Brit Reacts To BRITISH DOCTOR REACTS TO AMERICAN MEDICAL BILLS!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Brit Reacts To BRITISH DOCTOR REACTS TO AMERICAN MEDICAL BILLS!
If You Would Like To Support The Channel: www.paypal.me/kabsayofe
/ kabirconsiders
Hi everyone, I’m Kabir and welcome to another episode of Kabir Considers! In this video I’m going React To BRITISH DOCTOR REACTS TO AMERICAN MEDICAL BILLS!
British NHS Doctor Reacts to American Medical Bills
Follow me on social media:
Instagram: @kabirayofe
Twitter: @kabirconsiders
Email me for business inquiries:
kabirconsiders@yahoo.com
If you would like to send me anything, my PO Box address is;
Kabir Considers
PO Box 5026
Hornchurch
RM12 9JG
United Kingdom
___________________________________________________________________________
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER
FAIR USE ACT
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.
ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS
I had a bursted appendix in 2023 and it costed me a fortune. The emergency ambulance in California costed me $5K. The surgery was $200K. The hospital stay was $10K per day just to lay in the bed. I had an IV running all day everyday using 2 bags each day at $1K per bag. Pills and medication costed me $200 per day. I had blood work done every morning at $500 a day. I had 4 scans done at $5K each. So each day costed me $12,700. I was there for 14 days and in the end my total come up to $402,800.00. Whatvis disgusting is my insurance tried to fight me paying this bill because they said IT WAS AN ELECTIVE SURGERY. Once they agreed that it was there responsibility to pay they bent over backwards to get the hospital to discharge me and heal at home 2 days after the surgery even though the hospital made it perfectly clear i had a 75% chance of dying. Insurance companies are heartless cruel fucks
you mentioned you were in california so that makes sense why it was so expensive. i had heart surgery and it was like 15k in kentucky and i paid it off within 2 years bc i have a big boy job aka construction. i dont bitch anf moan i like the healthcare we have its easy if u actually get a decent job. construction, welding , sales, something money obviously etc. im a blue collar guy tho i prefer physical type labor its good for me and i get 4 grand every 2 weeks.
@chrisvibz4753 are you really comparing $15,000 to $400,000?? You paid 15,000 in 2 years...do the math.
Years ago, I fell and thought I broke my foot or ankle. I went to an urgent care for x-rays. Turns out, it was just a bad sprain. I didn't have health insurance at the time. I was there for approx 45 min, and the bill was $3000+. I called and got an itemized statement. There were several "misc" items, that when questioned, they couldn't tell me what they were for. There was a "misc doctor service" for $200 that they said was for the doctor wrapping my ankle in an ace wrap (I think they are called crepe bandages in the UK), and another $145 charge for the wrap itself. I said that the doctor didn't wrap it, the nurse did, and it took all of 15 seconds, and I could go to the store and get an ace wrap for $3. They charged me for more x-rays than I had taken, etc., etc. After I challenged every single item, they revised it, and it was $345. Always, always check the bill.
That's awful and ridiculous, not that I'm surprised though. Anything medical here is just straight up robbery. At least next time you can tell them you'll wrap your own ankle for free 😂
That’s what being a global leader means.
Americans pay more so the entire world can benefit from our progress and innovation.
Europe however doesn’t discover anything new and relies on American discoveries to advance.
Plus the healthcare quality is much much lower.
Paid quality healthcare > Garbage free healthcare
I’m a 2X brain cancer survivor and when you have surgery you don’t just pay for the surgery and the surgeon, you pay for the anesthesiologist, physician assistant, OR nurse techs, then of course the medications and the equipment. Then after brain surgery I was in neurosurgical ICU for a day before being moved to a private room. I’ve never been charged for food. After surgery I had to have a MRI, my tumor went to pathology, all my meds. Oh crap, I forgot about the recovery room and on audiology they were talking about testing the hearing of the baby. So I had to have a MRI every 3 months for 5 years. That’s the cost of the MRI, the cost of the dye the inject into your vein, and the radiologist reading the report. After 5 years I got to go to every 6 months for 3 years and then I was supposed to get to go to once a year. Only I had a recurrence and started all over again. I have insurance but I just can’t get out of the hole. With insurance I still owe 2 million dollars and I recently declared medical bankruptcy. I do know because I was a respiratory therapist before I got brain cancer that here they code things wrong so they get more money. It’s so important to get an itemized bill and go over it. I was once double billed for everything and had to raise a stink. Speaking of drug testing, because I have seizures they do a drug test on me every single time. Last time I threw a fit about it and said, I’ve been coming to this hospital since 2005 and the only time I’ve tested positive on a drug test was the two times after my brain surgery so why do y’all keep testing me? Do you want to pay that bill?
When I was 14 I was in a bad rollover car accident. I can't remember the entire outrageous cost for ambulance and hospital, but what I do remember is an item on the ambulance bill...1 standard Band-Aid on my knee was $80.
Aside from that, many places have an ambulance and fire annual fee.
There is what your insurance covers - normally 80% and then there is your annual “Max Out of Pocket”. That depends on your coverage. Mine is $1,400 per year. So, last year I had a reverse total shoulder replacement surgery and two nights in the hospital and I only paid my MOP. One other thing to keep in mind, the prices are set by the insurance company. Hospitals and physicians are given a list of codes and whatever the treatment code is, that is what you are billed.
I've had 2 C-sections fully covered. I've had a bill of 47K to have my gall bladder out and paid $150 again, my insurance covered the majority. Our issue is no one is willing to pay the taxes for global medical coverage. They have a, "Why should I pay for them" attitude. So here we are.
pathetic situation
I find it messed up when they say "you want to tax me to pay for someone else's healthcare" when they're paying an insurance premium (monthly or weekly) and unless they're going to the doctor or hospital all the time, their money is already going to someone else's healthcare ... that money they pay isn't put back for them only.
