A former US surgeon general says he went to the ER for dehydration and ended up with a $5,000 bill. He called the healthcare system 'broken.'

The "healthcare" system isn't broken, it works perfectly.
You're just mistaken about what its purpose is.

It's one of the most beautiful examples of capitalism working as intended: When you're hurting or dying, your demand for healthcare is unlimited, and you're in no position to compare prices or services, so cost is determined by the maximum amount that can be squeezed out of you during your remaining lifetime.

Yeah, no shit. I have a full time job, supposedly great health insurance, but I still can't actually afford to go to the doctor (never mind an ER). You're God damn right the healthcare system is broken!

Fucking tired of people who suddenly see a problem when a) it happens to them or b) when they're no longer relying on the problem for their income.

"Rich person doesn't understand how to save money!"

Haha what a joker. Everyone knows you don't go to the ER for lightheadedness. You gotta self medicate, use WebMD, and ride that wave until you can get seen by your grandmama, your buddy who's a volunteer 1st responder, your friend's wife who's a nurse, or, if push comes to shove, the N.P. at the CVS Minute Clinic.

You never go full E.R. Gotta clip those coupons.

(Tongue in cheek.)

A couple years ago, I ended up in an ambulance due to what turned out to be a small urethra stone. At the hospital, I had an x-ray. When that didn't find the problem, they gave me a CT scan. Once they found the stone, they called in a urologist. I got a consultation, prescription, passed the stone later that day (it was tiny), and recovered very quickly. My total bill was 243'000 Korean won - just about $200 USD. I only had the mandatory insurance that was paid for by my employer. Something to the tune of $50 a month that they are legally required to pay.

The US's system is completely fucked. Broken beyond repair. I wish them luck.

"Working as intended."

-Republicans

Make Congress abide by the healthcare they make us abide by and this will be fixed overnight.

On February 14 I met my max out of pocket for the year. I had an upper and lower GI taken which is the bulk of the cost. My insurance is already refusing to cover some of my diabetes medication, because some people use it to lose weight (Mounjaro). I need it to keep my A1C levels under 10. I already weigh the ideal weight for my height. Because it's so expensive and insurance doesn't cover it, I will end up going without for the rest of the year. My old insurance covered it, but my company switched insurance in January. New insurance has never equaled better insurance. I'm so tired of insurance being tied to my job.

I paid 1200 USD a month for a family of 3 for my health insurance to have the privilege of paying more a hospital bill.

I had to go to the ER because I slit my pinky on some glass and waited in the ER for 5 hours. They had to rip then dried blood and paper towel that was stuck on my finger because it took so long.

After all that, I had to pay 3000usd of my own money which didn't cover my minimum. Why DA FUCK DO I EVEN NEED INSURANCE!?!?!?

The fucking nurse on staff that came to help me for a few minutes was not within my network. Ya fuck that hospital too.

If he thinks five grand is a big hospital bill, he's not living in the real world.

Profit based healthcare is immoral.

Fuck this joker. He’s the IDIOT that said, as the SURGEON GENERAL, “Seriously people - STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” (Tweet was then deleted). He should lose his medical license and be imprisoned for the excessive number of deaths his lies caused.

Only $5000? Dude got lucky. Fuck American healthcare.

Broken by design

I have a little experience with the medical billing system for this fantastic country that I'm lucky and unlucky enough not to live in (yes, both lucky and unlucky; different reasons).

It's messed up. There are band-aids in place to keep costs down for charges billed to medicare and medicaid, but that just makes the whole thing worse because it adds a lot of extra complexity and everyone else likely gets fleeced to make up for the new overhead. The medicare 8 minute rule itself isn't that complex, but add modifiers for activities performed by different providers (in therapy, this could be a PT and a PTA providing the same service, for different lengths of time, on the same visit)? It goes NUTS.

Single payer healthcare with optional private coverage would solve nearly everything. The cost to the patient first and foremost, but also the cost to the government itself, due to greatly decreased complexity. And private clinics and private insurance don't have to disappear, they can still provide more high-end services, or shorter wait times, for those who can ACTUALLY AFFORD IT.

Dr. Jerome Adams, who was the nation's top doctor from 2017 to 2021, said he was slammed with an almost $5,000 bill after being treated for dehydration at a Mayo Clinic emergency department, where he got labs and a few IV bags.

Awesome. I'm going there at the end of March.

