It’s also pretty shocking to find out what y’all have to deal with. German healthcare can be mildly annoying at times (the bureaucracy of finding the right form to fill out to get something like psychotherapy approved can be tedious), but I’ve never heard of anyone here getting their request dismissed without a good, legally predefined, reason. Apparently American Healthcare companies can just say no just because they feel like it?? whack.
my ukrainian coworker recently was dealing with something with our healthcare company and she was like “wait. y’all weren’t exaggerating? you actually have to fight for your right to get medical care here?” and we were like “we been saying. america’s online presence is a cry for help”
It’s been real popular to knock Americans around these parts for a while, I’ve noticed, and we certainly earn our share of it. But I get the sense Europeans don’t quite understand how bad things have gotten here and how truly cornered and out of options many of us feel. Folks are being squeezed past their breaking point.
Impossible to guess exactly when that’ll be true for enough people to cause something dramatic, but any populace has its limit and we seem to be approaching it. I really hope we start heading the other direction soon, but this incoming administration does not make that look likely.
Your incoming administration won’t do a thing for your average person. If it’s any consolation we Brits aren’t far behind.
Well, I don’t really mean this as a positive per se, but it’s entirely possible the incoming administration tosses a few crumbs to keep things just simmering (while of course further dismantling everything of any real value). That’s been the playbook for the power brokers for some time. I didn’t mean there was some possibility there’d be any actual good. The incoming folks are essentially the most predatory version of that class of people, I’m under no illusions.
Edit to add: I tentatively reject the idea that your country is not far behind, respectfully. That’s my point. I am fairly sure the differences are bigger than you realize.
Appreciated. Whatever you do the U.K. likes to copy though. I suppose it’s like karma for introducing Thatcher and Reagan.
Ha, you’re right, and our countries are of course more closely linked than maybe I realize. Hope it didn’t sound like I was diminishing your struggles. Cheers and best wishes!
You had a point because although incredibly similar, there are differences. I should have said I was speaking relatively.
What a pleasant exchange _
i think in a lot of ways our legacy as a british colony has never really eroded. our countries have been consistently aligned for a long time for better and for mostly worse for both countries
Initially, yes. Then you appeal the claim. Then your appeal gets denied. Then you call with the claim number and challenge the result of your appeal. Then the insurance company contacts the doctor to verify necessity. If your doctor successfully convinces your provider that they know more about medicine than a corporate insurance company, then you’ll be the lucky recipient of an approval.
Source: 20+ specialist appointments and scans per year for the last five years
I’ll never forget when I was prescribed a medication for a heart condition, literally crucial for me to continue living, and the insurance company denied the claim. Without insurance it was $600/mo at a time when I was making $5.25/hr.
And this applies to all treatment.
Coworker that was a double breast cancer survivor was denied coverage for the drug that kept the cancer from coming back again. Like, they want you to die so you don’t cost them money.
Maybe this is the time Americans actually think about the value of an institution who’s only purpose is to extract wealth from normal people.
I really don’t get how your insurance company can be like “you need this treatment to live” (Or anaesthesia is vital for an operation, and an insurance company just be like “nah…”.
I remember the phone call with the insurance clearly. I asked the lady on the phone, “I don’t understand - my doctor says this is crucial but you’re saying I can’t have it?” And she said, verbatim, “I’m not saying you don’t need it or can’t have it. I’m saying we’re not going to pay for it.” And when I told her “Then you’re giving me a death sentence.” she went silent. I ended up stretching my one month doses over 3 months so it was “only” $200/mo.
That’s inhumane. I wonder if the person on the other end of the phone just didn’t give a shit or what…
She probably had no authority to do anything about it. Delay, deny, defend…she’s part of deny/defend. She’s there to tell you that you were rejected, not to explain why or appeal. If a doctor calls, they’ll go into “you didn’t submit X step of paperwork declaring the patient has Y, and so even though you noted it elsewhere we’re denying”
Going off script risks her job, and for what? By design, she can do nothing to actually help
Do you know what kind of things might get turned down and what would count as a good reason? And if your claim gets turned down, do you have any options other than “go bankrupt or suffer” like us in the U.S.?
