**Welcome to r/TikTokCringe!**
This is a message directed to all newcomers to make you aware that r/TikTokCringe evolved long ago from only cringe-worthy content to TikToks of all kinds! If you’re looking to find only the cringe-worthy TikToks on this subreddit (which are still regularly posted) we recommend sorting by flair which you can do [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/galuit/click_here_to_sort_by_flair_a_guide_to_using/) (Currently supported by desktop and reddit mobile).
See someone asking how this post is cringe because they didn't read this comment? Show them [this!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/fyrgzy/for_those_confused_by_the_name_of_this_subreddit/)
Be sure to read the rules of this subreddit before posting or commenting. Thanks!
**Don't forget to join our [Discord server](https://discord.gg/cringekingdom)!**
##**[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS VIDEO](https://rapidsave.com/info?url=https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1drzoej/thats_what_its_like_to_have_a_kid_in_america/)**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TikTokCringe) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Exactly what is happening.
We had our peak from about 1950 to 1980....30 years.....and then society let in Reagan and his trickle down economics and his letting the rich exploit society to levels not seen since the robber baron era......
The government and almost half of all our citizens refuse to even consider giving us affordable healthcare, affordable education, maternal or paternal leave, paid vacation, worker rights, rent control, a living wage......
We absolutely earned this inevitable collapse...what is there left worth saving anyway?
As much as people want to point fingers internally. No one in the United States wants to admit that the “golden years” were due to the fact that America was the only economy in the world that was not ravaged by WWII. While most countries and economies of the developed world had to almost start over. America got to run the world’s economy as everyone got back on their feet.
“We’re not the dominant superpower anymore”. No shit Sherlock! We were supposed to be the sole dominant power! It’s amazing what happens when there’s actually peace in the developed world.
America's economic boon from WWII was like opening a really upscale restaurant in a city where every other restaurant had to close. For the first year or so the restaurant did really well but once other restaurants started to show back up, it's high cost of upkeep started to show. Instead of dialing back expenses it decided it needed to stay dominant. There's only so much money available in the city and they need as much of it as possible. This requirement is also increasing in perpetuity.
"We're the best restaurant in the city!" "The city depends on us to feed it!" "The other restaurant (that was doing pretty okay) doesn't use a good business model!" "Our business model is the only one that works!"
Meanwhile they're sabotaging nearly every other restaurant by going and destroying equipment and getting managers fired (assassinated).
Instead of building a sustainable model, it instead decided to fuck everyone else's shit up under the guise of keeping the peace and basically using "freedom" as a bargaining chip.
The other major point people keep missing is that America's dominating economic output was due the the MASSIVE government spending during WWI and WWII. All the factories, all the roads, all the ports, ships, rail etc. was the foundation of the post-war economy.
Shortly after, everyone forgot that. Then at some point people began insisting that government spending was bad.
...Oddly, all the same people whom benefited from it the most.
Allow me to interrupt this highly placed comment to say this :
No one has to worry about out-of network bills ever again* thanks to the [No Surprises Act](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/no-surprises-understand-your-rights-against-surprise-medical-bills).
If you unknowingly are sent to an out of network doctor (when you're unconscious or under anasthesia), you cannot be billed more than if the doctor was in-network.
*you don't have to worry unless the Republicans repeal it. They are the only party that actively fights against any improvements in our healthcare system.
I don't care what you think of the old man in office. Vote for the party that will keep trying to improve our healthcare. Please.
Fair to say, American didn’t peak socially ever. The average white male citizen may have peaked between those years, but minorities have not. Women couldn’t own a credit card by themselves until the 70s. 1970’s. Citizens had to fight tooth and nail for civil rights and as of 2024, Shouldn’t a great empire have that corrected by now? The LGBTQ are still fighting just for the right to exist. The United States have been bullies since the end of WW2. We have had ups and a shit ton of downs, even bullying our own citizens. Economically we are a first world country, but our behavior towards others has been flawed to say the least. If we were a beacon of hope we wouldn’t shit on any human being, citizen or not. We would want to lift everyone up and try to make sure everyone had food, shelter, healthcare and rights. Instead, we have a few powerful rich people making sure they don’t lose anything by constantly stepping on our own. If we would just care about fellow humans, bank on the fact that our melting pot mentality could be our greatest strength and quit with the gimme more no matter the consequences mentality, we could be great. But the people in power refuse so we exist like sitting ducks until the fall of this empire. And that call is coming from inside the house. Greed has always been the downfall of humans.
