Two Million Dollar Medical Bill

[Untradeable]

...Exactly where does it say he doesn't have insurance? You do realize, depending on specific contracts a healthcare agency can and will deny a certain portion of the price? It isn't like you just simply pay copay and that's it..

The 23-year-old is uninsured, and, according to his family,

[Fiel]

UNITED STATES!

don't group the rest of us with that abomination of a healthcare

"United Staters" isn't a word in English like in Spanish.

[KhainiWest]

The 23-year-old is uninsured

So he's in that gap of, over 21 and probably in college or looking for a job which will give him that benefit but can't find one. Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

[ElderTree]

Healthcare "insurance" isn't something that should be bought and sold, and pineapple you if you can't afford it and something untoward that was not your fault like, I dunno SOME LUNATIC BREAKING INTO THE CINEMA AND SHOOTING A TON OF PEOPLE. You shouldn't have to have any form of "insurance".

Man, pineapple those crazy people in america stopping you having the healthcare the rest of the developed world has.

Edit: And now we're comparing people with cancer to child rapists? Mother of god internet. You might as well have just gone all the way and implied donating to nazis so we could get Godwins law over and done with.

Something tells me you don't understand the concept behind insurance. You're betting you will get sick / injured, and they are betting you'll be healthy. I agree, you shouldn't HAVE to buy health insurance. The only people forcing you to buy insurance are the socialists.

Sure looks like this guy could have afforded health insurance. I mean, what's a few premium payments (and I mean a FEW... he's 23!) compared to $2 mil he should owe now?

[KhainiWest]

Something tells me you don't understand the concept behind insurance. You're betting you will get sick / injured, and they are betting you'll be healthy. I agree, you shouldn't HAVE to buy health insurance. The only people forcing you to buy insurance are the socialists.

Sure looks like this guy could have afforded health insurance. I mean, what's a few premium payments (and I mean a FEW... he's 23!) compared to $2 mil he should owe now?

Uh, I shopped for private health insurance and eventually transferred to the state, I can gurrantee, without a doubt, no company would have honored more than 80% of it anyway. That would put him at 400k instead of 2m, which is still considerable.

[ShinkuDragon]

"United Staters" isn't a word in English like in Spanish.

pretty sure they're called US citizens, but i think i'm going off-topic here.

[Derosis]

REPUBLICANS

More like Democrats.

[ElderTree]

The article mentions that the guy has started procreating, so I'm sure he's confident he can afford a baby until it is 18+.

According to:
http://news.ehealthinsurance.com/pr/...ce-218305.aspx

The average health insurance premium for a family in the USA in 2011 was $4,968/yr, or $414/mo.

And according to:
http://visualeconomics.creditloan.co...o-raise-a-kid/

The average child born in 2011 will cost $222,360 by the time they are 18 years old, or $12,353/yr. (Middle income family with 2 kids, using cost of younger kid so it includes hand-me-downs)

So health insurance for your entire family costs ~40% of what he should expect to spend on his kid. He could have obviously afforded it and it would have saved him $1.6 mil if the insurance covered 80%. Seems like a good deal.

The reason he's in the hospital is because of a crazed gunman, but there are plenty of other expensive things that could have happend. Like if his baby ended up in the NICU from being a premie.

[Satellite]

More like Democrats.

HAHAHAHA, also

Spoiler

[Derosis]

HAHAHAHA, also

Spoiler

You seem like a very typical pimento to me.

Also you just seem to give Democrats a bad name regardless of what kind of rebuke you try to pull.

[Satellite]

You seem like a very typical pimento to me.

Also, I'm not Republican, nor Democrat, and you just seem to give Democrats a bad name regardless.

I'm not Republican, nor Democrat either. What I would REALLY like to know is how 2 million medical bill is the fault of democrats.

[ElderTree]

I'm not Republican, nor Democrat either. What I would REALLY like to know is how 2 million medical bill is the fault of democrats.

Well, for one:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/...lthcare-debate

Tort reform. Doctors have to have extremely expensive malpractice insurance which drives up the cost of healthcare.

[Lozmaster]

Something tells me you don't understand the concept behind insurance. You're betting you will get sick / injured, and they are betting you'll be healthy. I agree, you shouldn't HAVE to buy health insurance. The only people forcing you to buy insurance are the socialists.

And every other well developed country in the world doesn't require you to bet at all! But hey, you're stupid enough to think he would have died in a place like Canada or the UK, obviously logical thinking isn't one of your strong points.

