Can you AFFORD to be ill ?
By cjgrooms
@cjgrooms (4456)
United States
May 4, 2008 10:32am CST
Okay. here is the thing, my stepdaughter (19yrs old) had a toothache she went to the dentist which told her she had a abcess (infection) they couldn't do anything until the infection was taken care of they gave her antibiotics. Okay 2days later the swelling in her jaw was getting worse so she went to another dentist who told her that the first dentist had given her the wrong kind of antibiotic she gave her a different one. Well a couple of days later the swelling and pain was continuing to get worse, since we were all at the hospitial seeing my m-i-l i told her she needed to go to the e.r. and let them see what the problem was. They did a c.a.t. scan (i think thats what they did) a culture and some antibiotics. Now here is the good part. I recieved part of the bill. The scan was over 1700.oo dollars. that is just the scan, i dread getting the e.r. bill, the doctor in the e.r.'s bill, the supplies used bill oh and let's not for get the dr. that interpreted the scans bill. And the dentists that she saw each charged close to 400.00 dollars each. There has to be a better way to recieve medicale care than having to sell everything you own to pay these outragous amounts they charge! We have insurance that will pay some of it but w a goodly amt. will still be owed and what about those that can't afford insurance?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
4 May 08
I can't afford to get sick, either. I have insurance but, like yours, it doesn't pay for everything. The only reason I have insurance is so I don't get wiped out should something awful happen, I'm usually very healthy and haven't been to the doctor in about 18 months. Still, I pay an exorbitant amount every month for that lousy insurance!
What was your daughter's problem? You never said how it was resolved and I'm curious!
2 people like this
@cjgrooms (4456)
• United States
4 May 08
It had started out as a simple abbsessed tooth but it ended up an infection in her tissue below the jaw line if it had been in the jaw they would have had to operate to remove it (it was about the size of a golf ball).She is still on our insurance by pure luck . The company my husband works for changed insurance companies this past dec. the old one would have taken her off when she turned 18 this one she can stay on until her 20th birthday.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
4 May 08
I'm so glad you caught it in time! Those dentists didn't do a very good job, did they? Maybe you can get some of your money back from them.
1 person likes this
@jer31558 (3683)
• United States
5 May 08
I think that insurance if a ripoff which you cant do without. The thing that irks me the most is for instance, lets say you have a simple cold and go to the dr., and lets say that the entire bill adds up to 150 dollars. Well that is what you would have to pay if you payed for it yourself, the insurance company may only have to pay 70% of that. If the medical world could mark it down for the insurance companies, surely they could mark it down for those that dont have insurance...after all they are the ones that need it the most.
1 person likes this
@roniroxas (10559)
• Philippines
27 May 08
i cant afford to get sick and i cant get sick. i am a single mom of four children and getting sick means not going to work. i work as a singer so if i cant go to work that means i have no pay. i dont have an issurance too for our country does not have that kind of system. some people have insurance here but mostly the ones who works with a white collar job. i make sure i get my health check every year so i wont get sick.
@cjgrooms (4456)
• United States
27 May 08
We didn't have insurance for years and lthough my husband and i seldom got sick our youngest so had health issues and his medicine ran about 800.00 a mo. So i know what a worry not having insurance is. I am greatful we were finally was able to get it.
@cjgrooms (4456)
• United States
4 May 08
The insurance company refuses to pay the blotted fees that the medical community charges so they negotiate with them.My son gets an allergy shot every month the fee for giving the shot is 128.00 the insurance company will pay 15.00 so that is what they get paid.
@SusanLee (1920)
• United States
26 May 08
Like the rest of you I can't afford to get sick either. Fortunately I have been pretty healthy.
But I know that can change in an instant. I'll be honest with you, I blame the lawyers out there that encourage everyone to sue over every little thing.
Medicine isn't a perfect science. I think the doctors have had to pay such high malpractice insurance premiums because they are being sued right and left for such stupid things.
And of course the cost of this higher insurance falls to the patient to pick up the tab. It's not right, but that's just the way it is.
I've also noticed more and more doctors are going into practice with each other. I suppose to help bare the cost, I don't know.
It's turned into a racket, we the poor folks have to live with the crap.
1 person likes this
@harshadod (858)
• India
4 May 08
First regarding the title of your discussion,
No one can afford to be ill, in all senses.
The health care delivery in US does have some serious problems. Leading health economists are thinking, how to solve it, with no easy answers. They are trying to balance between a UK system(NHS) and the free market economy. Some kind of a revolution is needed to tackle all the health care related problems. The Cubans sure are much better at it.
@cjgrooms (4456)
• United States
4 May 08
There has surely got to be a better way. And i for one will be glad when they find it. Of course when they do find it, it will take years of politicans fighting about it before it is implemented. Then of course it will bear No resemblance to what it started out to be.