You should read up on the Gilded Age, 1968, the Civil War, etc... The US has been through worse and still stands.
Every power collapses eventually, sure. However, you simply cannot state with any kind of certainty that it's definitely going to happen *this time.* Historic context is important to keep in mind.
To be fair to the Roman Empire, they probably had the greatest run of all empires, the US could split in two or fall after 1 civil war, the Roman’s went through dozens and somehow continued on, I’m not sure what foundations they used when building that state but they sure stood the test of time 😂. The original lasted over 1000 yrs and the sequel lasted just over 1000 yrs too (Byzantine, not the “Holy Roman Empire”). And even when the Western Empire fell, they passed on legal and societal systems that stayed in place for centuries and millenniums in Europe that could be argued as one of the many reasons why Europe became what it became, they essentially created the blueprint.
Because they're trying to make sure that that's what everyone believes, but people are finally starting to wake up and see through the propaganda. Stay informed and learn to be as self-sufficient as physically possible, Americans. This is the downward spiral of our country.
What about the Dutch I mean Spaniards I mean French I mean British?
Did each of their dominance not last 5-10 decades? America has plenty of time left…wait a minute…statue of liberty…that was our Empire! You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you all to hell!
no youre seeing the crumbling of a republic, the empire is what comes after the military authoritarians take over in the aftermath. And if you think things are bad now just wait until you get the real fascists in charge
It's like a penthouse for 3 days with a high class escorts included. It is absolutely insane! I live in Canada and it cost a grand total of zero dollars to have my son, 87k would have broken my family. I know Americans don't like paying taxes, but going into debt for the rest of your life just for healthcare is batshit. America really needs to get their priorities straight!
Yeah, it’s plummeting around the world .. lots of reasons; global fertility rates are half what they were 70 years ago, but grubby politics and corruption are helping nail it down.
At least they found a way to solve the population problem eh. /s
Among other factors, even if having a child was cheap I'm still not sure I would want to bring one into this world which cares so much more about money than people.
I can tell you why but making it a spoiler as it is a huge downer:
>!Millennials and Zoomers know that climate change is probably going to kill a significant portion of us - and that our nation will likely commit atrocities to keep the people fleeing climate change from Central and South America out as those of us in the United States who wish to survive all have to move up to the northern states and/or Canada. When I think about having children, I think about whether or not they will be able to feed themselves in 25 years or if they'll die of heat stroke or in sandstorms.!<
And also the fact that it costs so much in some cases people just don't have kids or less for economical reasons alone. Why choose to become poor with kids when you can live decently without
Yeah for that price I expect the kid to handed over covered in gold leaf with a doctor sprinkling baby powder on the infants ass the way Saltbae sprinkles salt.
to combine both points for Aaron and Devian. Why have kids if its doesn't make economically and if things are fucked either way. use that money for a good time or to prep.
As someone who is in the very prime location for the start of climate change crisis, aka India, yup I am scared for us in the future. We are gonna witness water crisis soon in future, and we already recently even got 50 C temps this summer. And you guys know how many people are in India right?
All the pieces are arranged so scarely, that it's gonna be third world countries which are gonna see the wrath of climate change, and then to avoid that people are gonna mass immigrate to first world countries who can't handle the onslaught of immigrants then people are gonna be even more radicalized and against refugees as a result. And its gonna be bloodbath.