Tbh I feel the majority of ppl don't realize they're already paying for someone else's health care already. Just not all. I don't mind paying a little extra if it means everyone gets covered. But that's just how I work.
@@xploreher You wouldn't pay extra, you would pay less. When you remove the for-profit health insurance company from the equation you will pay less. Simple, okay?
I had a premature baby in 2006 and her medical bills were $1.6 million. We never were able to recover with insurance we still owed about $200,000. I had to file for bankruptcy, which kicks you off the property ladder and a lot of opportunities. But millions of Americans claim Medical bankruptcy.
I've had to do this three times.
I have and will never have 'Good Credit,' own and will NEVER AGAIN carry/use a 'Credit Card', and unless I win the Lottery, will never own land/a home.
Ain't 'Murica great?...
Tell that to the channel Average middle Aged American , he thinks that's your fault . Look him up
😢
You’re such a liar 😂.
@@claregale9011Because they’re right! No one in America goes bankrupt because of medical bills.
Furthermore the reason it’s so expensive in America is exactly because Europe doesn’t pay their fair share.
If Britain paid America the £2 trillion they owe us we could afford the same thing.
But no Democrats keep paying huge amounts of money on nonsense like Ukraine then whining and bitching about expensive healthcare 🙄.
I lost half of my right leg a year and a half ago. I had insurance but have no idea the total costs. I was in two hospitals for 2 months, 3 surgeries, rehab, 2 prosthetics (last one was $56k) and have prescriptions I take daily. Oh, my original medication was $25k a year not including the office visits twice a month. Multiple ambulance rides, er visits, in home visits. Wound care before I had surgeries.
I was speaking with my favorite nurse after I was out and walking and she said easily around a million dollars. Luckily I had a lot of help covering pretty much anything my insurance wouldn't cover.
One of the worst things about insurance in the US is because different insurance plans cover different things and you never know exactly how many additional things they’ll bill you for… the size of the bill is a mystery for months till it goes through your insurance company and the bill makes it to you.
There is a Vtuber in the US who has an immunodeficiency disease that requires her to get a plasma infusion once a week. It costs $25,000... A WEEK.
That’s what happens when America has to pay for the rest of the World’s healthcare.
The problem is the rest of the world leeching off America.
Iron 🐭= 🇵🇷
She is awesome! Considering what she's been through, she deserves all the success she has , and will continue to have. 🫶
Maybe if Europeans would pay their fair share America wouldn’t have to pay so much to subsidize them.
British healthcare is heavily subsidized by America.
Europe itself is heavily subsidized by America.
Meanwhile Europe is useless in aiding America.
Which is why a majority of AMERICANS support President Trump’s promise to pull America out of NATO.
Then Brits and French and the rest can pay for their own shit.
Also you can ask the hospital for financial assistance and depending on your income they will basically write off the rest of the bill.
I’m glad you said something. I hate the insurance conversation with the UK. I have never had a horror story concerning my medical situations. I wish more people with different positive stories would speak up. I’m not saying our situation isn’t serious but when you have this conversation with people that don’t live here it’s just so black and white. We get sooo many other benefits living here that they don’t get there. It’s a trade off really.Everything isn’t going to be perfect no matter where you live.
I was born in a hospital in 1964, my mom had no complications but stayed for 3-4 days and the bill came to - drum roll please....$100, my parents paid cash😊
Now hospitals are run by insurance companies...giving birth with no complications your stay 24 hours less...24 hours and the cost about $15,000 - $20,000; insurance companies want you out quickly.
There has been over the years stories of physicians stop practicing because insurance companies tell them how to care for their patients, when to dismiss them from the hospital when the doctors feel the patient should be observed longer, and tired of being threatened with lawsuits if not abiding by their rules.
I was born in 1953 and then you just paid the medical bill. When my parents were told circumcision was not necessary and they would save five dollars on the bill my parents said ok that is the route we want.
I am an American born and I would so much rather your healthcare than ours. We pay high taxes, which doesn't include any healthcare 😕. Your system makes sense.
That’s because you’re ignorant 😂.
American healthcare is 40 years ahead of European healthcare for a reason.
America is responsible for all the major discoveries and advancements in medicine.
Europe is responsible for NONE.
We dont pay high taxes. 80% of the world pays higher taxes than we do.
They pay way higher taxes in the UK. And gas is $9 a gallon.
@@gotham61 They also receive massive subsidies from America.
Which is why when Ukraine was invaded the British didn’t do sh*t.
America had to pay to keep the Europeans safe.
If you want cheaper healthcare vote for Trump! He promised to pull America out of NATO and to make European countries pay to defend themselves.
@@blake7587 Tell us you're an idiot without saying "I'm an idiot" ... you've been so brain washed it isn't funny.
The majority of Americans want a system more like the NHS (or at least a single-payer system), but the problem is our politicians. They don't represent the citizens, they represent the insurance companies that paid for their campaigns.
No....they don't lol
@@1515AC you're wrong. I know the shady politicians you simp for convinced you to go against your best interests, but YES, the majority of Americans want free healthcare. You know how I know this? We have polls that prove you wrong. Stop simping for Capitalists. It's embarrassing.
@@1515AC I would say the vast majority of Americans most certainly would prefer a system more like the NHS...but tailored for us. Insurance companies need to go away, because they are bad and have ZERO value. It is unacceptable to pay a premium and then STILL have to pay co-payments, and co-insurance, etc....the actual insurance companies are hardly paying for anything.
@@1515ACI lived in the UK for three and a half years and have been there more times than I can remember. What I do remember is (this was a lifetime ago) a British lady that worked with missed her dental appointment because of car troubles. She was in tears because it was gonna be months before she could get scheduled again. Be careful what you wish for.
