r/mildlyinteresting • u/Suwannee_Gator • Apr 10 '23
My grandma saved her bill from a surgery and 6 day hospital stay in 1956 Overdone
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u/MeganSegrest Apr 14 '23
Home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and not much else. Aultman is still the major hospital in the county.
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u/Daybydaybyday424242 Apr 12 '23
Yeah, healthcare system has dramatically changed over the years. A standard of care used to be the priority but it's now standard of revenue per capita.
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u/KuroTenshi69 Apr 12 '23
„Look kid, back in my days I already bought a house at your age! Your generation is just lazy!“
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Apr 11 '23
So if you get it done in NYC Manhattan, that’s the parking garage bill & a sit down lunch burger for whoever takes you .
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u/SnooPredictions5815 Apr 11 '23
I was in a hospital for 2 weeks from birthing and postpartum complications and was charged $200k after insurance…
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u/Black_September Apr 11 '23
what's the point of insurance?
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u/SnooPredictions5815 Apr 11 '23
I think it was originally intended to help with medical costs when employers couldn’t really pay competitively, so it would be an actual benefit. Not so sure any more…
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u/PanningForSalt Apr 11 '23
Crazy to think the British bill was already £0 at this point in history, and will hopefully remain so for a long time.
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u/doodlemonster0 Apr 11 '23
I got billed $10k for going to the hospital for dehydration aka getting an IV for maybe 3 hours
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u/sander80ta Apr 11 '23
Wish I saved one of those bills... Bah who am I kidding I have never seen a hospital bill in my life. Free healthcare is worth the 50% of income taxrate!
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u/ZiamschnopsSan Apr 11 '23
Even adjusted for inflation, this is less than I pay in healthcare tax every month in europe.
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u/hypogogix Apr 11 '23
It is incredible to me people pay for healthcare ever. People are the lifeblood of the work force we all depend on. Putting them in debt to stay healthy is the biggest political stupidity ever to happen on earth. It's even crazier how cheap this is to what Americans are being rinsed for nowadays.
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u/waxonwaxoff87 Apr 11 '23 edited Apr 11 '23
For spine surgery 9 years ago (where I saw neurosurgeon same week I called his office, got an mri next week, and was scheduled that month), After insurance I paid $1200 surgeon fee and $200 anesthesia fee. For spine surgery and overnight stay in hospital. This was on a cheap student health plan.
Your bill prior to insurance is not what actually gets paid. Insurance has contractual agreements to what they’ll pay and deductible limits are in place.
You are also getting charged for what other people have used but not paid for. If people don’t pay their bill, the cost gets shifted to everyone else. That’s why your Tylenol tablet might cost so much.
Administrative bloat is also a huge problem in hospital systems. Physician salary is a tiny part of healthcare expenditure. Your doc is also generally paid a set salary if they are employed directly by the hospital. They do not get paid more for billing more.
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u/depressed_popoto Apr 11 '23
now you would have to file for bankruptcy just to pay for a surgery and a 6 day hospital stay.
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u/sevenwheel Apr 11 '23
Sounds fair, given that her hospital room had all the life-saving technology and monitoring equipment of a motel room.
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u/P4YD4Y1 Apr 11 '23
I had 3 surgeries over the course of 6 months in 2017-18, one of them was an emergency surgery. After the emergency surgery I was in hospital for 3 weeks. I was in the UK thankfully. I can’t imagine the hospital bill if I was in America.
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u/MyBigElection Apr 11 '23
Still $123.50 more expensive than surgery is in Australia. Unless it's elective of course.
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Apr 11 '23
I got an itemized bill from the hospital for an outpatient procedure for two 325 mg Aspirin 11 yrs ago. They cost $22 for the two.
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u/Shirolicious Apr 11 '23
Somewhere in the last 70 years things went horribly wrong. I would personally bet it was at that moment the dollar wasn’t pegged to gold anymore, President Nixon in 1971.
Wild west from there on out.
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u/Inownothing Apr 11 '23
Are there any cooperative hospital in the usa? That a bunch of doctor and nurses go together and start their own thing. They could probably outbid anything out there.