Sure looks like this guy could have afforded health insurance. I mean, what's a few premium payments (and I mean a FEW... he's 23!) compared to $2 mil he should owe now?

Which is pineappleing ridiculous. No other country in the world has to put up with this pomegranate, and it's hilarious the lengths you are going to defend a system entirely designed to screw you over.

[ElderTree]

And every other well developed country in the world doesn't require you to bet at all! But hey, you're stupid enough to think he would have died in a place like Canada or the UK, obviously logical thinking isn't one of your strong points.

Which is pineappleing ridiculous. No other country in the world has to put up with this pomegranate, and it's hilarious the lengths you are going to defend a system entirely designed to screw you over.

You act as if Canada / Europe doesn't have taxes. Just because your premium payments get routed through the gov't in the form of taxes doesn't mean you aren't paying for it.

[KhainiWest]

The article mentions that the guy has started procreating, so I'm sure he's confident he can afford a baby until it is 18+.

According to:
http://news.ehealthinsurance.com/pr/...ce-218305.aspx

The average health insurance premium for a family in the USA in 2011 was $4,968/yr, or $414/mo.

And according to:
http://visualeconomics.creditloan.co...o-raise-a-kid/

The average child born in 2011 will cost $222,360 by the time they are 18 years old, or $12,353/yr. (Middle income family with 2 kids, using cost of younger kid so it includes hand-me-downs)

So health insurance for your entire family costs ~40% of what he should expect to spend on his kid. He could have obviously afforded it and it would have saved him $1.6 mil if the insurance covered 80%. Seems like a good deal.

The reason he's in the hospital is because of a crazed gunman, but there are plenty of other expensive things that could have happend. Like if his baby ended up in the NICU from being a premie.

This is a dumb argument. You don't look at these statistics when you decide to have a baby, nor is it suggested anywhere the circumstances, for all we know he's being honorable to a girl he knocked up. Disregarding all that irrelevant information, the point I was coming across was even with health insurance the cost is utterly ridiculous especially since he had no fault besides going to the goddamn movies.

[ElderTree]

This is a dumb argument. You don't look at these statistics when you decide to have a baby, nor is it suggested anywhere the circumstances, for all we know he's being honorable to a girl he knocked up. Disregarding all that irrelevant information, the point I was coming across was even with health insurance the cost is utterly ridiculous especially since he had no fault besides going to the goddamn movies.

How is it irrelevant? Irresponsible parent is irresponsible. Whether that was purposefully having a baby when you can't afford it or knocking the girl up on accident, it's still being irresponsible.

The guy made a terrible, TERRIBLE decision with his money and should have to pay for it.

[KhainiWest]

How is it irrelevant? Irresponsible parent is irresponsible. Whether that was purposefully having a baby when you can't afford it or knocking the girl up on accident, it's still being irresponsible.

The guy made a terrible, TERRIBLE decision with his money and should have to pay for it.

Your argument is terrible, you're telling me he should get health insurance, there are plenty of circumstances off the top of my head which would KEEP HIM FROM DOING that at his age. See the thing is your argument is based off assumptions of his lifestyle, while mine is a fact. The only fact's you presented are how much a baby statistically costs, which I'm sure a lot of ghetto families could debunk.

Health insurance covers 80% on average, rarely anymore than that, would you be able to afford nearly half a million dollar medical bill? No? Terriblely irresponsible.

Also to even piss on your argument further, a child's bill esculates, as does your salary as you grow with age, as do oppurtunities. I'm not sure what you were taught in sex ed class but a baby doesn't come with an initial 250k bill attached to it.

[Satellite]

Well, for one:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/...lthcare-debate

Tort reform. Doctors have to have extremely expensive malpractice insurance which drives up the cost of healthcare.

Quite a few countries have free health care and they are doing just fine. Besides, I wasn't asking about the cost of tax-funded healthcare. My point was that with free health care, there would be no such things as two million medical bills. You didn't answer the question

[KhainiWest]

Quite a few countries have free health care and they are doing just fine. Besides, I wasn't asking about the cost of tax-funded healthcare. My point was that with free health care, there would be no such things as two million medical bills. You didn't answer the question

His point which is valid is that are tax is a lot lower than those nations for that reason. Just because your "Life tax"(Sarcasm here) doesn't say health insurance doesn't mean you don't pay your fair share.

[Malthe]

His point which is valid is that are tax is a lot lower than those nations for that reason. Just because your "Life tax"(Sarcasm here) doesn't say health insurance doesn't mean you don't pay your fair share.

The amount the average person does end up paying isn't really anywhere near the same prices, though.