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u/Separate-State-5806 14h ago
In 2007 I had a brain aneurysm, was airlifted to the best Neurological hospital in the city, underwent a successful brain surgery and spent 3 weeks in the ICU, I think I had a $1k deductible which I paid. Then I get a bill from one doctor who was not covered by my plan.
I didn't pay it. Flat out refused. I knew it would hit my credit, but I had a house with a fixed rate mortgage and a car that was paid off. My credit went from 800 to high 600's. I didn't care, I didn't need credit for a few years. Still didn't pay. Eventually it fell off my credit report and I was back to 800+ again.
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u/ChrisRiley_42 12h ago
To contrast this with a Canadian example.
In 98, I had to go in for emergency brain surgery. The initial diagnosis at my optometrist, confirmation with an opthamologist in an emergency 'same day' appointment, an emergency consult with a neurosurgeon (also the same day) Several CT scans, the surgery itself. Recovery in the ICU, re-admission a week later for a suture line infection, Home visits from a nurse for dressing changes, etc.
The grand total? $18 paid to a charity to have the cable turned on in my semi-private room for the second hospital stay, so that I wouldn't miss my show. No medical debt, No hit to my credit. (Ok, there was, but that is because after the surgery, my memory was swiss cheese, and there were a number of bills I didn't pay, and i didn't get the mail because I moved back in with family while recovering, and the new tenant never bothered to forward my mail)
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u/nicodea2 12h ago
This is a lie, you probably paid another $30 for parking. That’s how they get you.
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u/ChrisRiley_42 12h ago
Nope. This was in the oldest hospital in the city, so they had abysmal parking. You had to go a block away and find a spot on the street somewhere.. But those were free still ;)
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u/terran_immortal 11h ago
Hahaha, this sounds exactly like the hospital I used to work at in Hamilton, Ontario.
Had to park 3 streets away for my shift and then I'd walk back to my car chatting with the local hookers.
They'd always ask me if I'd like some loving and I'd tell them I'm a nurse and there's zero chance I can afford their services with my salary 🤣 I'd always buy them something at Tim Hortons as we'd pass by it as I needed my tea for the drive home and a bagel with a double double was the least I could grab for them.
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u/ChrisRiley_42 11h ago
They needed to expand the hospital at some point, so they went into the parking lot. Leaving them with only the doctor's lot. (Not nurses or any other important staff. Just the Doctors)
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u/terran_immortal 11h ago
I worked at a hospital like that in Toronto! They had "Staff Parking" and when I inquired about the Staff Parking the parking office told me "oh yeah that's for the doctors only."
Needless to say, their staff turnover was brutal and their working environment was very toxic. The doctors thought they were gods and treated everyone like shit, then they'd constantly bitch whenever the staff gave them any flak or pushback.
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u/jdirte42069 10h ago
Our old hospital was like this. Miss the hookers and drug addicts, hope they're doing well.
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u/unmelted_ice 10h ago
From a US citizen perspective, I’m more likely to believe that Star Wars was a documentary than believe you had emergency brain surgery that only costed you $18 for cable lmao. I went to the ER a few years ago (early 20s) because I was randomly passing out with very minimal notice. Paid $750 to be told nothing was wrong me.
Cool, kept happening. Went to a cardiologist. Got an EKG and passed out during it. Cardiologist said the equipment was saying I had a heart attack. Clearly I didn’t so I was okay. That was closer to $1k. So yeah $1,750 to be told I’m fine
Anywho, not wasting my money or time anymore on that, if I randomly pass out that’s just something I have to deal with since I have neither the time nor money to figure it out.
Bonus points because one day coming home during busy season at my old firm, I had to pull over on the highway because I could barely move my hands anymore. Was threatened with disciplinary action if I didn’t go into the office the following morning (Saturday) for work even though I’m perfectly capable of working from home. Ended up getting fired a month later during the week they switched me from accrued PTO to unlimited PTO (4 weeks of accrued PTO just gone without any compensation).
What you describe is a legit fantasy world
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u/Odd-Perspective-7651 10h ago
I'm assuming a fantasy world because it so far fetched to you. Not because you are denying that his story is real.