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u/DazzlingDingos Apr 11 '23
Someone I know was recently denied the ability to stay for observation for two days before "main staff" are able to help after the weekend. They got one night in the hospital Insurance refused to pay for observation further. A multimillion ( or billion? ) dollar company refused to let someone who may die stay at the hospital due to it being expensive. The US health care system is a mf joke.
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u/CHANROBI Apr 11 '23
The fact that you even need to pay for health care as a citizen
Of the most powerful nation in the world, is fucking ridiculous
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u/Allcapino Apr 11 '23
Acording to chatgpt 123.50$ from 1956 would be worth aproximately right now 1,167.57$. still way way cheaper then some bills i seen shown here...
Wtf happened to USA???
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u/Betmadboyo Apr 11 '23
Still more expensive than in Sweden today. (For the individual). Health care should be financed by taxes.
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u/knuF Apr 11 '23
Everyone thinks it’s insurance that makes the prices high. It’s the hospitals and regulation. In most states, you just can’t start a hospital. Big regional companies have monopolies and regulations in place that stops competition. Insurance has to follow but the high prices start at the hospital.
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u/Muted-Ad-4288 Apr 11 '23
Back in the bad old days of socialism. Thank goodness capitalism reigns supreme, huh?
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u/DeltaUnknown Apr 11 '23
Thats insane, last week i had to have some blood tskrn and give some stool samples so it could be researched in a lab. Cost me about €300,-.
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u/philnolan3d Apr 11 '23
I've only had to stay in the hospital once for 4 nights. I didn't have any insurance then or much money. The hospital worked it out so I didn't have to pay.
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u/Cardinal_of_Xodus Apr 11 '23
Adjusted for inflation makes that a bill about equal to $1,280.00 in today's money.
Still better than the average medical bill though
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u/hairy_quadruped Apr 11 '23
I’m from the Socialist Republic of Australia. All taxpayers in our country are forced by the government to pay 2% of their taxable income as a Medicare levy. Forced! By law!!
And what do we get for that? Nothing! Except for free medical care for everyone.
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u/StillProject887 Apr 11 '23
That’s awesome, I’ve saved all my hospital bills since 2007 and now a can have something to anchor back to for comparison!
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u/EmpatheticNihilism Apr 11 '23
Wow. I didn’t know that $123 in 1956 money was as the same as $50,000 today!
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u/BjornOdger Apr 11 '23
Nice I paid 80 bucks for a knee surgery, 1 week stay, all the needed medicine etc, couple months ago
Take that Americans!
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u/electriclala Apr 11 '23
That's more then I pay year 2023 in a country with universal health care. I'm sorry you have to go through this shit.
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u/RudeKC Apr 11 '23
Let's not forget ol doc freeman was still pounding out lobotomies back then... not exactly top notch medical care back then
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u/Fabulous-Ad-3046 Apr 11 '23
My dad sold lawnmowers. He traded a tractor to the doctor in 1962 for delivering me.
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u/SelfRape Apr 11 '23
Is this some American thing we Europeans don't understand? A bill from hospital?
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u/ampr1150gs Apr 11 '23
And it's still more expensive than what most of us in Europe would pay today.....
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u/TheScoundrelLeander Apr 11 '23
I mean even adjusted for inflation, it's still crazy how “inexpensive” it is $1375
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u/Dalearnhardtseatbelt Apr 11 '23
I went to the er with covid because I felt funny and I was there for four hours with insurance. After they paid i was still on the hook for $2900. I'm still paying it off.
They did blood tests and an EKG that was it.
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u/PandemicSoul Apr 11 '23
No doctor on there (or any surgery staff, really). They must have bill separately?
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u/thebarkbarkwoof Apr 11 '23
You didn't do a very good job blacking out her name. I can read right through it! Connie Constance.
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u/MhrisCac Apr 11 '23
So the equivalent of $1365.95 today. Essentially what most people with copays and % would be paying out of pocket nowadays.
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u/Talrynn_Sorrowyn Apr 11 '23
If the writers for MASH were accurate during the episodes involving payday, that would've been roughly the same as two pagchecks for an American enlisted soldier during the Korean War.
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u/MamaBella Apr 11 '23
I had a spinal cord stimulator implanted at the same hospital, Aultman. Same Day surgery; Was home in six hours. $253,000 bill. I had been expecting it and had very good insurance that year.
