• Geodad@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I fucking hate American healthcare.

    Someone at my son’s pediatrician office let slip that his Covid/flu combo test would’ve only cost $50 if they wouldn’t have run it through insurance.

    Naturally, I asked why they didn’t just call and tell me that before they ran it through insurance so I could have saved some money.

    Her response was “because that would be defrauding the insurance company.”

    I blew the fuck up on her. To this day, that bill for like $259 for a Covid/flu test hasn’t been paid.

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        In the US we literally spend twice as much per capita on healthcare as the rest of the developed world, while having the worst quality of healthcare in the developed world. That extra money all goes to the insurance companies. Muigi Langione is all I can say.

    • Soup@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      What the hell kind of test was it? The boxes of tests only started costing money within the last, I dunno, 1-2 years here in Canada and they don’t even cost that much, only about $20CAD.

      Ya’ll literally live in a hellhole with paintjob. It’s like an apartment that looks pretty nice until you realize that the landlord just painted over all the mold on the walls and crossed their fingers that the water leak wasn’t gunna show up until it was at least too late.

      Anyway, I’m sorry that you get robbed by the very institutions claiming to be helping you.

        • Soup@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          I say paintjob because there’s still a comparatively “clean” façade compared to countries where most of the people don’t have access to clean drinking water and stuff. It’s the big reason why I hate the US; they could just choose to be better but simply aren’t and they can’t even blame famines or outside influence(well, to some degree) or war within or near their borders. The paint is absolutely flaking off but there’re still a lot of intact patches for people to look at while pretending that everything is ok.

            • Soup@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              Oh I’ve heard of the, uh, efforts. Quite inspiring if one aspires to be a burnt-out husk of despair and cruelty.

      • Geodad@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        We’re really not a rich country. We just have a bunch of ultra wealthy people who skew the numbers to make us look rich.

        The average family in my state makes a combined income of about $60,000 USD/year.

        I’m lucky that my wife is high up in state government and makes that much herself.

        • Soup@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          $60k USD and needs to give a lot of that to private companies, greedy and unregulated landlords, and quite often to the automotive industry just to barely survive. That or they go live somewhere cheap only to also not be paid well or even find a job at all and then get trapped because they don’t have the money to leave.

          • Geodad@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            Yeah, even at that level we are still living paycheck to paycheck, with no money left to put into savings.

    • Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 days ago

      Insurance companies can own clinics. Not in the traditional sense but via contract law they control how the clinic is allowed to interact with you, the insurance companies beneficiaries.

      There are non disclosure agreements around this because the insurance company doesn’t want you to know. Other insurance company’s already know because its their fucking industry. They are hiding these contracts from us. The affected party.