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American tourist dumbfounded by cheap medical bill after getting blackout drunk in Croatia, EU

Trice

Trice

Banned
Nov 3, 2018
2,653
Croatia
This is by far the highest upvoted post of all time on my country's subreddit and it's trending in our media as well.

She drank a bit too much, blacked out, ended up in the hospital and was charged ''$240kn'''(looks she isn't aware that $ is currency, not a 'money sign'). 240kn comes up to about $37. That's for a couple of bags of IV, doctor check-up and overnight stay.

What's even funnier, a few months ago, she posted on our subreddit to inquire about 'female solo traveler safety' in Croatia and whaddaya know; she ends up hospitalized for intoxication.
 
Putosaure

Putosaure

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,956
France
For the fellow european people here, what would we expect for the same thing in the US ? I mean, how many thousands ?
 
augmental

augmental

Member
Oct 30, 2017
134
I recently had a 2 hour stay in an ER room (back in early May). I have 10 separate bills now (Ambulance ride, ER room stay, IV bag, blood work, etc. coming from various people that supposedly did something on my behalf) all coming out to about $4,000 USD and that is WITH insurance paying in.
 
OP
OP
Trice

Trice

Banned
Nov 3, 2018
2,653
Croatia
Putosaure said:
For the fellow european people here, what would we expect for the same thing in the US ? I mean, how many thousands ?
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God forbid.
DXo4yFqU8AAkvee.jpg
 
SirMossyBloke

SirMossyBloke

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,855
Had to stop reading when some weirdos started to call pizzas "pie". GTFO.

Hilarious though that she was so shocked it was cheap, she sounded like she thought she'd got away with a crime or something haha.
 

DeltaRed

Member
Apr 27, 2018
5,746
My first reaction was surprise she had to pay anything at all but I guess being outside the EU means some sort of fee.
 

Deleted member 50454

User requested account closure
Banned
Dec 5, 2018
1,847
XolSec said:
I'm not surprised in the least, did the insurance actually paid all that?
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Yeah. It was standard $2 million coverage or whatever.

If it didn't cover the costs he'd just have told them to sing for it but it's not nice when you're recovering to get a bill that big.

When he got back from the US he went straight to intensive care in the UK where he spent the next three months.

Didn't have to worry about getting charged for that.

entremet said:
I don't know if that's correct. That's more than most surgeries lol.
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He was in intensive care. I'm sure that adds up, especially for travellers.
 

Deleted member 19218

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,323
Wow. I can't quote it from the app but find the post about a woman crying because someone called an ambulance.

Like damn. In the UK you can have cancer and the price of care is £0.
 
Anti

Anti

Banned
Nov 22, 2017
2,972
Australia
Some Americans will defend anything their government do, even if that fucked them all, they are idiots.
 
CrazyAndy

CrazyAndy

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,071
DeltaRed said:
My first reaction was surprise she had to pay anything at all but I guess being outside the EU means some sort of fee.
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Nah, in Germany you pay €10 per day in a hospital (for a maximum of 28 days per year, so 280€ max per year). I also woke up in a hospital after a night of drinking and had to pay the 10€ hospital fee. That includes the treatment of course. I even got breakfast!
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,891
Putosaure said:
For the fellow european people here, what would we expect for the same thing in the US ? I mean, how many thousands ?
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I think the retail price for an overnight stay would probably be 4-10k depending on how much the hospital could milk it.

Now the insurance would pay nowhere close to that amount (assuming you have insurance), but if you have no insurance the greedy fuckers will ask that you pay the full amount.
 
plié

plié

Alt account
Banned
Jan 10, 2019
1,613
American healthcare is fucking nuts. I don't literally understand why people stand up for that shit.

I like living in "socialist" europe, even if I have to pay more taxes. I have a safety net for everything.
 
rsfour

rsfour

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,767
plié said:
American healthcare is fucking nuts. I don't literally understand why people stand up for that shit.

I like living in "socialist" europe, even if I have to pay more taxes. I have a safety net for everything.
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something something why do I have to pay for someone else's medicine when I don't use it something something
 
Ryuelli

Ryuelli

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,209
Putosaure said:
For the fellow european people here, what would we expect for the same thing in the US ? I mean, how many thousands ?
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Depending on what you're in (and how long you're in for) it could be $1,000,000+.