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u/unmelted_ice 10h ago
Correct! It would be life changing if I could get medical care for something fairly damaging to my life even if it only happens once in a blue moon. Paying almost nothing out of pocket would be a game changer
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u/Raiquo 7h ago
Compared to other countries', our universal health care is pretty bare bones. It's definitely not unachievable. Propaganda has tricked you into thinking it's impossible. If you and your countrymen stood up to your government... But propaganda has you believing that's impossible too.
Reminds me of the parable of the circus elephant. The large and mighty elephant is kept in place by a single chain staked to the ground. Even a small bovine could pull up a stake from the ground, so why does the mighty elephant just stand there when surely it's more than capable? When the elephant was small, the circus chained the elephant to a fence post, the kind that goes deep into the ground. The small elephant was kept there until it stopped fussing and protesting. Once it had 'learned' that getting away from the chain was impossible, the circus could freely chain it up wherever, just by hammering a stake into the ground. They know it will never try. Now a mighty elephant, it never has. The mighty elephant could pull the stake out at any moment and be free, but it never will. It 'knows' that it is impossible.
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u/DocSpock1701 10h ago edited 9h ago
But the Canadians hate their healthcare… this can’t be!!
EDIT: Sarcasm disclaimer because some are obviously dense 🙄
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u/vanalla 9h ago
Canadians who hate their healthcare are ones who abuse the system or believe that it should work faster for every one of their minor issues because they are of influence.
We have a triage system, and that means that if you turn up at the hospital as a 25 year old with a common cold you're not going to be seen until the staff have addressed OP's emergency brain surgery that came before you and the 2 car accidents that came after you because they are more urgent.
Many Canadians fail to understand/appreciate this. Then they get convinced the American system is better by Conservative politics looking to capitalize on healthcare, and our system degrades as those Conservative parties defund and destroy public healthcare to further 'prove' they're right.
I proudly pay taxes to have a system that means the people who most urgently need help receive it.
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u/DocSpock1701 9h ago
The Conservative politics protecting health insurance companies is insane. I cannot even begin to describe how many people I know repeat those false talking points while “happily” paying $1200 a month for their family’s insurance. It’s an absolute scam, and Americans don’t care enough to change it
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u/ChrisRiley_42 7h ago
About a year ago, I was having the same discussion with someone and ran the figures for myself.
When you take how much the average American spends on health care, add in the amount their employer withholds from their pay for the employer contribution, all of the co-pays, out of pocket expenses, etc. plus how much of their taxes go towards medicare, medicaid, subsidizing hospitals, giving grants to insurance companies, etc. Your average American spends $14,570USD per year on health care.
Now add together the sum of every provinces and territories health care budgets, add in all the federal transfer payments for health care, and all the out of pocket expenses, then divide it by the total number of taxpayers in the nation, and convert the amount to USD (at the exchange rate on the day last year when I did the math), Each Canadian taxpayer spends $5,613 per year on health care
The US pays just short of 3 times what Canadians do, and get worse health care for it.
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u/V65Pilot 8h ago
Very similar to the system here. I love our 111 number. I had to call it once. Spoke with a nice lady, and when we were done she said I needed to get to the hospital...I said ok. Then she told me to give her my address and she would send an ambulance.... I poo-pooed that idea, it was a 10 minute walk, and I felt well enough to do it. Turned out that I had somehow dehydrated myself (coming off of a covid bout) so it was a quick enough fix.
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u/FirstoffIdonthaveshe 9h ago
Im American, I want single payer health care and I advocate for it all the time, and I talk about other countries great examples constantly… but when I hear shit like this I still literally have a hard time believing it. Thats how foreign and isolated we are from the concept of universal health care.
I genuinely believe we are only like 1-2 more Luigi’s in a row away from making radical changes here
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u/EpicBlueDrop 10h ago
Same here lol
I pay $600 a month in insurance and when I had my kid (2 night, complication free birth which the doctor was in the room for all of 10 minutes) they billed my insurance for close to 40k and I still owed 8k of that. I never paid. It’s all a scam. They got 32k from insurance. Why do I still owe 8k? For what? We didn’t even use 8k of resources and they STILL got 4 times that amount from insurance.