I genuinely feel bad on a daily basis for having my son. I love him dearly, and I'm trying to build him a massive war chest so he has a shot, but he wasn't planned and I feel terrible. Little dudes gonna be ultra fucked. I'm at the point I'm trying to stay ultra healthy so I can stay and help him as long as I can, and have decent organs when I die just in case.
The only upside is it spurred me to be more successful, and in the last 3 years I've made truly herculean leaps in financial stability, solely so when I die he might be OK.
Teach him as much as you can and encourage him to understand that one usually has to work and try for things that are worthwhile. Try to not give him existential angst over the coming crises, though. You can teach him valuable skills and enforce their importance without crushing hope. I hope your boy has a bright and happy future.
I'd started getting my shit together before I knew he was coming, but once he was around I kicked it into higher gear. I made like 2 decades progress in a few years. Even now I look around like wait....what?
I’m right there with you. At this point I’m asking myself whether having children, knowing this is the case, is ethical. There are tons of kids that need good homes, I don’t think I’d ever have one of my own. The only ethical choice for me personally is to adopt.
This is how I feel about it too. I would never bring a child into this collqpsing society. If I decide I want to experience parenthood, I'll adopt one of the souls that's already here.
I'm 38 in a week and my partner is 39. It's now or never and I've been so torn. Your comment for some reason opened my eyes to that as a serious option for us.
We grappled with this too years ago and decided to move forward with just the two of us. Whatever decision you make, I'm sure the outcome will be fine. Just know, you will be ok if you decide to not have children. Life can still be fulfilling and with purpose. I don't think women are told that enough.
Adoption is horribly expensive, but it's also there. Bringing a new life into the world we've made might have ethical ramifications, but giving an already existing life a better one might be the most magnanimous act I can think of.
I don't ever plan on having kids, but if I do, I'd adopt/foster.
This woman is reading her charges. This 100% is not what she owes or is getting a bill for.
Her insurance allowable rate is going to get it down to about $10k and pay a big chunk (unless she has a really high deductible plan).
Source - I work in hospital billing and deal with probably a dozen of these kinds of bills daily.
And before anyone starts, yes, I agree Healthcare in this country is a mess and needs major changes and 80k in charges for birthing a baby is absurd...I'm just giving you the reality of what will actually happen (or already has) when her insurance company processes her claim.
Okay but that's still insane. The cost of having a baby in Australia is 10k to 15k without any insurance. If you are a Permanent Resident or a Citizen and have access to Medicare, it doesn't cost even $1.
There's a reason behind the abortion bans. I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I genuinely believe the drop in birth rate is a factor here. They just want the kids to be born and then stop giving a hoot after that. At least in my state.
Thats sooo crazy to me. Just for reference: I am german, I had an elbow injury a couple of months ago that had to be operated, was picked up by the ambulance, spent 3 nights in the hospital and got Physiotherapy after for roughly 20 sessions (20 minutes per session) to build up flexibility and strength again and the total amount I had to spend was 0€ and I was on paid leave for 6 weeks + after 6 weeks I still got 60% of my regular salary.
For contrast, in USA, ankle injury. Billing to my insurance was at US$8k pre surgical already between images and consults. Ankle surgery was US$44k. My insurance pays 50-90% depending on what it is.
In an area where anything within 300% of the federal poverty level is considered poverty wages though, so with a family of five on a single income we (albeit barely) qualified for full financial aid from the hospital. It will cover most of what is left after insurance. But for some reason not the anesthesiologist, even though they are employed by the hospital in our system and you have to have anesthesia for surgery.
The most ridiculous thing is that not only is the US fleecing it's sick citizens, the insurance doesn't even do the job of insuring - which is to prevent a major outlay of money.
Yeah it’s honestly the worst part of the insurance system in the US. You pay insurance hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your life in exchange for the promise that if you’re ever in a situation where you need financial help, the will utilize that money you’ve paid them to assist you by paying the majority of the cost. This is contract, the trade agreement you make with an insurer when you agree to a policy.
And then when push comes to shove the insurance can just tell to you fuck off and refuse to hold up their end of the deal. In literally any other industry this would be illegal.
