For the edification of Canadian readers who may be in the dark about how truly barbarous the situation is here, here's the "best case scenario":
1.Andrew survives the surgery with flying colors and the tumor, as advertised, is benign.
2. His friends and colleagues in the jazz community manage to scrape together, say, $30,000 towards his medical bills (let's face it, jazz benefit concerts don't tend to raise Live-Aid level money).
3. The hospital presents Andrew with a bill of, say, $280,000.
4.After paying $30,000 off, Andrew's credit ating is savaged and he's pursued by collection agencies until he is able to declare bankruptcy. Fully half of personal bankuptcies in America are a result of medical bills, a condition which exists nowhere else in the civilized world.
And to add insult to injury, it's likely that he'll be unable to obtain any needed post-operative therapy unless he has access to some sort of musicians health clinic, which will still charge approximately 10% of cost.
I'm lucky enough to have "good" insurance through my university teaching job. It costs $329 a month, has a $5,000 deductable for hospital stays, and a passel of restrictions, co-pays, and denial of services clauses. Plus the companies battalion of lawyers standing at the ready to exploit any loophole to deny claims.
It's a totally insane situation that shows no signs of changing in my lifetime.
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For the edification of Canadian readers who may be in the dark about how truly barbarous the situation is here, here's the "best case scenario":
1.Andrew survives the surgery with flying colors and the tumor, as advertised, is benign.
2. His friends and colleagues in the jazz community manage to scrape together, say, $30,000 towards his medical bills (let's face it, jazz benefit concerts don't tend to raise Live-Aid level money).
3. The hospital presents Andrew with a bill of, say, $280,000.
4.After paying $30,000 off, Andrew's credit ating is savaged and he's pursued by collection agencies until he is able to declare bankruptcy. Fully half of personal bankuptcies in America are a result of medical bills, a condition which exists nowhere else in the civilized world.
And to add insult to injury, it's likely that he'll be unable to obtain any needed post-operative therapy unless he has access to some sort of musicians health clinic, which will still charge approximately 10% of cost.
I'm lucky enough to have "good" insurance through my university teaching job. It costs $329 a month, has a $5,000 deductable for hospital stays, and a passel of restrictions, co-pays, and denial of services clauses. Plus the companies battalion of lawyers standing at the ready to exploit any loophole to deny claims.
It's a totally insane situation that shows no signs of changing in my lifetime.
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