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It’s no secret that American healthcare is notorious for continually shocking the rest of the world who are well used to being more or less covered in case of health emergencies. And while American hospitals and medical facilities are undisputedly something you’d call ‘world class,’ they are also unaffordable for many.

The numbers speak for themselves: total health care spending in America went over $4 trillion in 2020 and more than 30% of that—or about $1.24 trillion—was spent on hospital services. Hospital costs per day averaged $2,607 with California being the most expensive at $3,726 per day. And if you want to stay overnight, the coast soars up Everest, $11,700, to be exact, and that’s for the ones with insurance.

There’s only one thing that speaks even louder than figures. It’s people who have experienced what it’s like to have their health in jeopardy just because they couldn’t afford the costs. Below are some of the most upsetting cases shared by Americans who, while living in the ‘greatest country in the world,’ would probably not dare to call it that.

#1

Universal Healthcare Is Such A Complex Beast

maxonsdad , twitter.com Report

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Lauren Caswell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This. This needs to be more prevalent. Spam your government with it. They need to hear you, to care for you. That is one of their jobs.

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#2

The American Healthcare System

Throwawaylism Report

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Call Me Mars
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I cannot say how much I hated reading this. People should never put their love on the line because of healthcare. I hope that something changes soon, but I doubt it will.

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#3

When The Cost Of The Cure Is Worse Than The Disease.

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Helen Haley
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the US medical system, death isn't the worst outcome. Financial death is

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Previously, Bored Panda spoke with Dr. Andrew Carroll from Arizona, who has experience dealing with healthcare insurance companies and fighting for what's best for his patients. Some time ago, we covered a story about how he broke down in tears when a company refused to provide one of his patients a CT chest scan that you can read right here.

Dr. Carroll explained that there are clear financial incentives for the companies that provide healthcare insurance to keep the system, with its high administrative costs, as it is. "It will be very difficult to reduce the administrative costs without overhauling the payment system altogether," he explained. This is why even small step-by-step changes are really hard to push through.

#4

Who Needs Universal Healthcare Just Eat Nuts And Drink Red Wine

danpriceseattle , twitter.com Report

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Yula Lopez
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

True. We really take it for granted; I'm appalled at these admissions. Sometimes there is a waiting period (luckily never been long for me), sometimes we complain about the care we receive but I've had a life-saving operation with a week in hospital and only paid about 180 euros

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#5

Medical-Bill Twitter Not So Bad That It Can't Be Worse

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Brian Bennett
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agree wholeheartedly - should get a cut of surgeons fees for the transplant!

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Downunderdude
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The American health care system is the wonder of the world. As in, we all wonder why Americans put up with a system where people have to set up go fund me pages for minor procedures which are free in just about every other country. We wonder why you allow health care insurance companies and their shareholders to become rich from the illness and misery of people they are supposed to 'serve'. We wonder why you think that universal healthcare funded by a modest levy on all taxpayers is 'socialism'. We wonder why the rich in America are getting richer faster than ever before while the poor are getting poorer. We wonder these things and we are soooo glad we don't live in 'the best country in the world'.

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Caro Caro
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And just the other day there was an american here on BP stating that he met lots of europeans (Italians) begging to go to the USA. yeah right mate!

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Buren
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can she sue them back then? Because they were murdering him by taking off his organs while he was in "alive" stage! @*%#@&^&$@^!

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Carol Emory
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Then they have the audacity to charge the recipient of the organ $150,000 just for the organ.... Like "Welcome to your second chance at life...you will now be in debt forever....."

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cybermerlin2000
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The price of a kidney is around $100,000 to $200,000 so charge them for the organs at the highest prices and they will owe you!

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bumble bee
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hospitals and the medical profession are NOT your friend, nor a benevolent service provider.

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Gabriel
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Healthcare is a right and no one has to pay that much. The american system, which you seem to like, is crap

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kjorn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

how come people can go in school and shooting people and nobody go in hospitals and shoot administrators?

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I I
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

wow , how do you all not just say F**K THIS and none of you pay

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Kelli Lindsay
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A presidential candidate (Mitt Romney, ironically one of the few Republicans to publicly go against Trump) actually ran on the platform of “the poor just go to the emergency room, why can’t they just keep doing that for healthcare?” Our credit system is structured in such a way that it’s “okay” not to pay ER bills (medical debt is most often ignored by credit companies bc even they know how outrageous the bills are and that no one short of multi-millionaires can afford.

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Sammie 19
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've always worried about how my adult children would pay for my funeral as I have no savings or anything as I'm on disability so I read up on what I should do and my local university accepts body donations so after my death they will pick up my body and use it for research purposes. When they are done which can be anything up to 2 years, they will cremate what's left and scatter my ashes in their memorial garden. No cost to my children at all. I've suggested it a few times to people in the USA who are worried about the cost of a funeral and to my horror I found out that it costs several hundred dollars to leave your body for research. So absolutely ridiculous

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Wednesday
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Um - she should bill them for the organs... It's gruesome, but she was legally entitled to them and that's about a million bucks right there...