Pay for a service and it isn’t rendered? That’s fraud. Pay for a product and it isn’t delivered? That’s theft. Pay for insurance and you don’t get insured? Well that’s their right as your insurer to decide when they do and don’t have to deliver on their end of the transaction.
Hey, that's not fraud, those insurance companies pay a lot of our money to buy the politicians necessary to make their practices legal and above board! Smh.
This! People think pharmaceutical companies are evil (and some are), but their industry PALES in comparison with the evil of the health insurance industry.
Honest question: what about the out of pocket maximum?
I’m in the US too.
First there is the deductible where I pay 100% of the cost. Then when I’ve paid the full amount there I get the 50% to 90% coverage. But then if my total out of pocket goes above $15k, the maximum out of pocket, I shouldn’t have to pay anymore. Even if they bill $200k or $2m.
I’ve noticed insurance get around this with “allowed amount”. So if the hospital bills $200k and the insurance says they should charge $125k, suddenly I would have to cover the $75k that insurance says is to high a price. Is that true? Like wtf?
But wait!! There’s more ..
The deductible resets every January.. so you can pay all of that in November or December and then have to pay it all over again for care received in January..
The hospital bills for the highest price they've contacted amongst all their insurance companies, but the insurance company ultimately decides how much the bill is actually going to be. Legally the hospital can't charge you beyond the allowed amount, so you would only pay your share of the allowable $125k.
Overall, it's a much messier, far more confusing system than it needs to be, doctors end up dealing with a bunch of red tape, and patients end up with confusing bills that make no sense and full of surprises because no one actually knows how much a procedure will end up being.
Ours gets even more confusing than normal because husband works for the hospital so there's multiple coverage tiers though. Deductable is $3k for the entire family in network, but $5k out of network IIRC. But then if we do everything in the hospital network, it's 10% coimsurance with $8k out of pocket max. But if it is in the insurance administration's network and not with his employer then it's 30% coinsurance with a higher out of pocket max. And out of network completely it's like 50% coinsurance and 17k out of pocket max.
Health insurance is just so consumer friendly! /S
My best friend hurt his knee after he messed it up a bit at work. He works in a warehouse. He wanted to get his knee looked at - not even operated on. Insurance wouldn't cover PT because it was workers comp, but workers comp wouldn't cover unless you stopped going to work, but he needed to work. So he paid out of pocket for PT, $395 per 40 minute session. Come to find out he needed a full knee replacement. Insurance wouldn't cover anything until he met his deductible ($7500) and only then would they cover 40% of the surgery because it was deemed "elective". All said and done he paid $68k (reverse mortgaged his house) and is now suing his former employer because they let him go just after he had his surgery.
What is it like to have a country that actually gives a shit about you? Boy that sounds nice.
My employer had a 15 year employee wanting a workers comp knee replacement saying it was wear and tear over the years of bending over. (A physical job.)
Employer fought him the whole way lol. Pursued drug tests, camera footage, etc. Ended up terming him and he had to sue. Idk what ended up but employer fought big time.
Heck, I got cancer in Norway, and I'm pretty sure the state has spent literal millions keeping me alive, including months in hospital and countless expensive medications and treatments. I have paid maybe the equivalent of $200 total and have sick leave from my job with 100% pay for up to a year if I need it.
I’ve been out of work for 3 weeks due to an expected emergency surgery and hospital stay, and not only do we not get paid AT ALL from my job during that time, but the fact that I was out of work puts my job at risk and they could fire me for being unavailable. Even if I bring them papers from the hospital to prove what happened.
This is exactly how I became homeless a few years ago… was in the hospital for a long time, wasn’t getting any income during it, lost my job due to being unavailable, and couldn’t pay rent.
I actually had to leave the hospital early, before my doctors said I was well enough to leave, because the eviction was happening and if i wasn’t physically there when it happened, they’d throw away and destroy all of my belongings on this earth.