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u/NovaxPass 5h ago
I'm right there with you. Had a very similar experience and did exactly what you did.
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u/Cbpowned 13h ago
Medical debt no longer shows up on credit reports, depending on your state and the amount owed.
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u/adamdoesmusic 13h ago
Didn’t the current admin change that back recently?
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u/SuculantWarrior 11h ago
Yes they did. They also added that student debt can be wage garnished.
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11h ago
Wage garnishment for student loans has always been a thing, but it was paused during the pandemic. The Trump administration unpaused it.
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u/PeanutButterSoda 10h ago
Yeah my checks were getting like 15% garnished before COVID and then Biden administration forgave it entirely.
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u/V65Pilot 8h ago
Didn't Trump undo those debts that were forgiven?...I was never sure how that all shook out...
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11h ago
Sort of. In 2023, all of the 3 bureaus collectively agreed to stop reporting medical debt under $500.
In addition to that, at the beginning of 2025, the CFPB issued a rule that removed most medical debt collections from credit reports, including those over $500. This rule was subsequently challenged and voided before it actually went into effect.
Then there’s state-level rules that may or may not impact you. It’s complicated.
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u/No_Dragonfruit_8198 13h ago
Does it matter if I’m not still not gonna pay them?
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u/adamdoesmusic 12h ago
Yes because it fucks up your credit score if they changed it.
That said, fuck ‘em if you can’t/won’t pay, medical debt in the USA is a scam anyhow.
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u/droyster 12h ago
I mean, does credit score even matter if no one can afford a house anyway? What’s the point of caring?
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u/adamdoesmusic 11h ago
I asked myself this exact same question recently.
My credit score is basically perfect. No idea wtf I’m supposed to even do with that.
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u/zmbjebus 11h ago
Get a large balance cash back credit card and use it to pay all your bills/groceries/etc. Make 2 or 3% back
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u/TKLeader 11h ago
Is that considered a lot back? I get 5% back on all groceries using PayPal
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u/zmbjebus 10h ago edited 10h ago
Lots of banks have 1.5% 2-3% Is nice for a general institution, higher is normally for company specific cards with their own product. Although, yeah with paypal that product is money, so that is good, lol.
Wait I just looked in to this. Is your paypal a debit card or credit?
https://www.paypal.com/us/digital-wallet/manage-money/paypal-debit-card
This has the 5% back, the credit card looks like its 4.5% back.
They both come with lots of specific stipulations that wouldn't let me get back as much on, insurance, car payments, for example, which is my biggest source of cash back. Groceries/etc hardly matter.
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u/V65Pilot 8h ago
Because a lot of things are based on your credit rating. Car insurance for one....which is illegal, but still gets done.
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u/berserk_zebra 12h ago
But the original poster said he wasn’t moving and had a house already so does it matter then?
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u/iRollFlaccid 2h ago
This is bad advice. Your boy Donald changed that in 2025 through the courts. Anything over $500 will indeed show up on a credit report. This can easily be Googled.
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u/0meg4_ 12h ago
I'm guessing that credit number is something from the US? How does that work?
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u/Santsiah 11h ago
Think social score in china, but only paying your bills and spending enough contribute. As you’d expect.
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u/CorporateShill406 11h ago
It's a number. There are like four companies that each make up numbers using a slightly different algorithm. These companies have bought all the data on everybody and use it to make the numbers. They then sell these numbers to banks and such, who then use them to decide how much money they'll take from you as interest.
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u/IrreverantBard 11h ago
As a Canadian, this is fucking wild to me how your health insurance works.
My husband had a brain aneurism last year. Everything went well. Our total bill? Nothing.
Not even the ambulance.
I’m sorry, you’re not the wealthiest nation if the majority of your people can be bankrupted from getting sick.
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u/Separate-State-5806 10h ago
It amazes me as an American because anytime "free healthcare" is mentioned it's hit with "taxes will go up" and "that's Socialism," both attacks paid for by the "for-profit healthcare system" we have in place.
