From what I've heard from Americans working in hospitals is that this bill is what the hospital writes but they only charge a small amount and declare the rest at their own insurance as a loss. So the couple would end up with a bill of a few hundred dollars, nothing more. This is common practice, is what those people told me. I don't know if this is the case in every state though. But it sure is one weird fucked up system.

Time to head home and never look back 😅

That's one expensive citizenship

That sucks... Born in the US....

A friend living in Mexico fell off a horse and slashed a wrist on a fence. They wouldn't even treat her until checking her credit card. She moved back to us.

How's the US still a country, how do people just put up with it.

For most US medical bills the number you see and what the insurance company will actually pay (even to completely settle the bill) are entirely different numbers. Although this isn't medical insurance per se. I bet they negotiated it down though.

Sounds like skipping the bill and never returning to the US is a great option here, tbh

This is not as big a deal as the headline shows. No one would pay that much.

The unfortunate reality is American healthcare is geared to generate humongous bills but that’s just the starting point. Normally your insurance company will then negotiate it down. If you don’t have insurance, you can usually get them to write off huge amounts.

One of the underlying problems is not everyone has insurance but everyone will get at least emergency care. Hospitals know there will be a lot of bills that can never be paid, so their initial bill to everyone needs yo account for that loss.

That and the general extractive nature of the us health care system, the massive number of layers and middlemen that all need to show a profit

But clearly the problem here is the non-us insurance company not dealing with it until forced to nine months later

Worst case scenario- go home and never come bs k. That bill is not following you to another country