Speak for yourself
Costs are high in the US because healthcare is a business. Period. Doctors' wages are a small part of the equation. The real driver is share and bond holders who demand an ever increasing return on their investment. In the US, between 25 and 35 cents of every dollar spent on healthcare is wasted on administrative fees or ends up in the pockets of wealthy investors. In comparison, Medicare, the government health insurance system for retirees, performs the same function for 2 to 3 cents on the dollar. In summary, our healthcare system is fkkkd up because a capitalist places himself between a patient and his doctor and demands a piece of the action. In no other industrialized nation is this permitted, for necessary healthcare.
Well said.
I'm disabled and on Medicaid, if it didn't cover my insulin I'd be paying $4000 a month. That doesn't include my other medications.
Didn't insulin get capped at $35/mon?
Same boat, here (Can't afford what I need).
I'll live/hang-on as long as I can, then throw one helluva Party before checking-out to dance with the Reaper.
:-)
That is disgusting
Because it shouldn’t pay for your crap.
Are you willing to pay for my credit card balance?
@@g-urts5518 That's only for people on Medicare.
Medical bankruptcy is a thing in the US, and most countries can't even conceive of such a thing. I just did a quick calculation. 7% of my salary is pretty close to what I pay for my insurance premiums anyway, and I still have to pay for copays and deductibles.
OMG SO BAD. no. im from the uk i went to a hospital in louisville kentucky and i was in and out in 5 hours for a broken leg and then they personally called me after i left bc they were worried and wanted me to come back so when i got there they gave me an insurance card medicare i think they said that people who dont have money get medicare, i say youre just a spoiled little rich person who goes to hospitals in blue states so everything is expensive. im sorry for being mean, but as a dude from england youre just moaning about non sense
@@chrisvibz4753 Yeah, no. I live in Florida - a very red state, and everything is expensive everywhere, no matter where you go. I'm also far from rich, but cool on you for making assumptions. You got lucky, and were in a bigger city. (I used to live in Kentucky.) I've gotten lucky sometimes and been in and out of ERs, and other times, it's been hours and hours. You've had ONE experience in the US healthcare system. People who "have no money" is different than the working poor, and different for citizens. I wouldn't begin to call myself an expert on the UK healthcare system, and you aren't an expert on the US healthcare system, or political system.
I had a hysterectomy and stayed 1 night in the hospital. I paid $1,600 after my insurance covered 80%. In contrast, I had a cystoscopy (they look up your urinary tract) and had a stent placed to widen it. This was an outpatient procedure (meaning I did not spend the night in the hospital) and because the urologist was not listed in our specific health system, I paid almost $3,000 for this procedure. $1,000 was added to the bill for a “use of the facility”.
Oh, Kabir. You are going to get so many horror stories. Here is mine! I got shocked by lightning through my faucet. I am fully insured and pay $500/month for my insurance. My ER bill was: $250 for the ambulance, $3,000 for the room itself, $1500 for various doctors, $500 for pain meds. AFTER my insurance paid about $2,000. That was last August, I am still paying it off. I didn't even get food in the ER, despite being there for 12 hours. I also didn't get my regular medication that I have to take every day, and i didn't ask for it because I was afraid of the cost. So, all told, $7,000 for 12 hours of emergency medical care.
I am not going to call the ambulance next time. I guess I'll just die.
Last year I lost a relative to a rare form of endometrial cancer. She was sick for about 3 years. The cost for all her treatments, surgeries, medical equipment, etc., over the course of her illness was $5M. As a retiree she had Medicare which is the government’s insurance for seniors. She also paid a steep premium for private insurance to supplement Medicare. Good thing, because it covered the majority of that $5M.
3 years ago my daughter needed an ambulance to go to the ER for an injury. $3000, of which my insurance paid $800. Some policies don’t pay for ambulances at all. That’s why there are so many news stories about seriously ill or injured people refusing ambulance transport and taking Uber instead.
There is also something called concierge medicine. This is when a medical practice charges a “membership fee” for the privilege of being their patient. The practice limits its clientele to a certain amount and will only treat those patients. The theory being you’re paying for being able to see a doctor as often and whenever you feel you need to. I have no idea if insurance companies cover services from concierge medical practices. My GP went the concierge route. I didn’t play along and found another doctor. I really liked my old doctor but I wasn’t going to pay essentially an entrance fee to see my doctor.
The one thing that isn’t mentioned is that we’re a litigious bunch. When doctors get sued, they get sued hard. Medical professionals and facilities pay an insane amount for malpractice insurance. One doctor I had posted a notice in the office explaining how much their insurance premiums had been raised. The note ended with …and we’re all going to share the cost.
😢Sadly many Americans die because of cost of medicine.
So do many britons and Europeans. Only they die waiting for care. Outcomes are very comparable.
My mom was retired and had a supplemental insurance from her job. She had to have liver surgery for a cyst and several months of recovery in a hospital facility. Didn’t cost her a penny. She lives in the US
I had a cardiac arrest 2 years ago, was in the hospital for over a month and had a pacemaker put in and removed because it was infected had to go to another hospital to get a new on one put in. So 40’days in the hospital 3 surgery’s 2.9 million dollars before insurance, insurance took care of 80% of it but I still owe 100k and I’m in the process of doing bankruptcy. Just grateful to be alive.
Welcome to our world in the USA Health Care System. In 2010 I has a Triple Bypass Operation and back then the COST charged by the Hospital was over $125,000 and that did not include the Surgeons charges . Our Insurance we had at the time covered the Entire Cost for me . But we had also been paying premiums on our Insurance for years . The Major consideration in Americas Health Care system and specifically the Prescription Drug Industry is " PROFIT" not the Care of the Patient . It did not used to be that way back in the 1950' 60' and even 70's but in the late 1970's Hospitals started Hiring Managers with College Degrees in Business Management instead of Doctors being the Operating Managers of the Hospitals. The same went on in all aspects of our " health Care system" . Our Medicare System is very good for those of us over 65 but it still leaves you paying 20% of Major Costs unless you buy a " Supplement " or a Medicare Advantage Plan with Drug Coverage .