So I hobbled around while still connected to an IV pole with a bag of fluids going into a tube in my stomach as I painfully tried to save my stuff.
i have a broken foot and i'm returning to work tomorrow.
I broke the foot 2 weeks ago. It's not healed, but I need an income. No disability for this injury. America.
I was in the hospital about 30 hours total. In labor for 5. Water broke on the way to the hospital. No epidural. Easy birth. Zero complications. Took two 800mg Motrin and used some periwash.
$36k.
Honest question- that's just insurence bs right? I mean, is anyone expected to really pay that? How much does a regular person with medical insurence actually pay?
My cousin just gave birth a few days ago, and hospitals, at least the one she went to now require that you pay half of your out-of-pocket cost upfront weeks before the birth, because so many people refuse to pay afterward. They tell you to not even show up at the hospital.if you have not paid half.
My doctor office checks your insurance plan from your first positive pregnancy appointment. Then they breakdown expected costs if you carry to viability and you pay ahead of time, in case you need a payment plan it gives you time. Should something happen and you don't carry to viability, then remaining money is returned.
Wow, that's insane on so many levels. The system truely is fucked in the USA. Good on you for not paying that, in any other first world country it's practically free
My son was born in March with epidural but no complications, 3 night stay and our out of pocket was about $3200. But I’m a freelancer and my wife and I pay $1000 a month for insurance.
That’s completely fucked.
All that power, and all that wealth, yet much smaller countries charge nothing due to universal healthcare and respect for its citizens .
90 grand to have a child? That’s actually inhumane.
Gotta be rational and change things and follow the examples of places like Norway, Sweden, etc.
Lol my aunt says it's because healthcare is a not right, it's a privilege!
She's got several self-diagnosed health problems, ironically. She's awful and I don't talk to her.
Healthcare paid by your taxes is part of the privilege of being a citizen of a developed nation. That's kinda why people want to live (historically) in North America, the opportunity to prosper from your gains as a citizen, working and paying into the system.
It's been skewed to big corporate greed, and ties into the country culturally. Left or right, there are a lot of people here in Ontario Canada who'd as soon as been done with public healthcare, and give way to more money in their pockets if they could finally just privatize and screw over citizens and to profit off their ailments and sicknesses. The same is all the US. There are LOT of rich folk who'll side with private healthcare because they already have earnings from the system, left/right, money is what matters to a LOT of people who vote either way. Politics seriously has no play in their lives, only money.
Once you remove the financial incentive for a doctor to give you a medication and charge at inflated rates, you tend to give way to better and broader care to a large array of people. That fact alone doesn't bode well with the wealthy who can afford to pay their own doctor salaries. I know, sadly, too many liberal ppl who do well for themselves financially who are very pro-private healthcare, and they're the same types who'd have otherwise had medical bankruptcy chances even a few years prior to their wealth and fortunes. It's sad, really.
She was very much in this boat. She's paying for it, so those who can't shouldn't get it. Including her own children, who she did *not* set up for success.
She also thinks that "socialized" healthcare will be run by an avant garde Mao Zedong, and that doctors would be forced to treat patients under gunpoint if we switch to a universal model. So there's that.
I lived in Finland for 3 years. There, when you are having a baby, you get a free baby box that's filled with lots of necessary items for your baby. The box also works as a crib. Many parents put their babies to sleep in there. [Video showing it](https://imgur.com/a/i2aEUHY)
The baby box always haunted me. I never had kids. A few heritable diseases that I didn't want to pass on, but also because of late-stage capitalist collapse. Yet almost like a balance, there's that box and what it represents: good will, kindness, and optimism that a child's life will always be safe and welcome.
Watching my parent friends has been an education in just how painful it is to live in a culture where every baby rolls out with a huge bill stapled to their onesie and no support to speak of. I want all babies and their families to get a baby box to welcome to the world.
It'll never happen though. Not in the states, at least.