I’d take hunting for the right form any day over being told to hork down ibuprofen for what I know is a serious problem, and hope the insurance company might eventually deign to approve an MRI. There’s a reason a lot of Americans are out of shape, and it’s not just because of desk jobs and junk food.
The one time I’ve personally heard about a claim being denied (at first) was when a person who is in group therapy wanted to do their insurances online solo therapy offer as well. Technically, the law says that doing solo therapy in addition to group therapy is fine, but that specific online program was intended as a catch-all offer for people who can’t find a therapy spot at all. But I think the insurance gave in and let them take it anyway after a call or two.
I know insurances are allowed to not cover it if you want wacky treatments like chiropractors and acupuncture. Some treatments, like tooth cleaning, are limited to I think twice a year, after that you have to pay the dentist out of pocket. There are also certain meds that count as “lifestyle drugs”, which are not covered by default. I know that Mounjarno (the weight loss version of Ozempic) was one of them. So if your doctor decides to prescribe it, they write it down on a green sheet of paper to signal that it’s self-pay only. There was some sort of system to ask the insurance for an exception, but I’ve never heard of anyone needing to do that.
What I’ve never heard either is insurances denying MRIs or anything like that. I don’t think they’re allowed to do that here?? I’ve only ever had one MRI and a few X-Rays taken, but when I did I wasn’t even thinking about the insurance because whenever something isn’t covered by insurance doctors will usually wait a second and ask whether you’re sure that you want to pay yourself. If they don’t ask, it’s fine.
Two issues:
~ The problem persist despite the incident. Maybe this is the beginning of a sea change for healthcare in the US, but so far, it’s a single ring wave in the pond.
~ Europe is no stranger to problems being solved, including each other, via violence.
The problem persist despite the incident. Maybe this is the beginning of a sea change for healthcare in the US, but so far, it’s a single ring wave in the pond.
not really, they turned back on their anesthesia claims, people have been getting their requests approved.
If they start going back on it, I’m sure another CEO shooting will clear that right up for them again.
I hope you’re willing to volunteer yourself to go to prison for murder along with dealing with the fact you took a human’s life. Because this single incident isn’t going to lead to long term change. Or are you fine to just sit back while insisting others do what you won’t?
bitch I don’t live in the US, this isn’t my fucking problem
100% This moment can help galvanize people to the need to fix our Healthcare, but random acts of violence won’t fix it, people organizing together will.
I’m going to take that to mean organized violence, which is true and based
idk why the username was cropped out but this absolute BANGER of a tweet was made by gldivittorio just saying this because i absolutely love her work and she’s really based as a bonus to being funny
So far I only see dead people and no changes whatsoever. Remains to be seen if there is going to be any improvement whatsoever (considering Trump isn’t even in office yet, it’s probably going to get worse), though at least the owners and top-level managers are probably more scared than before.
People would need to start fighting a guerilla war against insurance companies, and I don’t think they have high chances of winning that war.
I just hope some copy cats start popping up. Get a couple more CEOs and they’ll all really start to be concerned.
How do you think we got healthcare? By begging kings? No, we got it as result of revolution.
Well.
Russian and Chinese people having a revolution and scaring the bourgeoisie into compromise.
What revolution would that have been? From my limited understanding universal healthcare emerged as a byproduct of the industislistation, when states where confronted with a fast growing population of poor citizens that flocked to the cities and needed caring for in some sense. Bismarck intruduced the first European Healthcare system with the goal of keeping workers alive and healthy.
So, to answer my own question, if anything then the industrial revolution (aka capitalism) gave us healthcare.
Somehow I don’t think that’s where you were going with your comment.
What revolution would that have been?
October revolution. It gave healthcare, 100% literacy and education in general. And by “in general” I also mean higher education, which America also lacks.
