Story A good story about a woman who took the fight to the healthcare billing system

[TAW122]

I normally don't post feel-good or positive articles, but this one, after reading it is like my new hero (or heroine if you will).



In short, the OP in that Reddit thread fought for getting her boyfriend's medical/hospital bill reduced dramatically. Granted this was about a horrendously overpriced bill for services rendered, just imagine if someone like her applied the same strategies towards hospital bills for involuntary commitment and/or psych holds and ambulance rides. That would at least bring back a modicum of justice as well as financial relief for people who have been abused by the healthcare system and mental health industry.

I would think that if more people like her did what she did, perhaps hospitals and the healthcare systems may be less inclined to overcharge people and/or maybe if more people disputed medical bills (especially from involuntary commitment and/or psych holds), perhaps there may even be an slight change in how hospitals bill for that particular type of service?

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that if more people did what the OP in that thread did, that perhaps the hospital and healthcare system would be more judicious in their billing practices or not?

 

[Unending]

This is one thing I don't see discussed enough. The irony in locking suicidal people up against their will and then claiming it's for their own good hits even harder when you think about how much they're charged after being discharged. It's so preposterous that it's almost funny... well, only if you have an extremely dark sense of humor.

 

[NoLoveNoHope]

I'm not too sure about American healthcare as I don't live there but if people kept fighting outrageous bills like that the healthcare system would be a lot less predatory. From an outsiders perspective the entire healthcare system seems to prey on the already poor who don't know how to fight bills like that.

Good on her though, if it means harassing a few people for saving my boyfriend 5 grand I'm going all out - spare no one haha.

 

[TAW122]

This is one thing I don't see discussed enough. The irony in locking suicidal people up against their will and then claiming it's for their own good hits even harder when you think about how much they're charged after being discharged. It's so preposterous that it's almost funny... well, only if you have an extremely dark sense of humor.

Yes! I was hoping that there will be more outrage and discussion through the masses (maybe this is already happening around the world, but not many people mention it?) and with enough people being negatively affected, there will likely be (forced) change to the system and how they treat suicidal people.

I'm not too sure about American healthcare as I don't live there but if people kept fighting outrageous bills like that the healthcare system would be a lot less predatory. From an outsiders perspective the entire healthcare system seems to prey on the already poor who don't know how to fight bills like that.

Good on her though, if it means harassing a few people for saving my boyfriend 5 grand I'm going all out - spare no one haha.

Yeah, the US healthcare system is fucked up in that regard, if one has an enormous medical/hospital bill, it isn't uncommon to see people going bankrupt or being put into financial ruin for things outside of their control. Even worse and more humiliating (as well as enraging) is when the treatment was not only forced, made under duress (or threat of consequences, or punishment), and then sending the bill to the patient for something the patient NEVER asked for in the first place!

To be honest, if she was my girlfriend, I would be indebt for her services and dedication to put off a disgustingly outrageous hospital bill (and even moreso as a bonus if/when it is one that is unjustified and that of 'forced treatement'). Instead of that boyfriend being ungrateful himself, he should have been happy because he would have had to eat $5K (or close to that) if it wasn't for his girlfriend going to great lengths to dramatically reduce the bill to almost nothing ($5K bill to $26 according to the story). He doesn't deserve her if he treats her like that, especially when she went above and beyond to prevent a financial disaster. If it was me, I'd at the very, very least treat that girlfriend to a nice dinner, to an event that she likes to go to (a theme park, maybe a concert of her favorite musician, or whatever she enjoyed).

 

[NoLoveNoHope]

Yes! I was hoping that there will be more outrage and discussion through the masses (maybe this is already happening around the world, but not many people mention it?) and with enough people being negatively affected, there will likely be (forced) change to the system and how they treat suicidal people.


Yeah, the US healthcare system is fucked up in that regard, if one has an enormous medical/hospital bill, it isn't uncommon to see people going bankrupt or being put into financial ruin for things outside of their control. Even worse and more humiliating (as well as enraging) is when the treatment was not only forced, made under duress (or threat of consequences, or punishment), and then sending the bill to the patient for something the patient NEVER asked for in the first place!

To be honest, if she was my girlfriend, I would be indebt for her services and dedication to put off a disgustingly outrageous hospital bill (and even moreso as a bonus if/when it is one that is unjustified and that of 'forced treatement'). Instead of that boyfriend being ungrateful himself, he should have been happy because he would have had to eat $5K (or close to that) if it wasn't for his girlfriend going to great lengths to dramatically reduce the bill to almost nothing ($5K bill to $26 according to the story). He doesn't deserve her if he treats her like that, especially when she went above and beyond to prevent a financial disaster. If it was me, I'd at the very, very least treat that girlfriend to a nice dinner, to an event that she likes to go to (a theme park, maybe a concert of her favorite musician, or whatever she enjoyed).

100%, I've seen videos about people running away from an ambulance despite being in very bad condition and needing it. I did mention it to some of my friends and went on a short rant about how I'd harass 1000 workers for saving 5 grand lol.

He should definitely of been grateful, 5 grand is absolutely life-changing for most. I don't care if my girlfriend harassed anyone, she did it for me and that's the end of it. I'm loved and cared for.

It's absolutely outrageous how the healthcare system works there from an outsiders perspective. I'm unsure if you're familiar with the watchdogs series but it sounds a lot like that to me, eventually AI has evolved so much and the healthcare system degraded to where is it a question of "is your cancer worth treating?" or making a decision on who to hit with a car based of data of their work, criminal history etc. Sounds like that's where it's heading to me and that just sounds ridiculous for that being a reality.

 

[Unending]

Yes! I was hoping that there will be more outrage and discussion through the masses (maybe this is already happening around the world, but not many people mention it?) and with enough people being negatively affected, there will likely be (forced) change to the system and how they treat suicidal people.

One can only hope that this changes sooner rather than later. It seems like it must be a glaringly obvious problem to anyone who thinks about it but some things really do tend to go over people's heads due to them being normalized so much. Obviously involuntary commitment to the psych hospital needs to be outlawed no matter what but even in a world as fatally flawed as ours it should be a no-brainer that when someone is "treated" against their will, there is NO reason to bankrupt them.

Oh how backwards any laws even vaguely related to suicide are. Yes, they're being tormented enough to want to die so lets torture them harder and make them poor. Genius...