No!!! It doesn’t make sense Kabir! You know it's not okay when an average of 530,000 Americans go bankrupt from medical bills EVERY YEAR. Some of those Americans were millionaires. 28 years ago, I snapped my ankle with my foot dangling backwards in a skateboard accident. The hospital was about 10 minutes away. The ambulance ride was over $1,000.00. The surgery to insert a plate with 9 screws and 2 large screws was over $10,000.00. That was almost 30 years ago. The average cost of cancer treatment is $150,000.00.
Yeah, NOTHING here in the United States is free or cheap and I mean NOTHING. This video is very accurate to the major issues that we face everyday, and this is also the reason as to why we cannot provide healthcare to every American. I had a surgery 12 years ago for a tumor at the base of my brain, where they had to cut open the left side of my face, and that cost a little over $200,000 just for the surgery. Not including the fees for the doctors, cat-scans, mri's, bloodwork, etc, etc....Thankfully I had really good insurance, but I still had a lot of out-of-pocket expense. Healthcare along with anything else here is not cheap, not even close.
I had a pituitary tumor removed. My cost was $6,000. Insurance covered the rest. $35,000 if i remember correctly.
The guy in the next bed was recovering from a heart attack. The hospital representative was with him in recovery, discussing how he may need to sell his Taxi cab company.
My roommates quad bypass in late December one bill through the insurance was over $561,000. That's without a heart attack. I can imagine going in for a heart attack, having bypass, getting out and receiving the bill only to have another heart attack from the shock of the bill.
I'm American & I have a rare genetic disease that destroyed my liver. I was deathly ill for about 5yrs before I received my liver transplant. My total bill for the countless procedures, tests, hospitalstays, & treatments for the 5yr leading up to my transplant & my full transplant was 1.3million, thankfully I have awesome insurance & it covered it all.
People do not get turned away for a lack of ability to pay.
That and they are dealt with immediately, not sent home for 8 months to five years waiting time.
I had a pulmonary embolism when I was unemployed and uninsured. The ambulance ride to go 1 mile down the road was $600. I was in the hospital for 4 days, 3 of which in ICU. Hospital bill was $50,000. Thank God the hospital had a program with a charity that covered the hospital bill bc I was unemployed. But I still had to pay the doctor fees which were about $3000 and the ambulance ride.
Last year I had to have an emergency gallbladder removal and was between jobs so I had no insurance. My overall total for er, ambulance, hospital stay, surgery and recovery came out to almost $69,000 after they discounted it for having no insurance. It was $88,000 before they discounted it
A couple years ago, my dad was hospitalized in the ICU for 2 weeks, before being moved to the hospice ward and passing. He was on life support and had a couple of emergency procedures, and then the cost of drugs/anesthesia, equipment, etc, the bill totalled almost $600,000, but with insurance my mom is "only" having to pay around $250,000.
I woke up early one morning sweating profusely and having a very hard time trying to breathe. I called an ambulance to go to the hospital. The hospital is less than 2 miles from me. I got a $1500 bill in the mail. At first, insurance company was not going to cover any of it because the ambulance company was out of network (because in an actual emergency you have the ability to say “send an ambulance that’s in network” smh). After some back and forth they were willing to pay for half. It’s unreal
I had what was then experimental brain surgery in 1989 because Epilepsy meds were no longer working. I stayed 5 weeks in the hospital. My parents paid well over a million dollars because I hadn’t been on Medicare long enough to cover the cost. (It took 3 years to get on disability and an out of state visit to a doctor who knew how to work the system.)
I’m pretty sure an MRI costs about $10,000+ here in CA
I spent 4 days in the hospital with sepsis in September. Including the ambulance the total bill was 220,000! My portion was 350.00. Thank God my insurance paid the rest. It's absolutely outrageous what medical bills are.
It’s not outrageous at all.
It’s what happens when Europe relies on America to subsidize their healthcare.
There’s a reason America discovers all the newest drugs and technology in medicine.
Meanwhile Europe just steals it from America.
Most insurance in the US does not cover dental. You have to get that separately in the majority of cases.
The reason that the patients in the United States pay so much for our medications is that places like the UK limit what can be charged for a medication. The majority of the time this is actually below the manufacturers cost to make it. Add to that the cost of the research to develop the drug. Patients are charged grossly inflated prices to recover the development costs plus the shortfalls of selling the drugs overseas because of your government restrictions on prices. We have to make up for the drug companies losses in your country or nobody will be able to get the medication because the manufacturer will quit making the medication when they can't turn a profit.
Here is the breakdown of the bill for a snake bite.
Pharmacy $83,341, Laboratory Services $22,433, Intermediate care room $21,225, Intensive care room $17,766, Emergency care services $5,564, Thereapy services $1423, Radiology $947, Special services $462. Total cost was $153,161.
This was a 6 day hospital stay.
As an American Citizen and USMC Veteran, the last time I had to go to the E.R., I got handed a $1,000.00 bill, for: One urinalysis. That was it. The 'Doctor' never laid a finger on me, did ZERO checks/more tests, and just for an added layer of incompetence/indifference, didn't even fill out the one Prescription correctly, which meant hours later, the Pharmacy told me, and she had already gone home for the day, thus the script couldn't be approved/altered (by HER, personally), at which point the E.R. told me to come BACK, and start the whole process over again.
I'll die alongside the road before I ever again step foot in any hospital (Civilian OR the V.A.)
