US Private Healthcare is a sham and meant to confuse us into submission

Yeah, this isn't even plausible. There is so much BS here, and posting fake shit like this undermines credibility on a very serious problem.

Lol I'm a doctor in America, this is not the law. My pediatrician friends typically manage entire families.

What? I have 3 kids, and we've all used the same PCP their whole lives. We live in a rural area, and the family doc handled adults and kids as long as there were no unusual circumstances. In fact, when they were small, the clinic booked all the annual checkups for me and my kids back to back so I could get in and out. They saw my parents as well.

I'm not sure who told you this our what their reasoning is, but it's not a law. Possibly some sort of internal policy, but even that would be hard to justify, especially in more rural areas. Also, most vaccines can be updated at the local health department, and the costs are usually considerably less.

I agree that the billing system is a joke, but i think you may need to ask more questions than just about the bill.

No , what are you talking about. What would happen if you try to have them seen by the same pcp. This is like my friend that constantly FLIES to another state to get his meds in another state because he refuses to figure out how transfers work

I schedule my 2 kids' well checks for the same day and they essentially just do back-to-back time slots but do all the exams at once. One kid gets their vision checked, then the other. Then they bring in the hearing machine (if they're doing that) and test them both, and so on and so forth. Then the doctor comes in once for both kids.

The U.S. healthcare system is a sham and absolutely kills people. But go ahead and schedule all of your kids at once and if they won't do it, find a clinic/hospital that will.

Usually the reason that the cost differs by provider is because each provider determines their own reimbursement rates for services/medications. The insurance company can only pay the provider the negotiated rates for the services, which unfortunately results in different out of pocket expenses.

Are you able to find a family medicine provider in-network that can see all of your kids? Maybe the one that currently provides the lowest rates?

Yep this. I had great insurance with 100% prenatal and childbirth coverage (except a hospital admission copay). In the next months I got so many bills amounting to thousands of dollars. Every time there'd be a portion paid by insurance and it would look like I was genuinely responsible for the rest. But I knew I wasn't.

I'd call the hospital billing department, they'd say to call my insurance provider; I'd call my insurance provider, they'd tell me to contact the hospital's billing department. Repeat ad nauseum. Every single dollar was ultimately paid by insurance.

How many people don't have the wherewithal to understand their coverage, much less the time and energy to make all those phonecalls? The insurance company would've made thousands of dollars off me (in savings) if I would've just given up and paid.

It's also a mechanism to compel people to work a regular 'job' and to tolerate abuse from employers.

If you're at all concerned about healthcare, you have to get a job.

As it should be.

Americans also pay A LOT of taxes, even if they move abroad (which we don’t). I pay taxes now, but I didn’t pay when I was young and broke, and I pay them happily because every single person in my country has the right to be seen by a doctor, be vaccinated, have an organ transplant or be treated of cancer equally. Even visitors will be rescued by our public healthcare system if they need to be.

I don’t understand this “argument”. I see a lot of Americans using the same sentence - which sounds propagandish - to justify people dying or getting bankrupt because of healthcare. For us, paying taxes for this is a no-brainer, as well as paying for every single compatriot to have access to free education from kindergarten to doctorate. It’s better for everyone.

There wouldn’t be a “Breaking Bad” drama in my country. The guy would go to a hospital, get treatment, and that’s it.

It is shameful.

americans don't pay taxes?

$375 differences for an MMR vaccine?

Edit: oh someone below deduced that this is rage bait. Fuck OP

only if it is a war where only civilians get killed.

AND pay for vaccines when the ACA requires they are paid for (at least so far)