Pain in the butt!
United States
March 22, 2008 12:11pm CST
Isn't always a kicker they talk about such great health care and wonderful hospitals and the typical talk of "no one is turned away" and then when you do seek out medical help they totally just stick it to you when you get the bill. They charge you for every single little thing from the ointment they used on you to the cotton swabs they used to apply the ointment. I'll still never forget when I got hurt four years ago at my graduation party. To keep a long story short i suffered serious first and second degree burns to my feet. However since I didn't have any insurance I had to pay everything out of pocket. Thank goodness for my health though and I'm hardly if ever getting hurt or sick. However now I am facing a dilemma. I've somehow hurt my tailbone like-seriously-to the point that I can't even sleep laying on my back anymore, and there is a raised bump. I'm sure it will go away but if it doesn't I dread going to the doctors. Not because of the procedures itself, but for the bill that will come following. So literally this situation has become a pain in my butt!
5 people like this
6 responses
@barehugs (8973)
• Canada
22 Mar 08
There must be a million US citizens at any given time who have a complaint like yours! But all I see here on myLot are people who decry the Canadian Federal Health Plan (they call it Socialist Medicine) and don't want anything like that to happen in the USA. As A Canadian I'm puzzled by this kind of thinking.Who are these rich Americans who can afford the exorbidant cost of existing medicine in the US? And can't they see how difficult this is making it for their fellow citizens?
3 people like this
@lucy02 (5015)
• United States
23 Mar 08
I hear ya! The last time I went to the hospital and was given a paper that stated I had the right to know the charge for any procedure before they did. Well guess what. I asked and they told me they didn't know. A thousand dollar bill for what they told me were esophageal reflux (gas).
3 people like this
@ebberts (784)
• United States
23 Mar 08
Ask the hospital for a financial aid package and fill out the paperwork. You may have to be denied for medicade before they will pay, but if medicade isn't denied they you will probally get medical help from them. It can't hurt to try. I did it and the hospital took care of 100% of my bill. Thank God. They may not tell people about it, but most hospitals have financial aid.
@Tetchie (2932)
• Australia
22 Mar 08
I totally agree with barehugs here. I have heard Americans on this forum state how they do not want to foot the bill for anyone else's health care yet your system of health is diabolical. You are supposed to be the wealthiest country in the world yet your basic needs are not being met, so I wonder what wealthy means! Your taxes should be prioritised to cover firstly basic health care, secondly education, thirdly the aged and infirmed. Then after that as a priority what needs to be addressed is the basic wage in line with the cost of living. And your Government needs to be accountable foremost, and you the people need to make sure they are accountable. Basic human rights would mean you are not sitting with a pain in your butt worried about the cost of being mended. I hope you have nice soft cushions.
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
23 Mar 08
It certainly is a pain in the butt and it shouldn't be this way is this so-called richest country in the world. I'm one of the lucky ones who has good insurance and my husband was sent for a routine colonoscopy a few weeks ago and as it turned out he had two polyps, which are what leads to colon cancer if they're not caught. He didn't have to pay anything other than the co-pay for his doctor's office visit but it cost over $9000! So, how many people can afford to pay that without insurance? No many! Therefore, how many people are going to end up with cancer that shouldn't have if they'd caught it before it became serious? It's BS and trust me, I do feel your pain, even if it is in your butt!
Annie
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
23 Mar 08
I am so lucky to be a senior citizen who has really good hmo insurance two years ago I fell and smashed my left shoulder so badly that I had to have shoulder joint replacement which meant surgery and an artifical joint.thecost eighty six thousand dollar unbelievable what on earth would I have done without an insurance that covered that. I ended up only having to pay twenty five dollar for ambulance the insurance covered the rest.
You have probably broken your tailbone I know this happened to me years ago when i fell on my butt on my tailbone. I saw a doctor but there was not anything to be done but just wait.
2 people like this