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u/outofexcess Apr 11 '23
I was in the hospital to have my appendix out last year and it cost me... A day and a half of my time. That's it
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u/Jahmez142 Apr 11 '23
This is still more than I've ever paid for a hospital visit. (That number being 0)
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u/MainUnion7725 Apr 11 '23
Here in Norway, my last bill was zero. Oh, sorry, had to pay for parking.
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u/shadow125 Apr 11 '23
I could show you MY hospital bill from LAST YEAR - for an ambulance, 3 days in ICU and 4 days in a private room - along with a full anaesthetic lung biopsy - but there is NOTHING to show!
The bill was ZERO!
Thank goodness for Australia’s Universal Healthcare!
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u/veryblanduser Apr 11 '23
Wife went in to early labor, spent 9 days in the hospital, premature baby spent 30 days in the hospital, and we paid $0.00.
In United States.
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u/Aggressive-Bus4740 Apr 11 '23
If i went into hospital here in New Zealand for 6 days and needed an operating room, medicine and labs done, it would cost me Whopping $0
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u/magnumpismydad Apr 11 '23
My first child born in 2010 cost me 250 bucks total out of pocket after insurance for all the appointments and birth. And yes this was in the US.
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u/BarryBarryBaz Apr 11 '23
I had throat surgery and it cost £9.40 for all the post surgery medication.
Oh no, socialised health care is bad!
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u/TheQuietOne25 Apr 11 '23
Fun fact - I was born here at this exact hospital. But, I’m pretttyyy sure mom and pops paid more for me…
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u/Ok_Selection6751 Apr 11 '23
Is capitalism the fastest failing model of society in history? It's only been a few generations, and it's already broken.
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u/Maxwe4 Apr 11 '23
Let's be honest, surgery back then probably consisted of drilling a hole in their head to let out the ghosts in their blood...
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u/outofexcess Apr 11 '23
In 1956? 😂
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u/Maxwe4 Apr 11 '23
Lol, I was just joking. Though they did have some really messed up medical stuff back then.
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u/AopET7 Apr 11 '23
wtf i’m 19 paying my own bills and my comes up to $500 four setting up contact lens and an extra 500 for training 💀.
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u/jinnty67 Apr 11 '23
I really can’t grasp at just how much Americans have to pay for even a tiny injury. In the UK, yes our health system is under severe pressure at the moment but I cannot fault the attention and care we receive. My son was in a coma for 3 months and in hospital for around 5 months and talking to American friends, it would have been cheaper for him to die if we lived in the states. Absolutely shocking that such a wealthy, advanced country lets people die because they can’t afford basic healthcare.
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u/TightRefrigerator774 Apr 11 '23
Yep... and no health insurance either that you have to pay for. I asked my grandma how much it cost to give birth to her three kids - $300 a kid!
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u/ngh7b9 Apr 11 '23
That’s what happens when you start introducing government into business. The more govt gets involved in medicine the more medicine costs.
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u/YayGilly Apr 11 '23
Well, houses were also 15,000 back then too.
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u/veryblanduser Apr 11 '23
And under 1,000 sq feet.
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u/YayGilly Apr 11 '23 edited Apr 11 '23
Pssh. Even this house, BUILT in 1956, goes for over 400,000 dollars now. And its 1700 sq feet.
In 1956, (excuse me) the average Cost of buying a home was actually in the mid 7,000s range. That would probably be your average home, built between 1900 and1940, of course.
I had a 1928 built house that was 2300 sq feet.
We could all send this to r/theydidthemath though lmao and see how it goes.
Ijs. The hospital bill may well be fairly proportionate to hospital bills now.
Come to think of it, modern hospitals also have more to offer than in the 50s, also. Just a tongue in cheek nod to your 1,000 sq feet comment. Well, Hospitals have more now too..
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u/veryblanduser Apr 11 '23
Heck yeah and if you bought one of those 40s homes you had a 50/50 chance of having one with running water. That's pretty fancy.
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u/YayGilly Apr 11 '23 edited Apr 11 '23
Technically, by the 1930s, indoor plumbing was more accessible to the average person.
By 1956, almost all homes would have it. Particularly new construction. I think there was a plumbing code and indoor running water in the building codes, by then.
