Remember this could be you. We can give as much lip service to how excellent medical care is in this country. Saying it does not make it so. It is the private sector that is rationing healthcare and making it a pay-or-no-care system.
Aminatou Sow, host of the “Call Your Girlfriend” podcast received a shock. In December she was diagnosed with cancer. A day before surgery, her hospital called her and said she needed to pay a significant portion of her deductible or her surgery would be canceled.
Sow detailed the story in a series of tweets.
Money really is at the heart of everything that is fucked up with our healthcare. Case in point: I’m scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. It’s been on the books for weeks. I’ve gone through extensive pre-testing and have followed up with the hospital every step of the way
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) January 22, 2018
Typically you get a call the day before surgery to confirm what time you’re supposed to show up. NBD. Talked to the surgical coordinator. Got my checkin time. I asked if all my paperwork was in order. Before that I was in touch with my insurance. Yup all good.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) January 22, 2018
Then I get a call from someone in the finance department of the hospital. Along the lines of “oh your deductible is high and you haven’t met any of it yet” yes no shit Jennifer from finance. It’s the 22nd day of January. Nobody has hit their deductible.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) January 22, 2018
Surgery is in ~18 hours and this woman is telling me that I have to pay my entire deductible before surgery. “Please use a credit card” How polite. I am stunned. There is a long silence and she says “you at least have to pay half to get this surgery”
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) January 22, 2018
Every step of the way I have asked the hospital and the insurance company if everything is in order because I’m a black woman and I don’t trust nobody to save me. Nobody said a peep about paying the deductible upfront. Also this is so mercenary. Pay or no care for you
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) January 22, 2018
I calmly ask her to walk me through the regulations that stipulate this. I understand why hospitals want to be paid upfront but it is disgusting to do it this way and withhold care from people who need it
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) January 22, 2018
I’m fine. I can pay this dumb deductible. It’s $4000 which thankfully is also my out of pocket max. I’d budgeted for this and it’s not lost on me how incredibly privileged I am to be able to just swipe my chase sapphire and make this problem go away.
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) January 22, 2018
When you hear the phrase government takeover of your healthcare remember the following realities.
- Private companies ration health care because their fiduciary responsibility isn’t to you but their shareholders and executives. Their profits come from taking your premiums and paying out as little of it as possible.
- Private healthcare costs more than public health care. Why. Private overhead from several companies requires duplication of staff (executives, financial departments, advertising, capital). The overhead of private insurance is north of 20%. It is only about 3% for public insurance (Medicare).
- The fact that one must stress out in this country about their medical bills and the potential for bankruptcy affects one’s health.
- Do not buy into the lie that somehow government in health care reduces innovation. Most drug research is already paid for by the taxpayer, YOU. When it’s time to sell the drugs, private companies buy the rights and then pilfer the citizens for something they played a part in developing. In other words, you pay twice. The first is developing the drug. The second time to enrich a few.
Our healthcare system is a scam. The plutocracy spends millions to fool you. The question is how long will Americans tolerate it. Every other industrialized nation has removed themselves from the scam.
We must all force our politicians to institute a Medicare for All/Single-Payer Health Care System.
(h/t Vox)
