Yeah my orthopedic surgeon was German too and I was so fucking relieved I wasn't getting some diversity placement. He was blonde and handsome too, his accent was just on the American side but he definitely sounded like he could make my ligaments run on time.

After I collated the 30-40 different bills I received, the total came to around 140k. This was for a smashed right arm with total elbow replacement. I have good corporate insurance so they paid 110k and I walked away from the rest.

Sure, they sent me collection letters and 'ruined' my credit rating that I don't need, but every bill got charged off and will disappear off my report eventually. Or not. Wtf do I care? I already have a mortgage don't need another, and I still have my credit cards that I had before.

I don’t want to make it seem like I am championing our healthcare system or saying it’s perfect because I’m not

I’ll re-say my original points:

1. Healthcare costs are very expensive in the USA, which is why I said my surgery seemed very reasonable, which was surprising to me

2. Because the costs are so high, I highly recommend finding some form of health insurance plan for yourself, whether that’s Medicaid, Medicare, or health insurance through your work or the insurance marketplace, and making sure ahead of time that your procedure is within your network. If it is within your network, and it’s not cosmetic like laser eye surgery or a boob job, there is a really good chance it will be covered by your health insurance minus your deductible. Otherwise, if you didn’t go through your insurance, you pay the entire thing, good luck with that

3. Despite one person’s story of his heart almost exploding and having a hard time with his insurance over it, for the vast majority of people, their health insurance is not going to take them to court, then drop them from their plans after a procedure, even an expensive surgery

4. Socialized medicine for all not just the poor and old is simply too expensive to do in the USA, and I have not found a proposal of managing that cost that has convinced me otherwise

Oh one last point, in regards to costs, and the importance of having insurance:

From looking at or hearing about other procedures, it appears that there is a back and forth negotiation that occurs between both the socialized (Medicare, Medicaid) and private insurances and the biller. There will be an original statement like “you owe x”. Then some unseen haggling/negotiation occurs and often another statement will come saying “you now owe y”. The health insurance still hasn’t paid anything yet, but in cases I’ve seen due to that negotiation, the next statement can be half or less as much as the original

Two things I am not sure in about in regards to this negotiation between payer and biller:

1. It very well might be a factor in healthcare costs. Not sure if the biller artificially inflates the cost expecting the paying insurance to lowball them. Sort of a chicken or the egg argument, was the lowballing driving the costs up or was it a result of the high costs?

2. I do not know if you are even able to do this price negotiation as an out of pocket payer. If not, that is a HUUUUGE reason to try to have health insurance

Dentists will do cash discounts if you pay in full within X days. Varies.

daily reminder if you took your jabs you're a dumb dumb and deserve whats coming

Laughs in 20something year old soccer players with peak cardio health dropping dead from heart attacks

I'm convinced if Fauci and Big Bird told lefties to eat bugs to protect them from Covid they'd do it

Oh wait, they already eat bugs

All doctors will give you "time of service" discounts.

Yes you can negotiate large medical bills down, as long as you can do as well as what they'd sell your bill to a debt collector for. (pennies on the dollar)

You guys in on Stealth Covid yet? Sounds way cooler than omicron.

Is this action well-received by providers?

The next wave the news says is more catching than omni pretty sure the news knows nothing but how could it be more catching than omni lol that's like saying "air will be covid" next time