Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

What do Americans do if they have no healthcare?

489 replies

summeriscomingsoon · 25/03/2021 22:43

Seeing posts on Reddit about the costs of routine medical visits and the astronomical breakdown of figures charged, but I'm assuming these are all covered by health insurance.

But what if you have no insurance. What happens if you get cancer etc. Are you left to die?

OP posts:
shamalidacdak · 25/03/2021 23:46

@summeriscomingsoon

Why do Americans think this system works? Sounds dreadful.

Thank god for our NHS

They don't. But not enough are without any insurance because they have it through work, so there is no movement to change it. There is grumbling every so often but noones burning down the White House because of it. I can't see universal healthcare becoming a reality until AOCs generation take over.
CirqueDeMorgue · 25/03/2021 23:50

This all sounds horrendous. Truly grateful for the NHS.

TheFlis12345 · 25/03/2021 23:50

My friends gave birth to twins that were premature and had to spend several weeks in PICU. After insurance paid their share, my friends were left with a bill of over $2 million. It’s barbaric.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General health
ZaraCarmichaelshighheels · 25/03/2021 23:58

Did your friends loose their house? What was the outfit for them?

ZaraCarmichaelshighheels · 25/03/2021 23:58

Outcome!

ImAlrightThanx · 26/03/2021 00:02

I thought all children were automatically eligible for government healthcare in the USA?
Shocking.

AdoraBell · 26/03/2021 00:14

Not lived in the US but we lived in Chile and a friend twice had to sell his house and business to pay for relatives medical care. Luckily he was able to build a business again.

Another friend had to find $100,000 for treatment when he had a heart attack. He had insurance but didn’t realise he had to pay up front and claim the costs afterwards.

Blueberries0112 · 26/03/2021 00:26

My mom was one of those who had breast cancer without health insurance.

She just applied for charity funded (for women with breast cancer) Medicaid and they covered her bills. She was also unable to get disability because she didn’t work long enough and was not allowed to be on her husband’s disability. There is another type of disability for people who is never able to work but she didn’t qualified unless she is really bad off

Anyway, she relied on her husband’s income, and Medicaid to fight off breast cancer

She didn’t make it

Blueberries0112 · 26/03/2021 00:31

There reduced health insurance for children but no. Children do not get free healthcare. They do have charities. United ways paid for my hearing aids when I was growing up. And the government paid for my bodyworn hearing aids for school (I am not allowed to take it home)!

But most employees provide insurances for you. Some provide it for you for free but that for the rich who want to be richer. They get all the benefits for climbing up the ladder

Blueberries0112 · 26/03/2021 00:36

Americans I know don’t want it because they are very religious. They think they will have to cover other people birth control and abortions
And they think the government will use healthcare to “weed” people out and they want the freedom to chose their own insurance and healthcare that match up with their beliefs.

Blueberries0112 · 26/03/2021 00:39

insane - even with insurance on some schemes you still have to pay a "deductible" eg the first 20% of any bills. So if you have something really bad the bills still run up into $$$$$.

They will cover 80% of your insurance after your deductible is met

Iwillgotothegym · 26/03/2021 00:45

Has Obama care/Affordable Care Act made a difference in the amount of people covered in a way that would mean they would not fear to call an ambulance? Has it helped with more routine stuff? I know the Republicans repealed some it so not sure what it’s like now?

I’m British and love the BHS. I know NHS could be better - some other European models for example might be better. I just don’t understand the thinking of some Americans that education should be covered by the government but healthcare through some kind of comprehensive system should not be.

(I have relatives in America that think the system is crazy even though they all have well paying jobs and good insurance. )

MixedUpFiles · 26/03/2021 00:45

Many states have a health insurance program for the children of low-income families. It’s not available to everyone and I don’t know if it’s always free or if some families pay.

Iwillgotothegym · 26/03/2021 00:45

NHS not BHS!

SquarePeggyLeggy · 26/03/2021 00:48

I used to work in the US. We were at after work drinks and a coworker fell down a flight of stairs, and refused to let us call an ambulance because she had no insurance.

selectabo · 26/03/2021 00:54

@queenofthenorthwest

Makes me appreciate our nhs even more after reading that post.
Oh yes, the NHS is gold! What I don't get is why American accept this? Why there is not a massive outcry, people on the streets etc? Access to healthcare should be to be a basic human right. For free!
PastMyBestBeforeDate · 26/03/2021 00:59

@Blueberries0112 Flowers

I temped for a UK private heathcare company decades ago and I had to look at contested bills. It was eye opening (and eye watering) to see every swab or plaster accounted for. In the US every provider is charging the maximum allowed for each of those items and it's a whole different order of magnitude.

bizzey · 26/03/2021 00:59

This thread is so interesting .
Hope it is not a hi jack of a thread question..
But to all tou knowledgeable people ..