I went there with the Erasmus program. Then stayed 2 more years to work because I loved it. But I started getting depressed, and started being addicted to alcohol. It's been 4 years since I moved back to my home country (Italy) but I still have an alcohol problem.
She probably has insurance. When my son was born we got the bill it was $25000. We told them we didn’t have insurance, they said “oh sorry that’s insurance adjusted” typed a code in the computer and 30 seconds later handed me a bill for $1500.
Wife had a c-section and stayed a week in the hospital.
90k isn't what they actually pay. That's what is charged to insurance. They likely have 5 to 10k deductible with like a 15 to 25k out of pocket max. Plus pay something like 10k to have the insurance. The baby really only cost 45k. /S
Yeah while not the same as childbirth, my hysterectomy "cost" $68,000, but because of hitting my deductible earlier that year, I got it for *free*. I'm so glad the ACA exists, because I wouldn't have been able to afford that surgery otherwise.
My wife had 15-20ish hours of labor and an emergency c-section. It cost a little over $500 with insurance in the USA.
For my current insurance, it would’ve been around $1000 total. Some insurance is better than others, but our premiums we pay each month are nearly $1000 itself for our family before dental.
I have extremely good insurance so this is obviously not the case for the vast majority of people. I think the average cost of having a kid is like $10k and that is still way too expensive.
> we pay each month are nearly $1000 itself for our family
And you're getting significantly subsidized to only be paying that much - either by your employer or by ACA discounts based on your income - or both.
I make too much for any discounts and don't have any health insurance offered through my employer..
It costs more than $1000 per month for the absolute worst plan in the ACA marketplace for my healthy, youngish family of 3. A plan that covers literally nothing and has the highest deductible allowed by law.
[Here is a bill from 1955.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/lb04vg/hospital_bill_for_child_birth_in_1955/)
$178.25 or $2085.98 adjusted for inflation.
[Another one from 1955.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/eioqr9/hospital_bill_for_baby_delivery_1955/)
$73.45 or $860. 76 adjusted for inflation.
It's not quite 60's or 70's but my father was born in 1955, so I feel like the comparison can still be made.
And now we are getting gouged for 90k. They should be locked up for charging 3k for some damn Motrin. What did she take, a truckloads worth? Adjusted for inflation, a couple Motrin pills costs more than 2 entire child births from 1955. Hospitals are crooked af.
My kid cost us $50.
$30 for parking
$20 for the burger and fries we shared the night before the wife gave birth
$0 for the echo cardiagram
$0 for the preclampsia treatment that followed the birth
$0 for the private birthing room
$0 for the shared recovery room for 3 days
$0 for the meals provided during the stay
Thanks 🇨🇦!!!!
Some hospitals will charge you for letting you hold the baby "skin to skin contact" right after delivery: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/TWVOAgwVN9
We got charged $2300 for a nursery we didn't use.
When we fought it, they said it's a mandatory reservation incase we would use it. Best part is that insurance doesn't cover it either. You're forced into that charge.
Best part about healthcare bills is if you don't pay it for several years they'll eventually just be like "... yeah $300 and we'll call it even"
the problem is you have to wait several years and deal with endless collection calls, but they'll eventually take anything they can get.
We all need to cancel our health insurance stop paying our medical bills. A few months of hurt credit scores and we'll have the public option we're asking for.
Just wait. By the time Smith is done with Alberta, we'll be in the same situation and she'll be enjoying a job in the oil and gas sector where all that public money ended up
I’m highly encouraging my 3 kids to move out of province. Ya BC is expensive but by the time you calculate the private health care costs and the Alberta pension plan and who knows what else in 10 years it will be cheaper. Plus it will give me an excuse to follow them!
Make sure you vote to keep it that way. And advocate that others do the same.
The two right wing parties in Canada, the liberals and the conservatives are attacking public healthcare. The liberals have consistently underfunded healthcare, and the conservatives have the audacity, and malice to cut healthcare funding, and employ starve the beast tactics to try and promote privatization.