Only $5000? He got lucky.

Oh look at that. The sky is blue. Oh, and water is... wet! It's wet everyone! Oh, no, not water, it's piss being thrown at us by our government's lack of representation, ethical apathy, and greed.

Really, did you need to go to the ER to know that? Shit has been broken for a while now.

"Here's a bottle of water, that'll be $5000. Have a nice day."

Did he even get the full bill. Last time I went to an ER, I paid off something and then two years later got sent another bill. I called and said, this is a mistake, right? First lady said probably, everyone else said nope. This is your physician's bill. The other one was a hospital bill. I asked, why did I then get it for the first time after a visit from TWO years ago?? What was goin on in the mean time? "Oh we were transitioning companies, probably something to do with that?" I tried to fight it, I got a reduced price, but that was so insane to me

This isn’t news, it just underscores how out-of-touch some demographics are to what most of us deal with.

Yeah.. Because there's no place for downward pressure on health expenses. Hospitals are incentivized to raise prices as much as possible, because they know insurance companies will negotiate downwards. Insurance companies pass all costs back down to the pool while working as hard as possible to deny everything. Drug companies know they have a captive market, nobody else is making that medicine you need for survival so "Cha-Ching!". Employers are looking for the cheapest health plans possible which means the shittiest plans for their employees. And any company that sells medical equipment is looking at selling it for as much money as possible (or in a "package" that gets hospitals to overcharge on individually wrapped tylenol). Hospital Admins spend more time and money to make sure patients are charged $20 for a $0.10 pill than they trying to keep enough doctors and nurses on staff.

Medicare for all, that's the only way to start righting the ship here. Nationalizing the entire healthcare system would be the next step. It's beyond stupid that we run healthcare for profit.

I read some senator or congress-person suggested before about doing medical tourism instead. Like you go visit Spain or Norway to get your knee or spine fixed for cheap.

This is the most Patrick Starr™ solutions I've ever heard for medical care.

As a Canadian, the idea of paying thousands, even in Canadian dollars, for a single healthcare visit, seems absolutely insane to me.

I can't imagine living under that kind of threat. I would be deathly scared of getting injured, by no fault of my own, and ending up in the poor house as a result. Forget having any.... More voluntary.... medical costs, like having a child. I couldn't imagine doing that knowing what it would cost me.

Honestly, if I was in that situation, I'd be scared of doctors too. Having to choose between having good health but being unable to afford the basics, or living with disorder or disease, would probably break me.

WELL DUH!?

I wonder if he just noticed because it's been capitalist hellscape for a long time now. Welcome to the trenches, fellow working class member. Your ability to have basic healthcare is based entirely around your ability to scrape enough money together between hospital visits. Failure to do so will have lifelong impacts, so I suggest you start eating cereal for dinner to save some cash for the next time you need basic human help.

Maybe it was the Nestlé hospital?

Feature not a bug

Why, yes.

Dude went the the mofo Mayo Clinic for dehydration. Gets a $5000 bill.

Surprised Pikachu face.

Yeah but the market sets the price. This is capitalism. If you want to change the price, don't go there. Pick a cheaper clinic. There are plenty of hospitals. It's up to the consumer to price shop, emergency or not. I'm sure the Mayo clinic is making razor thin margins.

---- heavy sarcasm

Never been to the US before I guess 🤷‍♂️ He got off pretty light at 5k.

Why is this news to absolutely anyone?

Is that his out of pocket expense of what the hospital billed insurance?

Because my hospital billed insurance $15,000 and all I got was 1 bag of saline.

He must know some important people to get such a discount.

You'll be surprised in two years when you find out you owe that.

No way!

Can't the surgeon general just perform surgery on himself to save the money?

Tried to warn him.

Or...you know, maybe drink a full Pedialyte

Welcome to the revolution friend.

My GP claims to be trying to agitate her peers at conferences, focusing on the ones with chronic issues. She tells them, if they don't advocate for patients, no-one will.

Lawyers don't count, because by the time they enter the scene, the damage is done.

This is only news to people who read Business Insider

Why didn't he just go to one of them spa and get a $150 iv drip

Sounds like you're not in the U.S.

Just don't pay it. Nothing they can do about it.

Sending medical info to collections is a violation of HIPPA, just ask for the itemized list.

0 chance they'd give you any flak for anything under, say, a 250k heart surgery.