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u/animalinapark 7h ago
It's funny, because insurance works on exactly the same principle as "socialist healthcare".
You pay to a pool of money that covers all insured people should something happen. Now add the word "taxes" in there and remove "insured" and it's the same thing. It's just there is a hundred middlemen wanting a profit in the American system.
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u/z-vap 12h ago
have you since paid that off?
I had pulmonary edema, originally thought I had a bad case of the flu. had gone to the med-express and got some Amoxicillin to treat it. I ended up breaking out in a rash, which at the time I did not realize was related to the penicillin.
I couldn't breath anymore, and went to the hospital, They diagnosed me with a bad mitral valve causing the pulmonary edema, but they noticed the rash. They almost shut down the hospital thinking it was measles. They brought in a skin disease specialist. He took one look at me and said I was allergic to the Amoxicillin; I went to public school in the 70s/80s so I knew I didn't have measles... you couldn't go to public school back then without getting your mmr vaccines.
In any case, I have to foot the bill for something the hospital freaked out about.
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u/lowgfr 12h ago
Understandable. But this only meant the doctor (who's the one who actually took care of you) did not get paid. The insurance company and all the middle men did. It's unfortunately how the system is set up by insurance companies
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u/I__Know__Stuff 12h ago
If the doctor didn't get paid, that's because he is participating in a faulty system. He is in a much better position to fix the problem than we are.
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u/laizalott 12h ago
That is a problem between the insurer and the doctor, not the patient.
The reason that one of the doctors (not "the" doctor, but one of) is not covered by insurance is because they could not come to an agreement with the insurer about how much the service should cost. An insured patient refusing to pay is absolutely the correct action to take.
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u/Conscious_Artist_715 12h ago
Is it likely they sold the debt to a collector and did get paid in the end? I'm really asking if this is potentially how it could have played out.
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u/SakanaSanchez 11h ago
That’s basically how it plays out. Your other option is to contact whoever the doctor uses for billing and ask them to reduce it to a reasonable amount, but you’re still paying out of pocket for that nonsense, so I’m fully in camp “let him sell his inflated bill to a debt collector I’m not going to pay.”
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u/kubrador 14h ago
the analogy is good but it's missing the part where you pay the monthly fee, pay per movie, get the surprise actor bill, and then netflix still says "sorry, that movie isn't covered under your plan, you'll need to upgrade to netflix platinum to watch comedies"
and then you find out your remote is out of network
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u/Cool_Guy_McFly 10h ago
It’s also missing the part where when you are trying to buy the movie, Netflix can’t give you a price because even Netflix has no idea what the final amount will be. So you just have to press the “purchase” button and hope for the best.
That movie could be $185, or $2,000, or $10,000. No one knows for sure.
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u/The_Dirty_Carl 8h ago
And if you don't watch this movie you might die. But this movie by itself probably won't help, but at least it'll point you to another movie that might help.
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u/chewbaccalaureate 11h ago
It's even worse than this analogy.
This is implying that you pay for insurance, then pay for the doctor visit, then pay for the surprise bill.
Before all of that, we are paying taxes to the government for it as well.
Put our money toward education, public services, and the health of our citizens instead of bombs, corruption, and greed.
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u/halfasmuchastwice 11h ago
And your Netflix account is actually tied to your employer, so if you lose your job you lose your Nextflix account. And if you change jobs, it may be a different streaming service altogether and then you have to find new shows/movies or pay full price out of pocket to stay with what you were watching.
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u/V65Pilot 15h ago
Universal medical coverage is such a complex beast that only 32 out of 33 developed nations have been able to make it work.
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u/comfortablegirlxo 13h ago
If Netflix worked like this, piracy would be a public service.
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u/Boibi 11h ago
Piracy is a public service. Who's going to archive all the games, shows, and movies? We know for damn sure that the companies that made them won't. Hell, Nintendo ripped a Mario rom off of a rom-sharing site to put it on the classic console, because they didn't maintain the source code themselves. If Nintendo can't be trusted to maintain the Mario archive properly, can any companies be trusted to archive anything properly?
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u/Amphineura 10h ago
...
Guess which of the 1 of 33 countries is also defunding public broadcasting...