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Helen Johnston
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

they probably also charged each recipient for the harvesting of their part

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Mattewis88
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was in an MVA in 2017, lying in the road all my bones broken (ankles-above-my-shoulders-broken.) Bleeding from my skull. I just saw red paramedic suits and shouted I can't afford this please leave me here. I didn't want to survive and see that bill. Luckily it was covered by a Road Accident fund I was unaware of at the time.

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laura edwards
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I worked in the er I asked about this. We took care of a young man who was brain dead from arrival. The receiving hospital couldn't take him and they let him die. I asked if we were billing the family. They essentially told me to shut up about it.

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Random Anon
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The US if seriously f****d-up. What happened to doing business in good faith? What these hospitals are doing is overcharging and then see if the client litigates to fight the bill. A hospital, staffed by doctors that, by profession can hold your health on ransom. No other business has that much leverage over their clients and the government allows it. Absolutely atrocious.

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Nunya Bus
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People read or hear about this and then they won't donate. Unbelievable

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Bacony Cakes
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well if he's alive, let's see how he does the mashed potato. Oh? He's braindead? Get outta here.

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Moreover, Dr. Carroll candidly said that healthcare insurance providers don’t have it in their interest to do what's best for American patients. "Unfortunately, these payers tend not to have altruistic intentions towards their members. They cater to the advantage of the employers paying for the benefits, who want to try and spend the least amount of money they can."

He believes that employers that pay for benefits will need to demand more of the companies providing the benefits or patients will need to file class-action lawsuits to demand that benefits due to them are not unduly restricted, as they are today.

#7

America Is Broken

DaFunkJunkie , twitter.com Report

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Lauren Caswell
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is disgusting. This whole list is. I rely on the medical system to live, and I take it for granted it seems, this is majorly depressing

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#8

Healthcare Please

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Another side of the problem of American healthcare is that the country spends enormous amounts of money on healthcare, but a whopping quarter of the costs are purely administrative. As a result, customers are charged a lot, but not every dollar they pay is targeted at helping them. It’s no secret that there’s a lot of waste in the system although nobody really talks about it that much.

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#11

People-Share-Us-Healthcare-Problems

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Ashley Coe
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Look into the cost of Insulin World wide. Lowest is about $15 a vile. $300 in US.

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#14

American Healthcare In A Nutshell

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Call Me Mars
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Again, I am going to cry. This is why I am sceptical about authority. Not just because of my skin colour, but because of things like this.

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#16

Healthcare

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Ashley Coe
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now, imagine if he lived in Canada. Free Healthcare, and a roof over his head. That's democracy.

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#17

People-Share-Us-Healthcare-Problems

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Mohsie Supposie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And after having so many Gatorades, you will STILL need the healthcare.

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#22

No One Earns A Billion Dollars

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Alex K
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

why do people still buy from amazon? support your local / small businesses

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#24

Someone Calling It Out.

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Tequila4Two
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How can you even have a maximum sick days. It is not like, "Oh, I am out of my sick days, so I am cured now."

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#27

People-Share-Us-Healthcare-Problems

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Luther von Wolfen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The odds against winning the lottery are pretty huge, but they're still better than working your way out of poverty.

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#28

Big Insurance

drcarroll , twitter.com Report

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Brian Bennett
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dear DR. Carroll - an Insurance company can over rule a Doctor's Order! This is one s**t head Country you live in! Insurance company's should be named after a famous man HITLER!

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#31

People-Share-Us-Healthcare-Problems

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Lauren Caswell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing huh, when in order to protect themselves they have to treat everyone, all of a sudden they can afford to give you a vaccine. They can afford way more than that. I hope to everything that this kind of topic becomes a thing of the past for more countries, and fast

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#33

People-Share-Us-Healthcare-Problems

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J. F.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That shows that all that money doesn't even gets used for more equipment - being short on ventilators was and is a problem all around the globe.

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#34

When Healthcare Works Super Well

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Mohsie Supposie
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Health insurance is just as much of a scam as healthcare, if not worse!

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#35

It’s Some Twilight Zone Shit.

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Julie C Rose
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the incumbent party is actively negligent and the party that replaces them phoned up Jacinda for advice on how to pandemic only to ignore everything she actually said.

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#38

Yay

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BigOrangeTractor
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'Probably' fine. Just to be clear, when you go the NHS with a funny-looking mole, they will usually just whip that sucker straight off and biopsy it to be on the safe side. For $0. Demand better from your tax-charging government.

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#40

People-Share-Us-Healthcare-Problems

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Kobus Loots
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Suddenly I am very glad that I live in South Africa, where both me and my wife's meds are fully covered by my medical aid

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Note: this post originally had 57 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.

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