Today, on the 70th birthday of the NHS, our youngest child was discharged from the eye clinic at our local hospital. She had been having screening there for a possible sight defect since she was two. We have taken her to the friendly orthoptists there twice a year for two years. Today, she was given the all clear, and we all walked merrily home.
Without paying a bill.
In the UK, I think most of us take the NHS for granted. Some of us abuse it, using it unnecessarily. A lot of us grumble about it. Me too, sometimes. But this morning, a timely post popped up on a Facebook group I’m a member of which gave me pause. And I thought I’d share its content.
I am a member of a Facebook group made up of partners of commercial pilots around the world. A large number of them are from the USA, and this morning, one member posted about friends of hers who were not only fighting cancer, but also unable to pay the bills they were facing for drugs and treatments not covered by their insurance companies. This just seemed unbelievable to me, so I asked them for more details. Here are some of the stories they shared about the American healthcare system:
“My friend’s son was 18 at university & got what everyone thought was the flu in the winter of 2008. His cough continued for over three months but he didn’t see a doctor because he was in Wisconsin & his family’s health insurance was in Texas. I guessed the lump in his throat was his vocal cords being inflamed from coughing every 2 minutes. I was very, very wrong. That cough was caused by non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.He wanted to beat it so came up with a plan to continue second year of university while also getting radiation treatment. That meant flying to 2 Texas every 2 weeks while trying to study for an aviation degree. That plan didn’t last long. He battled for another 2 & a half years. He was put on trial drugs but mix ups in communication with insurance meant he was taken off the trials before he got a chance to try them out. At the very end insurance wouldn’t cover morphine to keep him pain free. Apparently having lungs filled with cancerous tumours wasn’t painful enough for morphine. He died aged 21 & 11 months while being held by both his mummy & daddy.”
“We have blue cross blue shield which is basically the standard of what everyone has. When I was pregnant with my daughter we lived an hour and a half from the hospital I was supposed to have my daughter at. She was due 10/6. Well on 9/1 blue cross and our only choice for a hospital decided that they were no longer working with each other. I filed for continuation of care because I was more than 6+ months pregnant. Well my daughter was born early at 9/13. This hospital was the only one that would take me being high risk, and pre-term. So they sent me a bill for the entire thing. I talked to insurance and they tried to find money for me and got my $15,000 bill down to $5,000 and the hospital would basically refuse to work with me and told me if I don’t pay my over 5,000 bill I’m going to debt collection. So I did everything right and I still got screwed because an insurance company and a hospital couldn’t come to an agreement with each other. And all these people that live in a rural area are at their mercy. You don’t have multiple choices for care, you have one.”
“I have an immune system deficiency which means my body will freak out at the smallest irritants, so I have to carry an Epipen with me at all times. My insurance says this is “elective” so they don’t cover the medicine. It costs $600 and it expires every year. Last time I didn’t have one on me I spent 5 days in the ICU because my throat started swelling and closed off my airway, but I guess breathing is elective.”
“My insurance doesn’t cover preventative medicine, so my children’s vaccines ($250 x 2 for the HPV vaccine and the well-check cost) aren’t covered and neither are my annual lady visits. Also, I take Glucophage for severe PCOS. The generic drug for this, metformin, gives me intestinal issues and memory issues possibly due to a different coating. My insurance doesn’t cover the glucophage, which is $220 a month, while the metformin, which gives me issues, is only $4 a month. So it’s either $220 a month with no issues or $4 a month with issues for essentially the exact same medication. Oh, and one 200mg ibuprofen tablet in a hospital here is charged at $9. “
“It took healthcare a few years to kill my father. My Dad was diagnosed with Hep C as a result of car accident at work that required he get neck surgery. My dad’s insurance wasted a year with billing mistakes, fighting to get proper treatment regimen, waiting for open enrolment. What do you think a year of would have done had he received the vital treatment his doctor asked for and hadn’t had to push back transplant stuff? He would have at least had six healthier months to get any obstacles out of the way for transplant. And a fighting shot at life. Insurance is a death panel here in the USA. The sick don’t matter to them, but their monthly payments sure do. Even when it’s their mistake, you pay.”
Victoria Scott 