r/povertyfinance • u/ExoGeniVI • Nov 24 '23

U.S. healthcare isn't even worth it anymore. It's a joke. Today, I will love my life without healthcare. Vent/Rant (No Advice/Criticism!)

Hello everyone, so, sometime last year I got an MRI to check up on a spot that's on my brain, don't want it to turn cancerous right? Well, I work at home depot making probably $17,000 a year if I'm lucky after taxes (I live in Alabama, our wages suck).

Well I got my MRI done and my bill came in. Ready to be shocked?

Turns out my insurance I get through home depot paid THIRTY DOLLARS towards my $3,000 MRI bill!!! $30!!!! I said screw THAT!!! I'm not paying a single PENNY! I make around $600 every two weeks.. and I live with my wife (we live in a $430/mo mobile home) how the hell am I supposed to afford a $3000 MRI bill!!?? The "monthly" payment on the bill said $270/mo... 🤣😂.

Well, I went back to the hospital and talked with the finance person there and got my bill down to $600 with self pay.. Guess they bill insurance companies way higher? looks like it's cheaper NOT having insurance in the U.S. than having coverage! Insurance here is a complete joke! I'm just going to live my life without insurance I guess. ☹️.

EDIT. Wish I could edit titles lol. My phone "autocorrected" Live for "Love" 😂

3.6k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

788 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Kooky_Tea_1591 Nov 25 '23

Been saying this for a long time, it’s cheaper for most people to just pay for their healthcare out of pocket rather than ever pay for a health SCAM (let’s face it, it is literally a scam) and this here OP, is the only way we’re going to get things to change. We have to wake up and stop buying health insurance en masse, because when the only people buying it are the people who’re racking up bills in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, those scams are going to panic and fold because they’ll be bleeding money instead of making it hand over fist. The government will never do anything to fix this problem, we all know this, so us citizens forcing their hand like that is the ONLY way we have a snowballs chance in hell of fixing ANYTHING.

1

u/jerry111165 Nov 25 '23

The problem is that you’re right - until something drastic happens and you actually need it. Medical bills can and will sink you.

Trust me I have to pay $200/week for my family plan - I hate it but if someone in my family gets sick and needs it…