US hospital bill seems a little high?

Discussion Greater Forumosa
46

Which means America is headed for a bolshevik’s revolution at some point. There is pyramid schemes at every level of govt stealing wealth, from healthcare to welfare to private prisons.

America is bleeding money like crazy, just look at their debt clock and you see what I mean. And there is no sign, political will, etc. that any of this is stopping. With every election that bleeding just gets faster and faster. People are sick of it but they are powerless to do anything because they know their votes count for nothing. The entire political system is rigged.

Only a matter of time.

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47

Incredible stuff. I tend to put it down to tax deductible expenses. Grand Cayman is a favourite of mine.

48

And yet a significantly large proportion of Americans, including some posters on this forum, get physically angry if you so much as mention public healthcare. Madness.

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49

Unless it’s NHI in Taiwan.

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50

I thought your breasts looked bigger.

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51

Great for multitasking.

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52

Healthcare lobbyists and lobbyists for the legal profession own both political parties in America. As long as the former remains free to charge sick, injured, and dying Americans anything it wants and lawyers continue to treat healthcare like a lottery public run healthcare is a pipe dream.

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The question is, how long can various corporate interests keep bleeding America’s coffers until US experiences a hyperinflation?

Especially as countries begin to pull out of dollars as a reserve currency. Taiwan may have to do that at some point too.

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You got any hard evidence to back up that claim?

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I’m selling dollars like crazy.

56

It’s the logical thing to do if the dollar falls further.

I haven’t seen any evidence of people selling their dollars but if this continues, it may start.

NTD is getting so strong against the dollar despite the govt’s effort because the dollar keeps weakening.

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Besides what everyone else is saying about how you should know healthcare in the US is extortion (I don’t know who said it was “borderline” – it’s straight up extortion), know that it’s illegal to upcode (from some random internet searching): https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-upcoding-2615214 so go sue some people if you think level 3 is extreme. Then go make a fuss. I had a “lab tests” bill of US$547 go straight to a collections agency once. I called the number on the bill (Skype lets you do toll free for free anywhere on earth) and it turned out it was for a hospital that I’d never been to, though it might have been my primary care physician sending in tests that I didn’t consent to. Never heard from anyone again.

This from NPR life kit was an interesting listen: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/890464374

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Have you checked your credit rating since?

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Indeed. There are some who seem to think universal healthcare in the US is equivalent to living in Stalin’s USSR, yet they happily make use of Taiwan’s NHI.

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Because they have been brainwashed to think that any government healthcare or single payer system is USSR. Never mind that Taiwan’s system goes further than most of Europe’s and that government database here is very interconnected. Much more so than even European countries.

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The Netherlands changed some years ago to the US system mostly, it got more expensive and became worse for patients.

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OK. There you have it. Dollar is down, commodities are up. Oil/Gas is coming back next. Some have gone into digital currencies, signaling …something…but what and the scale are far from known.

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If your country is controlled by oligarchs who only cares about themselves and nothing else, then the US system is a dream come true for them.

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And perhaps others have been brainwashed to believe that private healthcare is all bad and has no advantages?

Healthcare is complicated. No system is perfect. Each one has pros and cons, and what works best for an individual will vary based on many factors.

I have NHI and I generally like it. It offers a lot of really good things. I also maintain health insurance in the US. For routine care and most basic health issues, I think the major hospitals in Taipei are at least on par with those in the US and perhaps even superior in some cases. But tell me I have a rare form of brain cancer that requires surgery and I’m on the first plane back to the states.

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Sure, but if you don’t have the money to pay for experimental treatment for that rare form of cancer you’re still pretty dead.

But when you aren’t extremely rich but you have say diabetes (which is very treatable) but can’t afford insulin, then you’re more screwed.

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