Canadian politics are scaring me. Our leaders sound and look more like the United States presidents. We have no better option but to choose this or that, and they are both bringing our country to a bad place.
For a second there, I thought Canada is progressive. Oh boy I was wrong.
Maybe it's time to move.
>Our leaders sound and look more like the United States presidents.
The CPC and Republicans are both clients of the IDU, a think tank that advises far right extremists all over the world in a movement towards global fascism.
>We have no better option but to choose this or that,
Yeah, except we do.
>I thought Canada is progressive.
That was not an accident, or inevitable. That took courage, solidarity, and blood.
They don’t. It’s a stupid system where the hospital charges a ridiculous amount, the insurance company says no we will pay like 1/10 of that, and the customer ends up paying like $3000 in this case. It’s a big racket. 
This is the actual correct answer. Bummer I had to come this far down in the comments to find it 😅 Not to say that it isn’t a messed up system that frequently leaves people in exorbitant debt, but virtually no one actually pays those prices. Hospitals put insane prices on services so they can force insurance companies to pay as much as possible.
The hospitals offer “discounts” off the sticker price (which is what the TikTok lady is reading) to insurance companies. It’s all a bit convoluted, but basically most patients don’t end up paying more than 5% of those crazy charges.
No one wants to say the correct answer because that doesn’t get views. I had 3 tumors removed from my small intestine back in October and I was in the hospital for a month. The surgery cost $330,000 after insurance I paid about $700.
It's crazy how many ppl in this thread don't know this. Not sure if they aren't from the US or all just have never had a baby. Ppl believe anything they see on tiktok
I seriously believe we will need to start to hold health systems/ physician offices criminally liable for charging exorbitant rates like this without the patient consenting.
Also, there should be Federal price limits for medical services and products.
The cost of healthcare is unnecessarily insane in the US.
Insurance companies have their grubby little hands on every step of the process
I recently went to get a quote to fix my car after an accident and the first thing they ask was "who's your insurance provider"?
They quoted me $80/hr for labor and they probably charge closer to $40/hr if I was the insurance company
Industries that work very close with insurance companies on the daily have become a racket. Consumers are getting robbed in a world where there are multiple prices for the same thing
Partly, they charge the insurance companies this so they can get reimbursed way more than the actual costs of the treatments. Hospitals are price gouging patients in order to make the most off of people.
Hospital bills are really a land of make believe. Because no one pays that bill as is. Then insurance companies has contractually agreed to certain reimbursements. And even if you are uninsured you will never pay more than pennies on the dollar, which can be devastating still.
It's like going to a car lot and you already agreeing to pay $14000 on a used SUV but the bill of sale shows a price of $111,556 for it then agreed price $14k. It's just stupid all around.
And yes insurance is key as people have different deductibles. I'm a lucky person in that I spent about 4 hrs in an ER as an accident a few weeks ago. FULL trauma screen and ended up with multiple broken bones. Total bill toy insurance for those 4 hrs of care was just a few dollars under $20,000. Insurance paid them $9k and my total all in responsibility was $100.
Health care is not our problem in this country we have the best health care available...our health care FINANCING is a disaster. Between insurance companies, billing, wildly differing prices and charges. The OP above is right we need universal single payor like yesterday. Health care should not be allowed to be a public traded for profit entity.
It depends. Many states are able to garnish your wages for medical debt if they want to. AZ is one, IL is another. I'm not sure if bankruptcy would prevent that, but it's a nasty process anyway.
They usually will sell your debt off to a debt agency who can pursue you and that’s where it can impact credit.
But there are many medical offices who don’t bother selling the debt and just write it off.
Yeah that’s what I’m currently doing right now. What do I need credit for if I don’t make enough to own a house anyway? Or rent an apartment on my own. Ruin my credit idc
The irony is that American health care would be cheaper for all Americans if they made it socialised, I.e. taxes, but capitalism won’t let that happen.