THAT is the condition/nature of America's "Health Careless System(s).'
Unless you're rich/wealthy. THEN they're more than happy to take your $$$, knowing you can afford the team of lawyers/years of litigation should they screw up?!
I worked at a hosptial in the patient admissions department for over 20 years in america.......the stories I could tell you........
My co-worker's bill for emergency liver transplant was over 1 million dollars. Her mother took her debt and just paid on it monthly as she had terminal cancer and knew she would die and the bill would be done. She saved her daughter from paying for most of it. (She was only 19)
This is the thing. If you do have major surgery or anything extremely expensive, if you don't pay your bill the hospital will send you a couple of letters with bill attached. After a year if you never pay a dime the hospital sends the federal government the bill and they pay it for you. The government doesn't come after you at all. Your bill just gets paid off. I got that from a retired hospital administrator, they should know.
Yes, The medical community in America takes Advantage of us.
The # 1 cause of bankruptcy in US is Medical cost
My wife works in the emergency room of a very large hospital . When we are treated there , the hospital sends us a bill , but the ENTIRE bill is paid by the hospital because she is an employee there . Over the past 20 years , due to several surgeries and time in re-hab those bills have totaled well beyond a million dollars , every bit of them paid by the hospital . The medical benefits of working there are almost equal to the salary .
Every time I gave birth to my 3 children the labor, delivery, and recovery room was the same room. Then they move you to the maternity ward. Insurance covered all but about 10% of it. That 10% was covered by our HMA.
You can't compare apples to oranges. The UK, several EU Countries, and Canada have a few advantages that we don't have - I used to work in Healthcare Sales. Every new drug and medical device that is developed by an American company (regardless of where it is manufactured) is sold to other First World countries at a huge discount to get them into their market; so the price the UK pays for New Medications developed by an American Country is sold to your country at the price that a generic drug would cost for that drug, so your country pays approximately 5% of the price the US pays for the same medication. With Medical devices, developed by an American Country you pay approximately 35%, we pay the full cost. Plus, doctors in America are not employees, they are all contracted and they have to purchase their own medical malpractice liability insurance which averages about $20K a year out of pocket for a Family GP, about $50-100K for the average surgeon, and up to and over $200K a year for insurance to deliver babies. And that is just the start - In America doctors and hospitals are sued every day - to the tune of $55+ Billion a year; or 2.5 - 3% of annual healthcare spending. Approximately 250K Europeans with private health insurance come to America for health care each year to the tune off approx. $3.5Billion dollars; Approximately 80K Canadians come to America for health care each year, up from 52K in 2016 and 43% of Canadians would prefer to come to America for their healthcare and for many of us who life across the top of the US - our clinics are often treating Canadians. The American Healthcare system offers nearly 1000 treatments that are not available in the EU and Canada, including many experimental treatments as a last resort; we do not have courts like the UK has that denies people the right to travel here for healthcare. HealthCare is a far more complicated process that merely changing from individual insurance to an NHS. It isn't just about insurance, and it isn't just about profit and politics.
You seem to be a good person to ask with your direct experiences related to healthcare expenses. Can you argue that there's more benefits to the overall well-being of the populace's healthcare with insurance existing?
IMO I don't see any value with insurance existing that doesn't travel upwards to benefit the insurance company or hospital management. Everything in the U.S. revolves around control, money, and making sure the wealthy keep their status quo at damn near any cost. Med bills aren't always accurate when sent to insurance refused by insurance so the person pays? That's juicy profit. Charging for skin to skin contact is undeniably extortion. Can't go wrong with the AMA approved practices when some medical professionals will happily disregard people's medical needs and they die from them. But the AMA keep lobbying that we don't need more legislative constraints. Hell some people in America are being denied procedures outright, while others are being forced to wait. Sometimes it's for legit reasons, other times, fuck'em medicare peeps have to wait. Ohh, but we have to make sure all our allies are pampered, while us Americans carry the financial burden all the way to bankruptcy. @dennisstafford-cq2xz made some great points on their comment too. The U.S. approach to healthcare is asinine, and a frankly embarrassing joke. The future sustainability of our populace requires cheap, available, and preferably insurance free healthcare. Period.
A 10-12 yr old girl in I think Florida, had a rare condition that required brain surgery. Her insurance denied the procedure so she set up a lemonade stand to pay for her own surgery. While that sounds amazing, the “what a hard working girl! She’ll learn skills from this!” What sort of country makes a young child pay for her own surgery?! And with the prices you saw, I’m sure you could imagine how much she had to raise.
A big issue we have here, among many, is insurance companies thinking they know better than the drs treating the patient. If a dr wants a prescribe a med the insurance company can say no, even if they need it to save their life. If you need some procedure, the insurance company can say no. My insurance company refuses to pay for one med because I take another one that’s similar. Both act differently but I was prescribed both by gastro. So I have to pay for one out of pocket because insurance companies ultimately make medical decisions for you.
Our politicians also don’t negotiate cost of medicine because they are all lobbied by the insurance and medical industry.
It is price gouging and it ruins people’s lives.
Thank God for the NHS. It may have its problems but I for one would probably be dead or bankrupt without it.
2 heart attacks
Cancer plus treatment twice
2 children
ZERO payment.
I think it terrible that people have to declare bankruptcy because of medical bills. I feel so sorry for our American cousins. ❤
Absolutely, my stepdads in hospital at mo and getting very good care , can't imagine the stress of payments etc on top of that . Very greatful for our NHS . 😊
You are amazing! Your outlook on life and your intelligence looking at situations regarding your videos is so refreshing. As you know the UK and the US are wildly different. Medical bills in the US can break you. I was diagnosed with cancer in 2020 and last month I JUST finished paying off my medical bills. And I have damn good insurance.
