6 ms·

200K in the bay area is not exactly wealthy. It's a solid middle to upper-middle class wage. Taking a 50K hit for something you did nothing to deserve, just b

by bbarn 7y ago

200K in the bay area is not exactly wealthy. It's a solid middle to upper-middle class wage. Taking a 50K hit for something you did nothing to deserve, just because you love your parent is stupid. I would hate it if my daughter tried to do that for me.

imgabe 7y ago
What did their friends and acquaintances do to deserve the bill?
- warent 7y ago
  Sorry but this sounds a little bit backward to me. Helping a friend in need or being altruistic is never a punishment. It's like refusing to donate money to some cause because what did I do to deserve that? Really an odd statement.
- superfrank 7y ago
  Nothing, but GoFundMe isn't an obligation, it's an ask.
  - dx7tnt 7y ago
    Until "hi how you doing, I saw you decided not to fund my father's healthcare" or "wow, $30, he makes 200k a year! What an asshole!"
retiredcoder 7y ago
She wouldn’t take the bill as far it is concerned legally (as far as I know and dealt with medical bills myself). She might get mails and phone calls but the collection agency will not go after her assets, well unless her dad has assets in the USA. The story lacks some details but if she contact the hospital and negotiate based on that, they would likely reduce the bill. Is this moral or not that’s another question, but I agree that she had few options before asking people for money early on. Specially when making 200k.
maxxxxx 7y ago
" I would hate it if my daughter tried to do that for me." But you are OK if other well-meaning people pay? If you make 200k you can take the hit and you should have known better.
- onion2k 7y ago
  You do realise that if you buy insurance and don't claim anything that's literally you paying for other people's healthcare, right? That's how insurance works. The only difference between that and the socialised national health systems around the world is that you also pay for the insurance company's profit.
  - dpkonofa 7y ago
    I feel like I have to say this to everyone all the time when they try to defend the US as having the greatest healthcare system ever. It's literally impossible to offer the same service as a socialized, government program for cheaper when the non-socialized option has to make a profit. If a non-socialized system can drive costs down, so can a socialized provider. There's literally no situation where the socialized system loses on this.
    - HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
      > There's literally no situation where the socialized system loses on this Actually, there is- it's when the socialized system decides they're good enough, and stops trying.
      - onion2k 7y ago
        Thankfully here in the UK that sort of situation is incredibly rare. 99.9% of necessary treatments are available. That's one of the advantages of having socialised healthcare in a very wealthy country.
    - gabyar 7y ago
      It's not "literally impossible". The socialized healthcare system could be corrupt, poorly run, or have other serious problems.
misterprime 7y ago
200k may not be wealthy, but I bet it's enough for an annual vacation abroad. That is a luxury many cannot afford. I think it's really inappropriate to create a gofundme campaign in this situation.
- sithlord 7y ago
  Because she should be responsible for her fathers condition?
  - misterprime 7y ago
    Because they are not in a position of need. There are other people which were more reliant on such help to avoid a disastrous situation. If this family got no crowd sourced help, I think they would have been OK. Of course, there are a lot of assumptions in this assessment. My comment has nothing to do with my opinion on the cost of medical services in the US. If you would like that, I think the Affordable Care Act used up a very rare opportunity for improvement to put us into a worse situation. What we really needed was a public option for the private companies to compete with. Here in California our subsidized option, Covered California, was horrendous, at least at launch. Also, subsidized was not enough to help, and the subsidization counted as taxable income which was a slap in the face for those who needed it.
root_axis 7y ago
It's a high enough salary where the 50k bill is easily affordable on a repayment plan, which most hospitals offer interest free. She didn't need to beg others for money.

by bbarn 7y ago

imgabe 7y ago

What did their friends and acquaintances do to deserve the bill?

warent 7y ago
Sorry but this sounds a little bit backward to me. Helping a friend in need or being altruistic is never a punishment. It's like refusing to donate money to some cause because what did I do to deserve that? Really an odd statement.
superfrank 7y ago
Nothing, but GoFundMe isn't an obligation, it's an ask.
- dx7tnt 7y ago
  Until "hi how you doing, I saw you decided not to fund my father's healthcare" or "wow, $30, he makes 200k a year! What an asshole!"

retiredcoder 7y ago

She wouldn’t take the bill as far it is concerned legally (as far as I know and dealt with medical bills myself). She might get mails and phone calls but the collection agency will not go after her assets, well unless her dad has assets in the USA. The story lacks some details but if she contact the hospital and negotiate based on that, they would likely reduce the bill. Is this moral or not that’s another question, but I agree that she had few options before asking people for money early on. Specially when making 200k.

maxxxxx 7y ago

" I would hate it if my daughter tried to do that for me." But you are OK if other well-meaning people pay? If you make 200k you can take the hit and you should have known better.

onion2k 7y ago
You do realise that if you buy insurance and don't claim anything that's literally you paying for other people's healthcare, right? That's how insurance works. The only difference between that and the socialised national health systems around the world is that you also pay for the insurance company's profit.
- dpkonofa 7y ago
  I feel like I have to say this to everyone all the time when they try to defend the US as having the greatest healthcare system ever. It's literally impossible to offer the same service as a socialized, government program for cheaper when the non-socialized option has to make a profit. If a non-socialized system can drive costs down, so can a socialized provider. There's literally no situation where the socialized system loses on this.
  - HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
    > There's literally no situation where the socialized system loses on this Actually, there is- it's when the socialized system decides they're good enough, and stops trying.
    - onion2k 7y ago
      Thankfully here in the UK that sort of situation is incredibly rare. 99.9% of necessary treatments are available. That's one of the advantages of having socialised healthcare in a very wealthy country.
  - gabyar 7y ago
    It's not "literally impossible". The socialized healthcare system could be corrupt, poorly run, or have other serious problems.

misterprime 7y ago

200k may not be wealthy, but I bet it's enough for an annual vacation abroad. That is a luxury many cannot afford. I think it's really inappropriate to create a gofundme campaign in this situation.

sithlord 7y ago
Because she should be responsible for her fathers condition?
- misterprime 7y ago
  Because they are not in a position of need. There are other people which were more reliant on such help to avoid a disastrous situation. If this family got no crowd sourced help, I think they would have been OK. Of course, there are a lot of assumptions in this assessment. My comment has nothing to do with my opinion on the cost of medical services in the US. If you would like that, I think the Affordable Care Act used up a very rare opportunity for improvement to put us into a worse situation. What we really needed was a public option for the private companies to compete with. Here in California our subsidized option, Covered California, was horrendous, at least at launch. Also, subsidized was not enough to help, and the subsidization counted as taxable income which was a slap in the face for those who needed it.

root_axis 7y ago

It's a high enough salary where the 50k bill is easily affordable on a repayment plan, which most hospitals offer interest free. She didn't need to beg others for money.