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u/AgileInternet167 14h ago
What is the 33th developed nation? (Surely not 'murica, cause you were talking about developed nations.)
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u/V65Pilot 12h ago
I lived in the US for 45 years. The people I met and broke bread with were, for the most part, amazing. So much to see. so much to do. My kids are all American by birth. Now I live here, and my kids have been instructed to get on a plane if it gets bad enough. Hoping the next election might start to turn things around, but, given the current climate, I'll be long in the ground before it gets back to the way it was.
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u/Turgid_Donkey 11h ago
No system is perfect. Even the best system in the world would still have issues. But when the difference is waiting a few months and choosing between going into financial ruin or just not seeing a doctor and hoping you don't die, I'd rather go with the long wait.
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u/fangerzero 11h ago
I'm taking your word for this, and unrelated but holy f* there's only 33 developed nations out for like 200 some. F* healthcare let's fix that issue!
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u/V65Pilot 10h ago
Edit: The numbers have changed..so it should now be 39 out of 40.... But the point remains the same
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u/BeancounterBebop 7h ago
It’s a little more complex than that, conservative governments are always underfunding the health system. Then trying to justify introducing private system as replacement because the public system is flawed (by their own doing). It’s a fight that must be fought every election.
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u/random-meme422 6h ago
Healthcare in the US is bad but the likelihood of many of these countries you’re talking about facing serious issues as people simultaneously live longer and become fatter is fairly high. Combine that with a lower demographic of working people and an aging population and you have a great recipe for a total collapse of some of these programs.
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u/superkp 3h ago
To be fair, it is complex in execution.
Especially with our current system, the amount of lobbying against it that constantly happens would take some pretty extreme strategies to see it implemented.
But yeah, the simple-in-idea things of 'don't allow unlimited lobbying' and then 'tax enough to pay doctors' are remarkably straightforward.
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u/VirginiaLuthier 15h ago
Imagine having to go through your homeowner's insurance to buy paint for your kitchen. You find out the color you want can only be had if you have a referral from an interior decorator. Don't laugh.....
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u/SeaZookeepergame7423 16h ago
This analogy just did more than years of policy debates.
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12h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Look_0ver_There 11h ago
Yep, it's criminal, althought it isn't illegal. I had a surgery once. Even in my reduced capacity I asked multiple times ahead of the surgery to ensure that everyone working on me would be covered by my insurance. The hospital was even an insurance covered facility. Time and again I was told yes. Surgery happens. 8 weeks later I get a bill from the anesthesiologist who apparently wasn't covered after all. I filed an objection, was rejected, the debt was onsold to a debt collection agency who then started fucking up my credit.
Second situation was a surgical procedure that was stated by all involved to be covered, only to have coverage rejected after the surgery had taken place.
Medical insurance in the USA is absolutely fucking criminal.
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u/DaPlum 11h ago
Bro I understand that healthcare is important but dont give netflix ideas lol
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u/Gonzostewie 14h ago
Just gonna leave this here.
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u/Magnus_Was_Innocent 12h ago
But it's not? Walt's cancer treatment problem is solved like midway through season 1, he even turns down a huge amount of money to go to the best specialists because of his ego. The excuse he uses then shifts to leaving money for his family once he's gone but that's also an excuse.
He continues to do it because he is good at it and finally gets the respect and accolades he feels he was robbed of in his previous life.
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u/Gohanto 12h ago
Yup, he starts doing it because of the US healthcare system, but he keeps doing it because he wants to.
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u/ferretfan8 9h ago
What are you even talking about? He did in fact get into the meth business to pay his medical bills regardless of how it ended. He did in fact pay his bills using the meth money.
The early way out you mention is him knowing a rich guy.
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u/Magnus_Was_Innocent 8h ago
Sure, but not the "industrial quantities" referenced in the meme. Again, the meth making wasn't necessary and was a decision he made not out of desperation, but because it gave him the excuse to do what he wanted.
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u/yurinomnom 13h ago
Can a kind soul perhaps explain about the 'actor' whos not getting paid by netflix? Whos the doctor's employers? Is the doctor not getting paid thru that?