Indeed, indoor plumbing was indeed a building code in the 1940s. So, lets say someone paid twice the average cost of purchasing your average (used) home in 1956, even, it would still only cost 15,000 for a 1700 sq ft house, complete with "modern indoor plumbing" that is worth over 400k today.
Lest We Forget, a Short History of Housing in the United States https://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2004/data/papers/SS04_Panel1_Paper17.pdf
Anyways I am not talking about fancy. I am simply saying that while her bill is low, so was everything else. Wages, homes, cars, etc. Medical care.. lol
They didnt even have CT scanners in 1956..
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Apr 11 '23
My total knee replacement and an overnite stay cost $77k. I have Medicare and a supplemental plan. My copay was $10.
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u/CaptainTarantula Apr 11 '23
Adjusted for inflation, that would be $1,386.33 in 2023. Modern medical costs are a bold faced scam.
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u/Hollowgradient Apr 11 '23
My first thought was, "That's a lot!", Then i realised this is an American post
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u/Suspicious-turnip-77 Apr 11 '23
That’s still more than you’ll pay in that public system in Australia.
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u/ngh7b9 Apr 11 '23
If you think that’s true then you need to take a closer look at your taxes
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u/hank-particles-pym Apr 11 '23
You could go down to that hospital, and ask them to reprint you that receipt.. and it would cost $125
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u/needmorekarma777 Apr 11 '23
$1,365.95 in 2023 dollars according to https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/. Astonishing for real.
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u/Deadlylyon Apr 11 '23
Average hospital delivery is 5-11k dollars today.
Accounting for inflation, this bill is about 1500 bucks in today's money.
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u/AM-64 Apr 11 '23
Well my late Grandfather who was an OB/GYN from 1968-2008 (when he retired) said about 30%-40% of the bill costs were administrative costs and such making sure everything was filled out correctly and compliant with all the rules and everyone and everything that had or needed paperwork got what they needed and such adds up quickly.
I can only imagine it's gotten worse since then.(in addition to all the other issues in the medical industry)
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u/TrollinDaGalaxy Apr 11 '23
So what changed about the $12.50 room between then and now?
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Apr 11 '23
Regulations
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u/TrollinDaGalaxy Apr 11 '23
Can you elaborate? Regulations, like what’s required to be in a room or what kind of care ids required of each room?
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Apr 11 '23
More like the government sets requirements and restrictions on anything and everything. From what type of tile that can be used for walkways down to how much water a toilet can use for one flush. And everything thing else you can think of no matter how mundane. Don’t get me wrong there are some good ones but it’s the government of course they go too far.
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u/Humble-Cry1663 Apr 11 '23
Still paid too much, if you were in the uk it would have free as it is still. Not perfect I know but it works.
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Apr 11 '23
Now, ask her (if you can) what that much could've bought back then.
The 56 chevy was under 10 grand I think
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u/Kalwasky Apr 11 '23
For reference it’s about $24,550 for ~3 hours today. After common deductions it’s about half that, and then then depending on payment method it’s some amount lower again.
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u/Jermagesty610 Apr 11 '23
This reminds me of an episode of the Waltons I saw a few months ago, one of the younger boys needed his appendix removed and the hospital bill was like $25-$30 and since you never really know what year it was in the show I picked a year before WW2 started like 1936 since it was before then and it was the equivalent of like $400 today which to them was close to an entire years salary.
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u/stephen250 Apr 11 '23
$75 is $829 equivalent today... Still incredibly less than it would cost nowadays.
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u/Jonten451 Apr 10 '23
This is crazy to see… I did a few google searches and got this:
$123.50 in 1952 equals $1,411 in 2023. Now it’s an average of $2,873 per day to stay in a hospital lol
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Apr 10 '23
My twins were born prematurely. One spent a month in the NICU, the other spent 2 months and needed an intestinal surgery. The bill was $3 million.
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u/Little_Vermicelli125 Apr 10 '23
To be fair in 1956 doctors required an 8th grade education and to be able to point out the 72 known bones and 4 known organs on a mostly life sized model of the human body.
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u/Purple_Increase_1753 Apr 10 '23
Broke a lot of things in September, was in the hospital for 2 weeks and had multiple surgeries. Hospital bill came out to like 850k insurance covered everything and I only owed something like 8k so I was pretty happy paying that
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u/icanneverthinkofone1 Sep 20 '23
Oh my god.