Health care in America stopped being about caring for patients a long, long time ago. It's an industry and they squeeze out every cent they possibly can. I was charged more than $100 to hold my son for the first time after he was born. They called it "skin on skin contact." Someone else told me they usually do that during a C-section because the mother is on the table open and it might require a bit of cleaning or other things to let the baby lay on her chest for a moment. Only that didn't happen with me. In fact I didn't get to hold my son until he was 5 days old. They ran right out of the room with him and I didn't get to see him at all for the first day because he'd had a seizure when they pulled him out due to prolonged lack of oxygen. Between keeping me in the hospital for three days and him for 7 days, thank heavens I was on Medicaid at the time and didn't pay for it. If I HAD been paying for it, the total was well over $100K. This includes ridiculous fees like being charged for picking up and holding your child for the first time. I'd still be paying that off nearly 30 years later.
I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the bill. They forgot to send it to Medicaid and sent it straight to me.
I'm on a pension in Brisbane Australia and if I need surgery or X-rays or cat scan at the hospital it's free on Medicare
Just almost 22 years ago now, I developed a very bad wound that nearly killed me and has made me bedridden ever since. I was in the hospital for a month and when you combine surgery, antibiotics, pain meds, the cost of the room, and the surgical team's charges, it would have been literally over $1 million. It's only because I was born disabled and qualify for the only government provided healthcare that I, and my late parents who were still alive then, from being stuck with the bill.
In America, most doctors aren't getting the big bucks.......it's the insurance companies. These companies have crafted their golden position very expertly since the 1990's, using their lobbyists in Congress. Most doctors aren't driving the big Mercedes and Lexus these days. I used to live near a health care insurance company main headquarters.....not for dispensing healthcare but for pushing insurance paperwork. The building was HUGE and the parking lot and parking garage was enormous.......probably over a thousand cars. How many healthcare insurance companies are there in America?.........hundreds? All those people showing up to push paperwork, aren't doing it for free. But what goods and services are we actually getting out of all those pencil pushers?
With my insurance, a standard doc visit has a co-pay of $20. I have kidney disease and every time I visit my nephrologist, because it is a specialty doctor my co- pay is $50. The hospital stays here in USA, you'll be charged for every item that gets used for you. Each individual item and you'll receive a bill form not only the hospital, but from the doctor's that don't work at the hospital and come there to visit you (specialist). So a hospital bill and then different bills sent to you from the doctors as well.
Costs in US hospitals are due to a combination of things like doctors needing to earn more to pay student loans back, malpractice insurance for doctors and the hospital, lawyer fees for the hospital, and things like that.
I have a chip disk , went to ER because there was so much pain with it cutting into my nerve . The medication alone cost over $3,000 . It was two shots to relax the muscles and nerves. I had to get xrays laying flat and an MRI . The doctor was not on my insurance net and they did not want to pay . Since it was an emergency they had to . That visit was thousands of dollars . My bill was $120 ...Most of the hospitals here are private they set the prices higher each year and are aloud . Not paying your bill will create many problems.
growing up poor in the USA my parents motto was if you're not dying you don't need to go to the doctors.. straight up had a horrible cough for a whole month as a teenager and just hoped for the best and thankfully it finally went away on its own.
It's a multi-faceted issue, but part of the reason the costs have skyrocketed is employers started paying for your healthcare as a benefit. It was attractive at first, but because you could get anything looked at for free (to you...your employer had to pay), you did. But now that costs have gotten out of control your 'great benefits' have devolved into an oppressive cost.
I had a procedure in February of last year. The bills were something like 200k of which my insurance negotiated cost was somewhat less and my cost was my yearly out of pocket maximum of $5800. The bad part is it cost that. The not as bad part is the rest of my healthcare (and my wife and kids) for the year was fully covered at no cost to me. That said, my employer still paid the premiums that worked out to 24-30k for the year.
Welcome to an unregulated pharmaceutical/medical market in the States. I was bartending long ago in 2000 and sliced my finger open dumping a garbage bag full of glass bottle. Didn’t have insurance but had to go to the ER, cost me almost 10k. Insurance companies will also find every reason they can NOT to pay if you have insurance. It’s brutal. My partner had a traumatic brain injury in 2016, so he was in the NICU for five nights…each night for JUST the room was almost 6k per night.
I was in a car accident years ago and had to have my jaw wired shut due to fracture. Got there at night and stayed overnight for the surgery, can't remember now if I stayed one more day or not. I was covered by insurance but for some reason the hospital sent me a random bill anyway... for $20-some thousand dollars, absolutely insane. Didn't eat, use the tv, or anything. Just the surgery and layed in a freaking bed. No wonder so many people here go to other countries for surgeries and even their regular meds, it's just nuts.
@19.19 Kabir refers to sales tax as an extra cost of living in the USA, but conveniently forgets that in the UK you pay a hidden 20% VAT on almost everything you purchase. The highest sales tax in the US is about half that amount, and in some places it is zero. How much better off would you be in the UK if everything you bought was 10-20% cheaper? And don’t forget gas/petrol which costs more than double in the UK.
Some articles you should read Kabir: What went wrong with Britain's National Health Service -NPR▪Britain’s NHS was once idolized. Now its worst-ever crisis is fueling a boom in private health care -CNN▪I've never seen the NHS this bad - junior doctor -BBC▪Two in three UK doctors suffer ‘moral distress’ due to overstretched NHS, study finds -The Guardian▪Student doctors told: Skip university to plug NHS staff shortages -Independent😉 Don't just take my word for it, do some real research yourself for a change (and not via RUclips videos).👍 Peace Kabir🕊
My dad had diabetes and had to do dialysis and it was $10,000/month average. I went to the ER with an allergic reaction and they couldn’t help. After 16 hours of waiting they finally transferred me to another hospital…. I said I’d drive myself, but no. And the ambulance bill alone, just a ride. Not hooked up or anything, just a ride, was $3500. Absolutely I wish we had the universal healthcare like the UK
i had a major stomach surgery about 4/5 years ago, i think the total bill was around 200K ( this includes every Xray/MRI/cat scan that i had as well as all visits from my surgeon and all drugs used on me) most of it was covered by my insurance so i think i only had to pay about 11k, but either way im still in the process of paying that off.
