He fractures his pelvis into 14 pieces, and broke another dozen major bones including both femurs.
The surgeries are still ongoing although he is mostly himself again. But even two years later, he is facing a daily barrage of calls, being put on hold, no callbacks, paper shuffling, records from hospital to hospital, faxing permission sheets, fighting with the insurance company (who has threatened to drop his insurance multiple times) and on top of it all, his landlord is trying to evict him.
It's been horrible to watch. It's like the insurance company is trying to kill him with stress.
Is it a 'won't happen to me' sentiment? Preferring the freedom of literally landing on the streets with one accident since you're presumably fully in charge? I do not understand, though there must be an understandable reason.
I think the only reason anyone can think it's OK is (1) they haven't had a major medical expense yet and (2) their political tribe tells them capitalism is the answer for everything.
Honestly, healthcare in the US is so broken I don't see how we avoid a crisis in the next few years because of it. Maybe it will somehow pop like a real estate bubble (sad when that's the most optimistic thing you can hope for).
That sounds horrific. What sport was this?
A health insurance company, no less.
If you take an ambulance to the emergency department, see a doctor, they order a scan, the scan shows appendicitis, and your appendix is subsequently removed, this can easily lead to six different bills:
- Ambulance
- Facility
- ED doctor
- Radiologist
- Surgeon
- Anesthesiologist
This.
This is so horrifically true, it takes call after call after call (and emails, and faxes, and snail-mail claims forms that take "30 days" to "process") to get anything changed, and by then you have collections companies harassing you and your credit goes down the drain. Meanwhile you must keep working and taking care of family and dealing with the actual illness/issue that led to the medical visit in the first place. It is insane.