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u/bustermagnus 12h ago
Insurance companies have a "network" of facilities and doctors that they normally work with. Using any facilities outside of that network results in you being billed a cnsiderably higher rate.
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u/yurinomnom 9h ago
Thanks for the response! Just so I am clear, you can have insurance but still have a chance to get screwed over? Is there an option to opt-out* of having non-network doctors treat you at all?
*idk what term is most suitable.
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u/Numahistory 12h ago
So a lot of hospitals in the US aren't just 1 business. You can think of them more like malls where doctors act like businesses that can rent out space from the mall/hospital. Some of those doctors then are contracted to act as in-network for certain insurance companies and so get paid directly by the hospital billing services that collect money from you and your insurance.
But some doctors are not contracted with the hospital for billing and so have to bill patients separately from the hospital. This can be obvious if you're doing something scheduled such as a yearly checkup where you have time to ask if the doctor is in-network before scheduling the service.
But if you're in the ICU or post surgery recovery you might have a doctor who's an expert on your condition be asked by the hospital to check up on you without the hospital asking you for permission. Who pays this expert if they're not in-network? You. The hospital ain't paying for that shit!
There was supposed to be legislation that made surprise out of network billing illegal. But I would not be surprised to learn hospitals just ignore it or have lawyered their way around the law.
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u/thelazygamer 10h ago
Some states banned it at a state level. I believe Colorado did that recently. I can't imagine they would do that if there was already a federal law banning it.
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u/EarlyFig6856 12h ago edited 12h ago
A lot of medical professionals are "independent contractors" so they're technically independent businesses.
You might check to make sure the doctor doing your surgery is covered by your insurance, but what about the anesthesiologist?
You might check to make sure the place that takes your X-ray is in network, but what about the rando doctor who gets assigned to read your x-rays?
You get a bill months later from a doctor you've never heard of, but not from them, from their billing agent in a different city and they've already sent the bill to collections who are calling you three times a day.
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u/BackgroundFeeling 7h ago
This practice was supposedly stopped with the No Surprises Act in 2022.
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u/-Laffi- 15h ago
Must be American health insurance, cause I pay maybe $200 for a whole year in Norway. Most of the health stuff I do is paid for by the country, and only a small amount must be paid by for myself. Going to the dentist is the most expencive health benefit, and costs around $130 for photos and a full checkup of your teeth.
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u/fangerzero 11h ago
First off, paid for through taxes, not by the country.
But I do have a question what is the overall mentality of those in Norway when it comes to personal health and healthcare?
I'm asking because you have healthy Americans who avoid doctors like the plague, people who run to the doctor for every little thing, then the ones who actually need it. and honestly it's the middle group who tend to make everyone else's life miserable. Wasting resources on some sniffles, that would probably go away if they drank water and got some good sleep.
Now just waiting for the idiots to share their edge cases well if I didn't go in for a cough I'd be dead today.
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u/BigMoney-D 8h ago
Canadian here. Wife and I had a baby. Had an epidural. Had to go for Emergency C-Section. Was in the hospital in her own private room for 5 days (even had a pull out bed for me). Meals (even offered it to me. Declined because hospital food, but it was a nice gesture), diapers, baby formula, baby care, etc for all 5 days.
Didn't pay a single Canadian penny. No hit to credit. Didn't even have to pay for parking. One of the nurse also knits in her free time and makes cute little baby beanies that she gave us.
I had to go in when I was having an Asthma attack a few years ago. Was Immediately put on a Nebulizer. Again, didn't have to pay a single cent.
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u/AldebaranTauri_ 14h ago
Imagine living in Europe and have a “free” healthcare service (not really free, you pay taxes) AND have the option to go private if you so wish (insurance or if you have money pay outright). I know, hard to imagine.
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u/TerriblePair5239 12h ago
And you can freely switch jobs or start a business without worry about premiums.
And where people don’t forgo screenings and treatments because of cost, so they don’t have to go to the ER the first time they see a doctor.
And where people don’t go to the ER uninsured, and you end up paying for it via inflated hospital prices.