Luckily for me, when I was a kid, my Dad had excellent insurance. There was never a bill. When my kids were little, samething. There were plenty of football injuries and surgeries, which cost nothing. My daughter at age three smashed her LEFT RING FINGER off she ended up with the best Orthodoc on earth. He reattached the finger and it looked great. She's never forgiven me....she's 54. Didn't cost a cent. The government messed that up and we had to buy insurance, quite expensive . BUT when I hit retirement age I got my choice of insurance companies, which made everything free. The government pays for everything! Back where I started. The only thing I might pay for is the emergency room entrance fee. No big deal. It felt like stepping stones across a river until I got to retirement. Now that I'm THERE, It's free again......except I'm old. Drat. Can't have everything.
😂
Pacemaker put in and a few days in the hospital $198,700. 10 day hospital stay for acute kidney injury, decreased heart function and edema $68,000.
I got Mono back in 2007 and spent 4 nights in the hospital. Despite having insurance, my cost after insurance was $38,000.
I just dropped my insurance. Paying $400+ per month (technically, it should be more based on my current income), just so I can pay a $90 copay to see my GP, and $155 copay per visit to each of my specialists (OBGYN, ENT, etc.). On top of that, there are additional fees for any amount not covered for labs, imaging, etc, which can vary in price. Pretty sure an MRI, with insurance (in my case), is about $500. Labwork can range from $25 to hundreds). Funny thing, I can use a GoodRx discount card and pay the same, or less, for the majority of my meds as I do WITH insurance. The two I can no longer afford without insurance are for migraines, and the cash price for those is about $2000 per month, so I just won't get those anymore. Mind you, they were only completely covered by insurance because the manufacturers of these particular meds have their own discount cards, which ONLY work if you have insurance. So, if you don't, you can't get the discount. 🤷♀️ Make it make sense.
I had gallbladder surgery and had no insurance . They kept me there 4 days luckily some charity paid the majority of my bills . The bill i saw 25000 and I paid about 10 thousand of that.
Our insurance premiums go to pay for corporate profits, shareholder profits, and massive insurance bureaucracy structures, and they make their money by refusing care, not paying for it. Our insurance companies have pencil-pushers with no medical background deciding what type and level of care a patient can receive. Americans who point to your tax rate thinking they have it better don't consider the cost of their copays, deductibles, and things that aren't covered, or the way they're being price gouged up front, nor do they realize that they pay a lot of little taxes and fees separately that are covered by income tax in other countries. Medical bills tend to be the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US.
Don't believe everything you hear, Kabir. There is always another side to the story that you don't hear.
If you are insured , more than likely you don't pay the entire bill. At most there is a co-payment. And how often are you even having surgery. These are generalizations that don't hold true across the board
I had twins that were born three months early the hospital bill for them was $385,000 each.
After watching your last video, when I saw that you were reacting to this vid I thought to myself, "Oh no, poor Kabir! He's going to get so mad."
I also pay approximately $18,000 per year to insurance but still don't have easy access to care. I got the Flu two weeks ago and after my temp got up to 102 on day three I decided to ask for a doctor's appoint from a family doctor. I was told there wasn't an appointment until August (it's currently May). I decided to book the appointment anyway, just to see a doctor. Then I got a text the next day from the hospital stating "we have an appointment available tomorrow. Respond "Yes" by 7pm to book. I responded Yes to book the appointment. Then I got to the hospital the next day, sick as a dog, and found out that the appointment was for a CT Scan. I told them I didn't need a scan, I just wanted to talk to a doctor. They told me that I would still have to pay a fee for booking the CT Scan appointment (still haven't received that bill so not sure how much it'll be) and I still wasn't able to see a doctor.
The US Healthcare system is a complete scam.
the monthly insurance costs my husband and I about 1000$ a month.
Depends on type of insurance. Preventative care/check up is free. That includes mammogram. There is a deductible with a max out of pocket. After you've reached your max then insurance pays 100%. I've had a hospital stay 3 days, for pneumonia after I paid my deductible and max the out of pocket, insurance paid 100% of all care, treatment throughout the year. There's also dental insurance and vision separate from the medical.
Do you by chance also make $80k or more? Most insurances companies handle medical billing better, better payout practices, and offer better plans to businesses that have people earning higher than the national average. Maybe it's related to business to insurance contracts, but my lived experiences see a pattern of unfavorable treatment with lower income earners.
My 22 yo son drove himself to the hospital exactly one year ago tomorrow with a collapsed lung. No ambulance and the 1st day Bill was 459,000$! He was in the hospital for 21 days! 1 incompetent things after another kept happening to him and he needed 6 surgeries and 18 units of blood. He'll never be able to pay that hospital bill. He was lucky to walk out with his life cuz he died during a stupid endoscopy! Our health care sucks!!!!
I got a 140 thousound bill fr9m a hospital stay. I had a seizure, was driven to the ER by my hisband, had an EEG, they kept me 2 days because i was having issues recognizing people i knew and i was juat confused. My insurance denied the claim. I sued and got it covered. I had to pay 3k
My Ex is from Bristol UK. Living here in US. He said if he gets sick… he’s going back home.
