kidney, and a slew of other health problems that I started going to the doctor, otherwise I would've died. And if I hadn't gotten insurance at the time, we would've been completely fucked. My kidney removal would've cost 40 some thousand dollars, and with my insurance, it was only $7.

So with that being said, while there are a lot of people who make doctor visits for some really stupid things, when it comes to the serious stuff, if you're not covered with insurance, you're screwed. My stepdad got diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and had to get treatments and chemo (chemo only twice) every single day, minus weekends, for 6 weeks. For each of his treatments, it would have costed $9,000. Total, he would've had to pay $270,000 just for the treatments, that's not counting the chemo. There's no way they could afford that. Thank god his employer covered it, or at least most of it from what I understand.

 

[288gto]

u.s. should take the european system of health insurance

 

[Luxman]

Zinc lozenges are good for colds, sore throats, and maybe the flu.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) is good for curing food poisoning and some other digestive problems.
It's very acidic and strong so use 1 or 2 tablespoons per cup of juice, or hot tea or water with honey.

Washing your hands regularly can prevent a lot of sick time.

 

[HappyHapyJoyJoy]

I think Steven Brill is summing up the reason for this quite nicely in his "Bitter Pill" series for Time Magazine.

The American medical system has no price control, and medicine doesn't function well under a free market system because the consumer can't fully understand the issues concerning them, nor can they "shop around" during an emergency. As a result? You see things like 5000% markups on certain drugs. Couple that with areas where certain hospitals have literal monopolies, and the need for tort reform but no one will to do it... and you're looking at Americans paying more for less.

 

[Mr. Daystar]

Just got back a little while ago. Two nice juicy needles to the knee caps. My ass hasn't puckerd so tight, since the doctor stuck a finger up there!

 

[bahodeme]

Definitely agree here, too many people go to the doctor way too often for unnecessary things. Last year I got sick with a stomach flu around the end of January, and it was the worst sickness I'd had in a good while, to the point where I could not move from my bed without getting sick, nearly every 5 minutes I had to get up. I was supposed to meet with a photographer to discuss a possible shoot, and I texted him that I was just way too sick to go out. A few days later when I finally met up with him, he said he had a cold and asked if I'd gone to the doctor for my flu, to which I said no. He admitted that he goes to the doctor for every single cold he gets. Completely unnecessary. I survived the stomach flu with no medicine whatsoever, and you can't handle a little cold? Come on.

Heck, I'm sick right now. Some sort of cold, maybe the flu, I don't know. Am I going to the doctor? Hell no. I'm toughing it out, sucking it up, and I'm even still working. Did a photo shoot and video yesterday, and have tons of work to do today, and will still have plenty more work left to last me for, well, pretty much all the time. I don't get days off.

Growing up, if myself or one of my siblings got sick, we had to tough it out and go to school, no matter how bad it was. Meanwhile, most of the other kids stayed home even if they had a little headache. My family couldn't afford to go see the doctor, so doctor visits were made for serious matters only. It wasn't until I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, an atrophied kidney, and a slew of other health problems that I started going to the doctor, otherwise I would've died. And if I hadn't gotten insurance at the time, we would've been completely fucked. My kidney removal would've cost 40 some thousand dollars, and with my insurance, it was only $7.

So with that being said, while there are a lot of people who make doctor visits for some really stupid things, when it comes to the serious stuff, if you're not covered with insurance, you're screwed. My stepdad got diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and had to get treatments and chemo (chemo only twice) every single day, minus weekends, for 6 weeks. For each of his treatments, it would have costed $9,000. Total, he would've had to pay $270,000 just for the treatments, that's not counting the chemo. There's no way they could afford that. Thank god his employer covered it, or at least most of it from what I understand.

Here's the irony for me. Went to hospital for the flu because of the protocol for where I work. They need to know if it's the flu or not, how long I'll be out, etc. etc. Because I had pulmonary embolism in the past and a 103 degree fever, I had a CT scan. The found a tumor on my right kidney. I had no symptoms (back pain, etc). So if it's what we all think it is, it could have spread to both kidneys. So I'm scheduled for surgery on the 8th to remove the tumor & kidney. So I guess having the flu was a good thing. The fucked up part is I've had tests done that should have recognized this a LOT sooner but no one noticed.

 

[Rey C.]

I doubt anyone is declaring bankruptcy over a couple of thousand worth of emergency room bills. A study last year (that I tried to show to Blue Countach) detailed the factors that led to medical bankruptcy. Lack of insurance and then having to use the emergency room as a long term primary care facility was one factor. But the expenses only get out of control if a person uses the ER over a long period of time ($1000+/visit over 5 or 10 years could become a burdensome figure). Reagan's 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act required hospitals with ERs to treat patients without regard to ability to pay. There is no such legal requirement for private practice doctors. So people without insurance typically use the ER. And that is the most expensive (and least efficient) form of treatment. Then the piece spoke of chronic and catastrophic conditions: cancer, diabetes, circulatory/heart problems, etc. If you're uninsured and have these (expensive to treat) conditions, you could easily wind up broke - even if you have insurance. Many policies used to have annual or lifetime limits. And once you lost a policy, you were blacklisted. So getting insurance with another company, if you had a pre-existing condition, was nearly impossible prior to the healthcare reform. It's just too bad that the bill was so poorly written and implemented. And it's too bad that so many wingnuts wasted our time by talking about foolish things like death panels. Poor dumb bastards. Like Blue Cross and Blue Shield didn't already have death panels. When my aunt had lung cancer and hit her limit, and they refused further care for her, that was a death panel. She died, so I know damn well that it was. So for those of us who may need or want private (non-employer sponsored) medical insurance at some point, at least an affordable option is now there... pre-existing conditions or not. For people who don't even think about medical insurance (and they can afford it now) until they get ill, screw 'em. That's just Darwin's way of cleansing the gene pool.