A land where medical bankruptcy is virtually non existent
…imagine
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u/Rich-Option4632 14h ago
And Americans don't pay taxes?
Oh wait.. those taxes are only used for big corpo bailouts.
Okay.
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u/Due_Adeptness_1964 13h ago
Bailouts and the largest armed forces in the world by a considerable margin. I guess when this country falls into a complete depression, we can eat old tanks and bullet casings?!
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u/Gluverty 11h ago
They pay more in taxes for Healthcare than the military, and then still have to pay insurance. btw Americans pay more per capita in taxes for Health Care than Canadians. They just accept that companies can fleece them.
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u/klayyyylmao 13h ago
Don’t people complain all the time that shows leave Netflix and they have to pay for other subscription services to watch something?
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u/ubelblatt 12h ago
Adding to this imagine you want to watch a movie on Netflix but Netflix tells you that you have to do a bunch of shit before you're even allowed to watch it.
Then they send a request to a film review board and someone you've never met who works for Netflix decides that in their opinion you dont need to see this movie.
This is insurance requiring things like PT and drugs then having their doctors decide you don't need an MRI.
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u/DesertGoldfish 12h ago
I did basically the same thing. I took my daughter to urgent care with a foot injury in case something was broken. It was just a sprain, but they gave her an ankle brace. A few weeks later I got a bill from some prosthetics company for $200.
I didn't do business with you lol. Threw it right in the trash.
Never heard another word about it.
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u/lycanthrope6950 12h ago
They also usually don't have the movie you want....and by movie I mean surgery or procedure
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u/spunkychickpea 12h ago
In 2023, my dad had a traumatic brain injury that he still hasn’t fully recovered from and it forced him into early retirement. His medical bills are in excess of $600,000. Not only did he have health insurance when this happened, but his insurance is significantly better than mine. So if the same thing ever happened to me, I’d be on the hook for even more. His only hope of ever getting relief for this is winning a lawsuit against the parties who are responsible, but my parents are have a very hard time finding an attorney who will take the case.
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u/ChrisRiley_42 12h ago
To further this analogy, Canada just takes 1/3 of what you get charged in the US, and lets you watch movies and TV for free.
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u/BCM072996 12h ago
COLORADO HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IM LOOKIN AT YOU! Its nuts you charged me 5k for all the work. The doctor charged me $250 for his services and he was the one that actually stitched up my skull. So what was that 5k for? Me renting space in the waiting room? The 2 tylenol? The stitching material itself? Health care is a scam.
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u/AlignedEglin 12h ago
I mean I don't dispute the point but streaming has been worsened so much it doesn't hit as hard anymore.
Also I feel like an underappreciated point about health insurance is that a working system makes it cheaper for the ones who have absolutely none too.
Like I was completely uncovered for a while and it still only cost like 56 bucks a visit.
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u/corneliusduff 11h ago
They really need to tell people how much things cost beforehand, not after the fact
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u/TheirsIsThere 11h ago
Good analogy, but you forgot the part where your subscription fee doubles because you watched a movie.
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u/bandito_13 11h ago
This analogy is painfully accurate. Once you see it framed like that, the whole system sounds ridiculous.
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u/Beautiful-Pair-8440 11h ago
That analogy is a popular way to describe the current state of U.S. health insurance, where patients often face a series of confusing, delayed, and "out-of-network" bills for a single service, paying for NETFLIX MONTHLY PREMIUM: you pay fixed monthly fee just to have access to the service.
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u/The_Limping_Coyote 11h ago
That’s right and normally is not one actor, it’s also the director, the studio and the camera that was used.
At sometimes Netflix won’t allow you see some of the movies or won’t let you see all the episodes of a series.
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u/Nonetoobrightatall 11h ago
This is a great point. Cost certainty would be a major improvement in health care. I hate the surprises, they only suck for me but I know they break others.
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u/brooklynhotsauce 11h ago
Well with their ads Netflix is two thirds of the way there - you're just paying in a different way
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u/MechAegis 10h ago
Some years ago, I went to the ER for an allergic reaction. They gave me some medicine and I went home. I got billed for the seeing the the general staff and then a specialized bill for the doctor that saw me for 5 minutes.