These prices are just what was billed to insurance, not necessarily what was actually paid out. Insurance companies pre-negotiate with hospitals/doctors for the cost of every service, procedure, medication, etc. So regardless of what the hospital may bill, that will not be the amount actually due. Plus you can negotiate with hospitals/doctors yourself a lot of the times if you claim you can't afford it. Many will help you. An example: about 15 years ago my mom caught a serious infection and was hospitalized in NYC for 16 days. The hospital billed her insurance $90,000. But her insurance said the amount that was owed was only $9500, because that was what their negotiated rate was. Her insurance paid them $6000 and she was supposed to pay the remaining $3500 balance (that was what her annual max out of pocket amount was). She paid them $2000, and said she couldn't pay the rest right away, could she have a payment plan. They said sure, how much can you do, she said $25 per month, they agreed. Well, after 2 years paying $25 per month for a total of $600 of the $1500 owed, she received a letter from the hospital saying that they were writing off her balance and she no longer needed to pay anything. It wasn't worth it to them in the end. So more people need to be aware that medical bills are not written in stone. Ask for itemized bills, question what's on them, negotiate in good faith, it can't hurt. Yes it may take a bit of your time to do it, but it could save you money in the long run. I have told many friends & family members this, and even helped some through the process, and it's saved a lot of money.
I used to get Remicade it was a 3 hour infusion and my insurance paid $24,000.00
My last CT Scan costs over $4,000 my deductible under our Medicare was $150 out of pocket
Let’s give the bottom line cost after insurance covers it. No one pays that. This is ridiculous. No one pays that no one guaranteed this is ridiculous. Nobody pays this amount.
As a poor senior on medicaide & Medicare we are just 3 yrs into our state ins allowing dental & vision coverage. It varies greatly from state to state because Medicade is state ,Medicare is federal. I moved from VA to N.C had toe injury in Va .couple mths before got nail infection .In Va my insurance covered it but NOT in .N.C it was a tiny bottle of liquid. W .O ins the medicine cost 1800 .I had to ask for a sub my ins allowed.
I have a friend whose 16 year old son had to have surgery about two months ago to remove a spinal tumor. He was only able to get it done because two different charitable organizations helped with expenses. If it had been his to pay completely we’re talking $100 of thousands of dollars. They had to pay $5000 up front. He has a decent income but no one can do this.
It gets worse. Should you ask for an itemized bill they will show categories in code w/o expalantion. Then each hospital may use their own code to describe billing and expenses. Costs are sometimes bundled which means a category of costs are just put out under that general expense, should you ask to itemize that bundle the itemization will costs more than the bundled expense whether all the things in 'the bundle' were necessary and used or not. One Insurance Provider may have negotiated a better contract than another so bills will not compaere equally between 2 patients using the same hospital with same procedures but different carriers. Hospitals have set phone #'s and clerks out of state for billing regards their costs. Hospitals, Insurers, Billing services, pharmacies etc., all make a profit. Critiques of the system get branded as socialist which is the catch-all phrase to use agasint critics to maintain the insane status quo for Corporate Care. Medicare is the only rational braking monitor for US health costs (a single oayer sysrtem). The premier lobbyist against a single payer system is the AMA (American Medical Association). Visiting the US? Buy health insurance before the trip.
Two different doctors have coded my annual physical in such a way that it is not covered by insurance. They labeled them 'administrative', which is not a covered code. Insurance says to get doc to change code, doctor says their code is correct. I owe $150 per physical. I'm not paying it, that's fraud. But I can't even file fraud complaint. State insurance department only cares about Medicaid fraud, and BC/BS refuses to escalate it because they insist I just need to talk to the doctor. So I just don't go get physicals now. And due to a huge ER bill, I won't go to the ER either. Bad plan, but what options do I have?!
2L of sanitized salt water in a sterile plastic bag, $700. Rofl
I had a hysterectomy in total it was about 30k. I had to pay about $6000 with insurance. This was about 10 years ago. Might be more today
I had an aortic valve replacement in 2019. 6 IV's every 24 hrs and a 5 week stay in a private room, no insurance...bills were close to $1 Million. I'd definitely rather have my taxes go towards a program similar to the NHS.
I would rather have your system. People argue that you have a horrible wait time but I have cancer and had to wait for my second surgery for 9 weeks and I have waited for Physical therapy for 6 months, I waited to get a new GP when my old doc moved for almost a year and Im in NY. We have horrible wait times here as well and we pay insane amounts
In western Illinois, where I'm from we have what is called lifeflight helicopter ambulance service. If it is dispatched for any medical situation, you will get billed $15,000 just to start it up and do pretrip checklist---even if the dispatch gets cancelled for whatever reason. If the dispatch isn't cancelled and they actually respond and transport, the price goes up from there.
Anytime a system is allowed to become a money grab, this is the result.
The bad thing is than in US doctrs and hospital most of the times are more interested on get the higher quantity they would obtain of the insurance insted of be focus in the best experience for their pacients and the health.
I live in Australia. January last year I spent 2 weeks in hospital for surgery tor remove my gall bladder. November last year I spent another 2 weeks in hospital for surgery on my lungs.
Yesterday I was in hospital having a day procedure with full anaesthetic. - Total cost to me for all this - NOTHING, thanks to Medicare. I'd hate to think what this would have cost me in the USA.
I became so sick that I almost had to declare medical bankruptcy I pay over $800 a month for insurance now (do to pre-existing conditions now) and my regular prescriptions are over $2;000 a month.
This is precisely why so many Americans are un or under-insured. I pay the insurance premium for myself and my husband, and it's just under 750 dollars a month. The cost would be astronomical if we had children. And that's not even taking into account the additional cost of medications, doctor's visits, lab work, and potential hospitalizations.
My employer provides insurance so the most I pay for a doctor appointment is $30 copayment and if I had to go to the emergency room the most I would pay is $200. The insurance company pick up the remaining cost. The insurance company are getting robbed