Michigan man who had seizure on Royal Caribbean cruise forced to pay $2500 bill before evacuating
Michigan man who had seizure on Royal Caribbean cruise forced to pay $2500 bill before evacuating
Vincent Wasney returned home from cruise in thousands of dollars of medical debt
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The hospital reduced the payment after learning he was uninsured? Is that like how itemized receipts make it cheaper because it’s all designed to shaft insurance companies who then just shaft their clients to not lose any money?
Also fuck the people who actually enforced that rule on the boat and anyone who would threaten their jobs if they didn’t.
Just another reason to avoid cruises, I guess.
The insurance companies want it that way, though. That's the sneaky bit.
Insurance companies are legally required to pay out 85% of all money they take in back to their insured. That leaves them with 15% to cover payroll and rent and profit and all the other shit.
So by having medical expenditures stupidly expensive, they get to charge higher premiums, which means the 15% they get to keep every year is a much larger amount of money. Why have 15% of $1,000,000 when you can have 15% of $100,000,000?
Well that’s fucked up. Jesus.
This is America.
Most hospitals will remove the cost entirely if you are uninsured and make under a certain amount.
Example. My husband recently (...okay, 2 years ago, but the passage of time hurts) had to go to the hospital, and be admitted for, an infected insect bite. No cost on admittance. Had to stay a few days to be on ivs.
Over the course of the next few months we get the bills. Which we can't pay. But we have the number for the part of the hospital that can lower the costs.
We give them all the information, then wait.
One day a lady drives up to our place, hands my husband a piece of paper saying he owes the hospital nothing, then leaves. It was surreal.
The lady that day: "You know, I rarely ever get to completely forgive someone's debt. I'm gonna deliver it personally to see their reaction."
We certainly weren't expecting it to be delivered in person! Amazingly the letter also covered the next year if he had had to go back to the hospital (I think in case there were complications, which insect bites generally don't have, but this was meant to cover a lot in case)