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Woman Shares How Her Insurance Company Tried Ripping Her Off After A Check-Up For Breast Cancer
While many countries around the world are looking at American healthcare with confusion (and horror), for most Americans, this is everyday business they have to go through. Shockingly, a December 2019 poll by Gallup showed that 25% of Americans say they or their family member have delayed medical treatment for a serious illness due to the costs of care. Another 2019 study from the American Cancer Society found that a whopping 56% of American adults have at least one medical financial hardship.
But the real scope of the problem with the American healthcare system becomes evident in the stories from people who had to experience it firsthand. Just like this anonymous person who recounted an incident at the mammogram office and shared it on Imgur. The post starts with a mammogram office calling in to tell the person bad news, and fortunately or not, it’s not health-related.
The bad news came with a financial burden of $775 since the diagnostic procedures weren’t covered by their insurance. The post stirred quite some comments on Imgur and amassed 4.8k upvotes. Read the full story below that reveals how flawed some American health insurance policies can be.
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One person shared a recent experience they had with American health insurance on Imgur and it’s crippling
Image credits: Army Medicine (not the actual photo)
The author added some more information on their situation
Image credits: Rumpleteazer
Previously, Bored Panda spoke to Wendell Potter, a New York Times bestselling author and an advocate of health insurance reform, who shed some light on the sinister tactics health insurance companies use. Many Americans have become especially vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic. “Our system is on the verge of collapse, in large part because we have allowed private insurers to run that system. For one thing, the days in which they call the shots in this country are numbered.”
Unlike in most developed countries, America is nowhere close to having universal coverage, explained Potter. “Even 10 years after the Affordable Care Act was passed, we have approximately 30 million people who are uninsured—plus another 60 million who are underinsured. Many people in this country are reluctant to seek the care they need because of the expense.”
One cannot help but wonder how the insurers get away with all their machination. “One is because we have never had adequate oversight and regulation of the health insurance business in this country.” Everyone has taken a patchwork approach to regulation.
What’s more, “most people with private health insurance get their coverage through their employers, and because of a federal law enacted several years ago, those health plans are exempt from state regulation.” According to the former health insurance executive, many insurance companies will “deny care and maintain profits while making it look like they’re heroes.” Read our full article on insurance companies’ tactics during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Many people criticized the American healthcare system for just how flawed it is
What do you think ?
Mike Crow 4 years ago
Americans are brainwashed into believing their insurance based health system is the best. I once tried to debate an American about it and he boiled it down to, universal healthcare would take away his freedom to choose what coverage to have. It’s almost like if there is no profit or gouging, then it must be socialism and is bad.
Wolfstar 4 years ago
"Universal healthcare would take away my freedom." Well, I guess he has the freedom to pay overpriced, life-saving surgeries that he could probably get for free in other countries...
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Fairsher 4 years ago
When will Americans have enough of this??? How you live knowing any medical emergency could bankrupt you must give you ulcers. How many kids? die because of not going to the hospital for the real fear of payment, so sad and so backward!!
Parmeisan 4 years ago
I think this ties in to the whole craziness down there with nearly 50% of people voting for the white supremacist, admitted sex offender, who only cares for the ultra-rich: If they were to acknowledge how thin the line is between themselves and homelessness, it would be totally paralyzing. So a lot of them won't think too hard about it. They accept the idea that poor people "deserve" to be poor and that they are fundamentally better than people on welfare, rather than just luckier. And the more you accept crazy ideas like that, the easier it is to accept the next one. (There's a study about that.) I think there's a significant portion of the American population (and I don't kid myself, it's in Canada and Europe too, probably everywhere, if perhaps in lesser numbers) who have gotten to the point where they 100% believe everything Fox News tells them because they cannot go down the rabbit hole of lies which would result in finally accepting that they could lose everything in an instant.
Load More Replies...
Mike Crow 4 years ago
Americans are brainwashed into believing their insurance based health system is the best. I once tried to debate an American about it and he boiled it down to, universal healthcare would take away his freedom to choose what coverage to have. It’s almost like if there is no profit or gouging, then it must be socialism and is bad.
Wolfstar 4 years ago
"Universal healthcare would take away my freedom." Well, I guess he has the freedom to pay overpriced, life-saving surgeries that he could probably get for free in other countries...
Load More Replies... Fairsher 4 years ago
When will Americans have enough of this??? How you live knowing any medical emergency could bankrupt you must give you ulcers. How many kids? die because of not going to the hospital for the real fear of payment, so sad and so backward!!
Parmeisan 4 years ago
I think this ties in to the whole craziness down there with nearly 50% of people voting for the white supremacist, admitted sex offender, who only cares for the ultra-rich: If they were to acknowledge how thin the line is between themselves and homelessness, it would be totally paralyzing. So a lot of them won't think too hard about it. They accept the idea that poor people "deserve" to be poor and that they are fundamentally better than people on welfare, rather than just luckier. And the more you accept crazy ideas like that, the easier it is to accept the next one. (There's a study about that.) I think there's a significant portion of the American population (and I don't kid myself, it's in Canada and Europe too, probably everywhere, if perhaps in lesser numbers) who have gotten to the point where they 100% believe everything Fox News tells them because they cannot go down the rabbit hole of lies which would result in finally accepting that they could lose everything in an instant.
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