4 ms·

Oh, it's a vast field of corruption. Don't look around or into if you want to keep your blood pressure low. Cause, y'know. It'll cost an arm and a leg to take

Oh, it's a vast field of corruption. Don't look around or into if you want to keep your blood pressure low. Cause, y'know. It'll cost an arm and a leg to take care of that. With your insurance.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
The long form Time article “Bitter Pill” from over a decade ago does a good job of explaining the how and why of the clusterfuck of American healthcare. Sadly and unsurprisingly, not much has changed since then besides slightly more price transparency that hospitals have fought tooth and nail against and hasn’t really moved the needle much in terms of improvement. The only other somewhat significant improvement that I can think of in recent years is the enactment of the surprise billing bill on Jan 1 2022 but I’m not even sure that has done anything meaningful or not since it went into force.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Instead of signing a blank check for my doctor visits, I now get a paper that tells me how much my visit might cost, and that I am only liable for up to $400 more than that. That is progress. Also, if my wife has a baby at an in network hospital, and the anesthesiologist or whoever is out of network, I know that the healthcare is still going to be considered in network, and so we are still only on the hook for the out of pocket maximum. Also progress. And if you are away from home, and happen to get into an emergency where you are taken to an out of network facility, you are still only liable for your in network out of pocket maximum, which is progress too.
- astrange 3y ago
  You're leaving out Medicaid expansion, probably because you earn too much to need to use it.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
    Good point, but I left out Medicaid expansion in my case because I live in a state who turned it down for political grandstanding purposes. But it is worthwhile to mention because most states did not

Oh, it's a vast field of corruption. Don't look around or into if you want to keep your blood pressure low. Cause, y'know. It'll cost an arm and a leg to take care of that. With your insurance.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago

The long form Time article “Bitter Pill” from over a decade ago does a good job of explaining the how and why of the clusterfuck of American healthcare. Sadly and unsurprisingly, not much has changed since then besides slightly more price transparency that hospitals have fought tooth and nail against and hasn’t really moved the needle much in terms of improvement. The only other somewhat significant improvement that I can think of in recent years is the enactment of the surprise billing bill on Jan 1 2022 but I’m not even sure that has done anything meaningful or not since it went into force.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
Instead of signing a blank check for my doctor visits, I now get a paper that tells me how much my visit might cost, and that I am only liable for up to $400 more than that. That is progress. Also, if my wife has a baby at an in network hospital, and the anesthesiologist or whoever is out of network, I know that the healthcare is still going to be considered in network, and so we are still only on the hook for the out of pocket maximum. Also progress. And if you are away from home, and happen to get into an emergency where you are taken to an out of network facility, you are still only liable for your in network out of pocket maximum, which is progress too.
astrange 3y ago
You're leaving out Medicaid expansion, probably because you earn too much to need to use it.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
  Good point, but I left out Medicaid expansion in my case because I live in a state who turned it down for political grandstanding purposes. But it is worthwhile to mention because most states did not