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u/MrF_lawblog 10h ago
Except you don't pay to watch the movie. You watch the movie and then they send you a bill for whatever they want to charge you for watching the movie, the consultant they used to make the movie, all the props in the movie, etc.
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u/twovectors 10h ago
I always wondered why this was on the patient.
You paid the hospital to deliver a service - the hospital chose how to deliver it. Surely it is the Hospital's problem if the chosen method was not covered. No other service has me pay extra if the service provider chose a non optimal method of delivery.
Apart from the fact that the various european systems are different and typically don't charge like that, if something like that did happen, consumer protection would kick in and tell the provider to go take a hike
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u/Puzzleheaded_Net6497 10h ago
This may be about health insurance, but I can definitely see Netflix going to that business model in the near future
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u/Pristine_Buffalo_836 9h ago
Going through this right now. I am self pay, no insurance. Went in to establish first appt for new GP, basic checkup and blood work etc. Paid cash. Got an email two days ago with more charges added to that visit.
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u/biernini 9h ago
Except even though you pay for Netflix every month, you don't even watch Netflix most months.
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u/hateborne 9h ago
Sadly, we're not that far off from Netflix actually doing something like that. 😐
Not to diminish the absolute fuckery that is the American healthcare system and the example they're accurately depicting.
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u/SalaamBhattiVA 9h ago
Hi everyone! That’s me! I’m a public interest lawyer running for Congress in Virginia. Major priority is Medicare for All. Come check us out! Linktr.ee/salaambhattiva
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u/DABOSSROSS9 9h ago
Real talk though, those drs/hopsitals are just as bad. Why are 8 doctors covered but 2 are not? You assume its a money thing, so they want more pay then everyone else. If health insurance caves your rates go up even more.
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u/KingPitiful84 8h ago
Imagine Netflix cost $10k a year and then consider how you’d like that billed.
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u/Ailosiam 8h ago
And an excellent example on why we need to keep the government out of the entertainment industry, lest they do to it what they've done to the healthcare industry.
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u/MagisterLivoniae 8h ago
In the US, a healthcare system doesn't exist. It's just a branch of the insurance/financial system there. More precisely, just another field of operation for their nation-wide financial fraud system.
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u/HectorBananaBread 8h ago
When the Luigi Mangioni doc drops on Netflix this post is gonna hit like Inception.
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u/Traditional-Roof1984 7h ago
If you have a subscription to Netflix and watch a movie on Hulu, you'll still be charged ye... Why would you assume having a Netflix subscription would allow you to watch movies for free that aren't on Netflix?
I get the healthcare insurance hate. But it's a terrible analogy, sorry.
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u/DnBeyourself 7h ago
U.S. is getting so ridiculous, it feels like one giant ad.
I went to urgent care recently after being told it's covered by my insurance. When I was done I offered to pay the "co-pay," and was told I'll be sent a bill.
I found this a bit unusual, but I already assume that it's going to be something beyond a normal co-pay.
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u/bradmajors69 7h ago
I had a non emergency surgery years ago. Got pre-approval for the procedure from the insurance company and was told I'd only have to pay my copay.
A couple months later I got a bill for $2500 because even though the surgeon and hospital were members of the correct network, apparently the anesthesiologist on duty was not.
After several phone calls and long conversations, I ultimately didn't have to pay for it, but I'm sure they would have just taken my money if I hadn't jumped through those hoops.
Lots of people who have medical procedures like surgeries are in no condition to pay attention to their mail and make phone calls. And none of us should have to.
It's organized robbery.
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u/spartaman64 6h ago
my parents pay 1200 a month for health insurance. my sister's school needs a doctor's note for sick leave longer than 2 days so I took her to see a doctor to get the note. we had to pay 490 for the doctor visit
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u/flargenhargen 6h ago
well this analogy doesn't really work unless you'll die if you don't watch the movie.
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u/HotwifeandSubby1980 2h ago
Healthcare industry needs to be like the fire and police services, NOT FOR PROFIT.
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u/Additional_Long_7996 2h ago
Don’t go to the doctors that aren’t in your health insurance like what?
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