5 ms·

I always figured that the reason why I make as much money as possible is so that I can pay for medical expenses when things go wrong.

killjoywashere 4y ago
Unless you make millions, it's unlikely your finances could survive an ICU admission.
- corrral 4y ago
  If you're not incredibly rich, you're just temporarily holding all your savings & retirement accounts for the hospitals and nursing homes that'll eventually take all of it. And then some.
  - avgDev 4y ago
    You can file bankruptcy which will protect your retirement accounts. There are other way to protect your assets and money as you get older and risk gets higher. It should not be this way though because mostly the wealthy take advantage of protecting their assets as it requires some money.
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    Yep the entire end-of-life industry is incentivized to drain all the wealth from the old and terminally ill before they die. That is why my plan is to opt out. DNR, living will, I will not enter a care facility or hospital I'd rather die on my own terms and have my children inherit whatever I have managed to accumulate.
- avgDev 4y ago
  Uncle was in ICU for 2 week before his death with multiple organ failure. His stay was more than $350k. Basically the hospital took the house he worked his whole life for.
  - dekhn 4y ago
    Was your uncle qualified for medicare? We recently had several members need end of life care and they didn't have to pay any of the hospital bills. Many bills we did receive, we called the charging company and they were waived immediately "oh I guess we made a $100K mistake" or "medicare already reimbursed us, that was just a courtesy notice."
    - avgDev 4y ago
      Honestly, I am not sure. I wasn't well versed in personal finance/healthcare/money back then. He destroyed his family and his wife left him. His kids don't really want to discuss that period of their life at all, so we never talk about it.
  - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    Every time these stories appear on reddit, there's a flood of non-Americans appalled at the idea. They just don't understand the FREEDOM that high health care costs provide! /s

killjoywashere 4y ago

Unless you make millions, it's unlikely your finances could survive an ICU admission.

corrral 4y ago
If you're not incredibly rich, you're just temporarily holding all your savings & retirement accounts for the hospitals and nursing homes that'll eventually take all of it. And then some.
- avgDev 4y ago
  You can file bankruptcy which will protect your retirement accounts. There are other way to protect your assets and money as you get older and risk gets higher. It should not be this way though because mostly the wealthy take advantage of protecting their assets as it requires some money.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  Yep the entire end-of-life industry is incentivized to drain all the wealth from the old and terminally ill before they die. That is why my plan is to opt out. DNR, living will, I will not enter a care facility or hospital I'd rather die on my own terms and have my children inherit whatever I have managed to accumulate.
avgDev 4y ago
Uncle was in ICU for 2 week before his death with multiple organ failure. His stay was more than $350k. Basically the hospital took the house he worked his whole life for.
- dekhn 4y ago
  Was your uncle qualified for medicare? We recently had several members need end of life care and they didn't have to pay any of the hospital bills. Many bills we did receive, we called the charging company and they were waived immediately "oh I guess we made a $100K mistake" or "medicare already reimbursed us, that was just a courtesy notice."
  - avgDev 4y ago
    Honestly, I am not sure. I wasn't well versed in personal finance/healthcare/money back then. He destroyed his family and his wife left him. His kids don't really want to discuss that period of their life at all, so we never talk about it.
- Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  Every time these stories appear on reddit, there's a flood of non-Americans appalled at the idea. They just don't understand the FREEDOM that high health care costs provide! /s