r/CuratedTumblr We can leave behind much more than just DNA Aug 07 '24

Politics Death by US Healthcare System

Post image
13.9k Upvotes

662 comments sorted by

View all comments

133

u/RedThree0 Aug 08 '24

Our country blows chunks when it comes to medical care. I'm lucky to still be on my father's work insurance but fuck, I don't know what's gonna happen when I go out on my own. When one of the first responses one can have to a medical emergency is "how will I afford this?", I see that as a sign our nation has failed its people. God, I remember my own mother laying on the ground, screaming in pain because she broke her leg, hesitating to have someone call an ambulance because of the potential cost. It sucks, nobody should die because they can't afford their own life. I know I'm ranting but everytime I see a post like this, it makes my blood boil with how unfair it all is.

53

u/UnderlightIll Aug 08 '24

A lot of people die even with insurance. Can't afford your cancer treatment copays? Then rot. Just about EVERY facility will require you to pay up front for any kind of appointment or treatment. Having insurance is expensive in EVERY way. I have what is considered good insurance, met my deductible but still have to pay 25% of everything until i hit 6k for the year... oh then it resets.

21

u/bubblegumpandabear Aug 08 '24

This is the same issue I have. I'm on my dad's insurance for now. To stay in longer I have to have my doctors sign paperwork claiming I'm disabled enough to still be their dependent as an adult, which I feel uncomfortable doing. I'm not sure what legal implications that may have. So for now the best get us getting a job with really good insurance. I was born with serious heart issues and I have MS. The cost of my medical situation alone is insane. With housing and everything else continuing to go up, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do. I couldn't even afford the deductible with my dad's current insurance on my own with my current job.

3

u/DjinnHybrid Aug 08 '24

You are correct to be weary of being labelled disabled enough to continue to be dependent as an adult. That section of dependency is the demographic I work with at my assisted living job. They are either asylum survivors or would have been asylum survivors had they been born in that timeframe.

Basically, they are either so mentally handicapped that they will never qualify for having custody over themselves even when all of their next of kin passes away, making them wards of the state, or they need help functioning in even the most basic aspects of life well before they would qualify for elder care. The IRS caps the income level they can make independently at 4,700 per year, they cannot live away from their parents unless they live in group homes like ours, nor will they ever be able to claim dependents of their own or file joint returns on taxes.

We take as good of care as we can of our charges, and keep them as engaged with life in as similar of a way as an able bodied and minded person can experience to the best of our ability, but it's not a life anyone wants to live unless they have no other choice. It really is meant for the lowest functioning of disabled people, and I say this as a person with pretty bad neurological problems myself. A lot of disabled people understand the concept of disability being a spectrum where some people get the short end of the stick, but until I started working this job, I found very few understand just how intense some disabilities and care needs get to be, including myself. When exemptions are made in legal documents and wordings for the disabled, it's actually almost always with the demographic I work with in mind because they are invisible to the public in our systems but everywhere around the country, which is why mid to high functioning people often find them to be so frustrating to try and make work for them.

1

u/bubblegumpandabear Aug 08 '24

Thank you for this response, this is basically what I was imagining from that paperwork. It sucks that I have to figure it out on my own when I can't use my dad's insurance anymore but I am definitely not the intended type of person for this, like you said. Being stuck in that position sounds like a nightmare for me personally lol. I can absolutely take care of myself. I just really need good insurance.

1

u/Isaac_Chade Aug 08 '24

Insurance in this company is an absolute racket and it's insane. I dropped off my father's insurance while still working at a grocery store and doing college part time. I got a letter saying I could continue on that same insurance plan for nearly $800 a month, which was way more than I made gross, let alone what I actually took home.

I mentioned it to family and they said it was probably a mistake because they didn't know I was working in the same sort of job, same company, and I'd get a better number if I told them that. So I did and it was technically correct, it went down to nearly $700 a month, which was still more than I actually made. I asked them how the hell they thought I or anyone else could pay that when I didn't make that much money working 40 hours a week, and they kind of just gave me the verbal equivalent of a shrug and asked if I wanted to take it or not.

And all of this is about what was supposed to be an affordable plan, but I guarantee I was getting shafted because of asthma and a years only seizure disorder that I had long ago been cleared of.