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I constantly feel like my doctors are hamstrung in providing me with the best medical care because of this. It's hard to recommend the best medical option for y

I constantly feel like my doctors are hamstrung in providing me with the best medical care because of this. It's hard to recommend the best medical option for your patient when you have no idea at what point in time they will be able to afford it. It's fine to say a simple surgery will fix a problem for me but if you don't know how long I'll have to save to afford it it could snowball into a larger/more difficult surgery.

mikepurvis 10y ago
This week my wife and I went to the hospital here in Waterloo and delivered our third child. Total cost was $16... to park our car overnight in the garage. Now, our delivery was as close to perfect as you can get. We were only there overnight, but there are a million unknowns with a baby, and I'm just so thankful knowing that no matter what might have happened, we would have received what we needed, when we needed it, and if it wasn't available at our local hospital, we would be transferred to where we needed to go— all at no charge. There isn't really a message here, just grateful to live in a country where my medical professionals can recommend me the care I need without having to have a conversation about costs. And most importantly, that that same care is available to everyone in my country, not just those who happen to work a salaried white collar job.
- rubidium 10y ago
  Cost us $5,500 with "decent" insurance (fortune 200 company, $3k deductible, 20% after that) for my wife to have our first (normal delivery) here in the US of A. God bless America.... 'cause it needs it.
- ArtDev 10y ago
  What was the out of pocket? Thousands of dollars, correct? How many bills did they send you and for how long? How many billing errors were made? This is not normal in a developed country. My favorite part is when they bill the baby for the cost of its own birth against its own seperate deductible.
  - tehlike 10y ago
    hah - that's news to me. It could have been more interesting where they charge half of the delivery to the mother, and half (where the baby is out in the world) to the baby :) Make that baby pay for it, America... oh wait!

mikepurvis 10y ago

This week my wife and I went to the hospital here in Waterloo and delivered our third child. Total cost was $16... to park our car overnight in the garage. Now, our delivery was as close to perfect as you can get. We were only there overnight, but there are a million unknowns with a baby, and I'm just so thankful knowing that no matter what might have happened, we would have received what we needed, when we needed it, and if it wasn't available at our local hospital, we would be transferred to where we needed to go— all at no charge. There isn't really a message here, just grateful to live in a country where my medical professionals can recommend me the care I need without having to have a conversation about costs. And most importantly, that that same care is available to everyone in my country, not just those who happen to work a salaried white collar job.

rubidium 10y ago
Cost us $5,500 with "decent" insurance (fortune 200 company, $3k deductible, 20% after that) for my wife to have our first (normal delivery) here in the US of A. God bless America.... 'cause it needs it.
ArtDev 10y ago
What was the out of pocket? Thousands of dollars, correct? How many bills did they send you and for how long? How many billing errors were made? This is not normal in a developed country. My favorite part is when they bill the baby for the cost of its own birth against its own seperate deductible.
- tehlike 10y ago
  hah - that's news to me. It could have been more interesting where they charge half of the delivery to the mother, and half (where the baby is out in the world) to the baby :) Make that baby pay for it, America... oh wait!