My brother was diagnosed with cancer at 15 and lost his leg to it at 18. I don't want to know how many millions of dollars worth of bills my parents/the insurance company have been billed since then. His prosthetic alone (and he's gotten a few of them as he's aged/his body has changed) was something like $120,000 on paper.

That's not even mentioning stupid charges like the cost per pill or the amount a hospital might charge for some gloves.
 

Deleted member 15440

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,191
Anti said:
Some Americans will defend anything their government do, even if that fucked them all, they are idiots.
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most of the people who defend private insurance are upper middle class or rich and have good coverage with no real reason to be anxious about ability to pay. medicare (socialized insurance for the elderly) and medicaid (socialized insurance for the very poor) are both very popular and have managed to remain intact even through hard right republican governments, and medicare for all (proposed socialized insurance for everyone) has majority support.

we don't have shitty exploitative healthcare because we're all stupid and self-destructive, it's there because we don't have a real democracy.
 

xolsec

Member
Feb 18, 2018
1,685
Bernard Coleslaw said:
Yeah. It was standard $2 million coverage or whatever.

If it didn't cover the costs he'd just have told them to sing for it but it's not nice when you're recovering to get a bill that big.

When he got back from the US he went straight to intensive care in the UK where he spent the next three months.

Didn't have to worry about getting charged for that.



He was in intensive care. I'm sure that adds up, especially for travellers.
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Hopefully he's fine now. Every time I hear stories like this my heads spins. I'm going to be in the US for a while doing some contract work, but I do have insurance.
 
Hey Please

Hey Please

Avenger
Oct 31, 2017
22,824
Not America
I am sorry but that is sOcIaLiSm. I mean look at how many Dems are running on abolishing private healthcare in favour of a public one- The answer is 2.

Americans be like- You have the "FREEDOM" to die. It is a country built upon the concept of "winners" and "losers" which boils down to got mine, fuck you.
 
Charpunk

Charpunk

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,624
Hell I was in the hospital not that long ago and they had to do a spinal tap. It was $15,000 and I was there for like 2 hours. Thank god for good insurance.
 
Mars

Mars

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,988
Mórríoghain said:
Actual fuck?

What do Americans do when they got like flu or some stuff?
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Had a friend who had to take a trip to the ER due to an injury he suffered while doing some minor repair work on a car, he refused to call 911 because of the cost of the ambulance trip ($950 USD) alone; his insurance was spotty so he'd cut cost where he could, hahahaha... *sigh*

In the end, his bill still ended being over $2,000... at least it wasn't $2,950 I guess.
 

Deleted member 4353

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,559
I have some questions about health insurance, is there a topic on this forum. Stories like this terrify me.
 
McPaul

McPaul

Banned
May 6, 2019
817
This is one of the reasons I'd never want to move to the US.Another one would be the work culture.For me even 40h a week is too much work.
 
MarioW

MarioW

PikPok
Verified
Nov 5, 2017
1,155
New Zealand
I had to take my (now ex) girlfriend to a hospital in San Francisco to get a replacement asthma inhaler, as she lost hers the night before and started having the very early onset of an asthma attack. US$3,000. For an asthma inhaler.
 

Deleted member 15440

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,191
Axelotl said:
What would a chronic illness like neurodermatitis costs in the USA?
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varies wildly depending on the treatment. if you need regular doctor visits and medication that has no generic alternative the uninsured out of pocket costs could be in the thousands per month. then it depends on what kind of insurance you have, the cost of which will probably go up over time while benefits go down.

diabetes for example is one of the worst chronic illnesses to have in america because drug companies have hiked the price of insulin by huge amounts over the last few years. we have stories every now and then of people dying because they can't afford to buy insulin as often as they need it and try to ration their supply.
 
Hey Please

Hey Please

Avenger
Oct 31, 2017
22,824
Not America
Bernard Coleslaw said:
QoTe5w0.jpg


Bear in mind this was one of about 6 bills he was sent.

That's not the sort of stress you need when you're seriously ill.
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JFC!

I am wondering do Americans take out bank loans or are there bank loans with low interest that people can qualify for subsequent to incurring such bills and then pay it off over a period of time akin to terms found for real estate property loans?
 
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