Uni DS is due to go for a placement next year .
( well ..he has got the placement...but till he is on the plane I wont accept that he has gonec!)
How does the insurance work out for these sort of students ?
Should we/he be putting money aside for "full" insurance ?

Blueberries0112 · 26/03/2021 01:24

You will have to talk to his college (or university) , they often provide healthcare insurance for students. My husband and I exempted it since our son is under our health insurance

cstaff · 26/03/2021 01:31

My friend spent a summer in the USA almost 30 years ago. He was still in college at the time. Whilst over there he broke his leg and was advised to hop on a plane back to Ireland rather than having to pay the hospital bills which he did.

Happyhappyday · 26/03/2021 01:46

Wowwwweeee let’s do some America bashing here! The healthcare system isn’t universally bad, it’s just very variable & tied to employer. For me personally the cost of my health insurance plan is considerably less than the difference between the US taxes I pay (20%) & uk taxes we paid (top rate). However for that difference I can see MY dr same day, always, pretty much any specialist I need within a week or less & visits to things like PT aren’t limited. I pay $15 per visit or if I was to be an inpatient/have surgery etc it would be $15 per day. Facilities are literally a world away from the NHS facilities I experienced.

People over 65 are covered by Medicare, poor under a certain income threshold are covered by Medicaid & children are covered. It is not universally accepted but it is WIDELY accepted. Obamacare set out to provide affordable insurance for people who fall between poor & having employers who provide health insurance.

In a lot of cases you can choose your coverage, I could pay half as much into my plan but then have out of pocket costs at $10k, or I can do as I have and have basically no out of pocket costs because I know I’m likely to use a lot of healthcare. The US system gives people the option to choose how they want to spend their money.

I’m not saying it’s great and definitely not for everyon, for $$ spent, the outcomes are not enough better and the experience varies massively by state, a bit like the experience across Europe varies by country. It’s also appalling some people don’t have insurance, but for some of those people it would also have been a choice to pay less up front and cross their fingers they don’t get sick.

Happyhappyday · 26/03/2021 01:48

Also insurance covers after a deductible to an out of pocket maximum (say $10k as a Max). So you’re not just going to have endless bills!!

480Widdio · 26/03/2021 01:54

I was talking to a Retired Consultant in America recently,he worked in the largest Hospital in his State,he was constantly being pressurised into carrying out procedures,whether they were necessary or not,because the Hospital made more money that way.

He actually retired early because of the stress it caused him.

upthekyber · 26/03/2021 02:26

I live in an area of the Uk which has a high proportion of the population have American citizenship due to an American military base, 3 of my cousins have American Grandads but this means that there are an equivalent of "British citizens" in the USA and on occasion one would appear in A and E having boarded a plane lll and then traveled. They still have to pay but everyone one of them said it was cheaper to do that than say in the US. In the 80's my mum was a midwife and it was not unusual for her to have to travel to the local port to deliver a baby or check over mother and baby who arrived from France on a ferry again because it was cheaper but I believe the French sorted this out.

Other impacts of no health insurance as well as staying married to people so they can qualify for Health insurance is people normally women giving up custody of children as they don't have it and ex's do. My neighbour did this as both her sons had health issue, he ex had had to pay for health insurance for her and the boys for 3 years following the divorce but she was unable to get insurance due to their health issue, she had had a thyroidectomy, one son had autism and CP and the other a squint... group insurances via an employer offer cover pre existing but individual cover is prohibitively expensive.
On the squint which caused her son double vision so was falling behind at school, the insurance provided by her husbands firm which was excellent as he owned a clinic and was an oncologist refused to cover his surgery as it was "cosmetic"
Our insurance was $997 a month for 4 12 years ago friends say it's closer to $2000 a month now.
Children are covered through college, a friend who's 2 son needed heart surgery for a hereditary condition had an awful 12 weeks where both sons underwent the surgery with the same surgeon to get the surgery in before the eldest 26 birthday, he has to be done second as his health was poor and they had to work him up to be for enough he eventually had his surgery 2 weeks prior to his birthday was in ITU for a week and discharged on the eve of his birthday despite being unwell still but with a lot of meds and a mum who had been trained up with her first sons rehab so she could do it. The hospital were being kind with what they did and saved them thousands but it doesn't alter the fact that if he had been a little more unwell or still in ICU he would have woken up on his birthday facing bankruptcy.
And people reaction that he got the surgery and out was that the lord had taken care of him... fuck off!

Oh and a nurse who lost her job whilst in her employers ICU because she was off sick for 3 weeks and then as a double whammy no longer complied with her visa requirement and her husband had to leave the USA whilst she was still ill, and she boarded a plane literally having the drip taken down in departures. They lost their house, future and dog, as they had no time to organise anything for him, a neighbour took the dog in.
No one feels sorry, they are so desensitised to it, it's your fault if you are not covered. Any country that can see tiny children killed and not want to do something about gun control is hardly going to see health care as a priority, and hilariously they view the rest of the world as dangerous!