 

[Maggie Green]

This very well could have been my family. Some of you may remember that two years ago my mom had a massive heart attack which resulted in the placement of an LVAD pump. That ordeal was a month in cardiac ICU followed by 2 months in the regular hospital. The pump alone cost $250,000. She asked and the case worker said that things were over a million for those three months. Luckily, she was a teacher who had great benefits and when the school district began to cut back on what they would offer, she opted to pay out of pocket to have the best policy that existed. She did this because my father has always had medical problems and she figured with that and having me and my siblings that she felt better if we all had primo insurance. She is definitely a bit of a hypochondriac and at the sign of a sniffle, we were dragged to the doctor. How ironic that she ended up needing this policy for herself!

Then she needed a new LVAD. So another massive heart surgery followed by 6 weeks in the hospital. Not to mention all of the doctors she had to see on a weekly basis.

Then she had a heart transplant. I can't imagine what the fuck that cost! Now she sees doctors anywhere from 2-4 times per week. Everything is covered and she has ad to pay very very little out of pocket. I'm so thankful that this whole thing didn't go another way because she didn't have that policy. She would be dead for sure.

 

[SabrinaDeep]

This very well could have been my family. Some of you may remember that two years ago my mom had a massive heart attack which resulted in the placement of an LVAD pump. That ordeal was a month in cardiac ICU followed by 2 months in the regular hospital. The pump alone cost $250,000. She asked and the case worker said that things were over a million for those three months. Luckily, she was a teacher who had great benefits and when the school district began to cut back on what they would offer, she opted to pay out of pocket to have the best policy that existed. She did this because my father has always had medical problems and she figured with that and having me and my siblings that she felt better if we all had primo insurance. She is definitely a bit of a hypochondriac and at the sign of a sniffle, we were dragged to the doctor. How ironic that she ended up needing this policy for herself!

Then she needed a new LVAD. So another massive heart surgery followed by 6 weeks in the hospital. Not to mention all of the doctors she had to see on a weekly basis.

Then she had a heart transplant. I can't imagine what the fuck that cost! Now she sees doctors anywhere from 2-4 times per week. Everything is covered and she has ad to pay very very little out of pocket. I'm so thankful that this whole thing didn't go another way because she didn't have that policy. She would be dead for sure.

That shows how rotten this world has gone. 250k for a pump?? "But it can save your life" you could say. That's exactly the point: they put a price on our lives,a very high one; what people don't realize is that a high price for a life means that that life is worth fucking nothing and not that that life is precious. Oh, but those things cost so much because research costs a lot: right....a cancer drug/treatment costs on average 60-90 millions of USD in research; approx 1M people get treated with chemo in the US alone each and every year and the average cost of chemo is 90,000USD: that's 90 billion USD, for God sake. I bet you that they reinvest part of that money to research tasty shitty food that gives you cancer and makes your heart a mess... Let's not talk about doctors, most of which have become the scum of the earth. Once there was the Hippocratic Oath, today they speculate on your life.
Best wishes to your mom, Maggie.

 

[Maggie Green]

So sad and so true..illness is big business. There will never be a cure for cancer, too much money is made from it.

 

[Jagger69]

Hypochondria is costly.

So is the aging process. When I was in my 20s, 30s....even 40s, I rarely needed to go to the doctor. As I have gotten older, I've developed more physical issues that simply cannot be ignored and which can be very expensive....especially when you have insurance companies making medical decisions, refusing to cover certain procedures, not paying for anything out of network, etc. Doesn't take long to rack up some heavy duty bills. The insurance message is "pay your premiums but don't get sick....and if you do get sick, either die quickly or don't make a claim".

 

[wdoall]

I have a good friend who works for a major insurance company and his sole job is to find loopholes to get out of paying claims

 

[bahodeme]

So is the aging process. When I was in my 20s, 30s....even 40s, I rarely needed to go to the doctor. As I have gotten older, I've developed more physical issues that simply cannot be ignored and which can be very expensive....especially when you have insurance companies making medical decisions, refusing to cover certain procedures, not paying for anything out of network, etc. Doesn't take long to rack up some heavy duty bills. The insurance message is "pay your premiums but don't get sick....and if you do get sick, either die quickly or don't make a claim".

That is the sad part. How some people have paid for healthcare for years and occaisionally used it and then need to hire a lawyer because now they need a procedure and the company refuses to cover it.

 

[Maggie Green]

Also people need to take better care of themselves. Better eating and exercise would help so many health issues in this country.

 

[BCT]

Maggie Green[/URL][/B], post: 8184648, member: 346743"]So sad and so true..illness is big business. There will never be a cure for cancer, too much money is made from it.

This