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How much do Americans actually pay for healthcare? (pawb.social)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

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Hey all, I'm British so I don't really know the ins and outs of the US healthcare system. Apologies for asking what is probably a rather simple question.

So like most of you, I see many posts and gofundmes about people having astronomically high medical bills. Most recently, someone having a $27k bill even after his death.

However, I have an American friend who is quick to point out that apparently nobody actually pays those bills. They're just some elaborate dance between insurance companies and hospitals. If you don't have insurance, the cost is lower or removed entirely. Supposedly.

So I'm just asking... How accurate is that? Consider someone without insurance, a minor physical ailment, a neurodivergent mind and no interest in fighting off harassing people for the rest of their life.

How much would such a person expect to pay, out of their own pocket, for things like check ups, x rays, meds, counselling and so on?

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[–] captainlezbian 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Decades later I feel the biggest thing Obamacare changed was pre existing conditions. What I grew up with would horrify an 18 year old as much as what we have now horrifies a European. But yeah I’m pissed we couldn’t get single payer back then

[–] acetanilide 1 points 3 months ago

Absolutely agree. I was a teen when it passed so did not really experience beforehand. But now I've been looking at pet insurance and the preexisting thing is crazy! I don't know if it's the same as it used to be for us, but the pet stuff is set up so even if you had one company the entire life of the pet, if you try to change companies the new company won't cover any issues that the old company did because now they are pre-existing 😒 and a few months ago an insurance company dropped like everybody from their company so they couldn't really get a new plan because now everything is preexisting. And it wasn't even their choice to move. I think only 1 company allowed people to switch and honor what the old company covered.

Not to mention for us, long term disability insurance also doesn't cover preexisting conditions. I think most life insurance doesn't either.