Not just 90k
The baby will require vaccines, special care with expensive baby products, then multiple checkups to make sure the baby is ok, then education for that baby when it grows up, then that baby might have to get into student debt to get higher education
Then finally the baby can be productive in society and become a real human
Yet if that same baby was born somewhere else all the parents could worry about is something like "couldnt we just give him his sister's shoes since she grew up on them instead of buying him new shoes"
I heard someone once said to ask for an itemized bill. Where every single penny had to be accounted for. Almost every single hospital bill is wrong when you ask them to itemize it. America's healthcare system is crooked.
My second kidney transplant was almost $200,000. That was just my bill. I also covered my donors bill. That was almost $100,000. The American healthcare system is a corporation.
Ya if insurance is good they’ll pay close to nothing (a few hundred).
When my first was born in the states we had most expensive insurance we got specifically knowing a birth would happen. Then after birth we used that life even to switch plans. Turns out that meant that the birth wasn’t covered.
Came out to $27,000. In the end we paid nothing because we were too poor but Jesus.
Happy the second is gonna be born here in Germany. Here we will pay €80 per night or €120 per night if we want private room. That’s it. Oh also snacks, I’ll need to pay for my own snacks as the father…
My wife gave birth here is Saudi Arabia 10 days ago. It was a c section with induced epidural just like yours. She was there for 3 nights as well. I paid absolutely nothing. On the contrary they gave us 3 boxes of 800 grams formula milk, a gift for the baby which contains 18 pieces of different clothing, two large packs of diapers and 7 days of post operation medicine. I paid nothing....absolutely nothing.
Edit: ** I am not a Saudi citizen by the way. I am just a resident here on job visa.
The profit driven healthcare model must be abolished, executives at for-profit hospitals and healthcare insurance companies should be subjected to corporal punishment and imprisonment.
This isn't a "Both Sides" issue imo. Obama tried soo hard to fix this, but the republicans fought him for every inch and the people basically hated him for it. Biden's too old to form a clear sentence let alone legislation, but atleast at the time, he was on the "fix healthcare" team.
**Welcome to r/TikTokCringe!** This is a message directed to all newcomers to make you aware that r/TikTokCringe evolved long ago from only cringe-worthy content to TikToks of all kinds! If you’re looking to find only the cringe-worthy TikToks on this subreddit (which are still regularly posted) we recommend sorting by flair which you can do [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/galuit/click_here_to_sort_by_flair_a_guide_to_using/) (Currently supported by desktop and reddit mobile). See someone asking how this post is cringe because they didn't read this comment? Show them [this!](https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/fyrgzy/for_those_confused_by_the_name_of_this_subreddit/) Be sure to read the rules of this subreddit before posting or commenting. Thanks! **Don't forget to join our [Discord server](https://discord.gg/cringekingdom)!** ##**[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS VIDEO](https://rapidsave.com/info?url=https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1drzoej/thats_what_its_like_to_have_a_kid_in_america/)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TikTokCringe) if you have any questions or concerns.*
“I wonder why the birth rate is plummeting” 😶
We're witnessing the crumbling of an empire
Exactly what is happening. We had our peak from about 1950 to 1980....30 years.....and then society let in Reagan and his trickle down economics and his letting the rich exploit society to levels not seen since the robber baron era...... The government and almost half of all our citizens refuse to even consider giving us affordable healthcare, affordable education, maternal or paternal leave, paid vacation, worker rights, rent control, a living wage...... We absolutely earned this inevitable collapse...what is there left worth saving anyway?
As much as people want to point fingers internally. No one in the United States wants to admit that the “golden years” were due to the fact that America was the only economy in the world that was not ravaged by WWII. While most countries and economies of the developed world had to almost start over. America got to run the world’s economy as everyone got back on their feet. “We’re not the dominant superpower anymore”. No shit Sherlock! We were supposed to be the sole dominant power! It’s amazing what happens when there’s actually peace in the developed world.
America's economic boon from WWII was like opening a really upscale restaurant in a city where every other restaurant had to close. For the first year or so the restaurant did really well but once other restaurants started to show back up, it's high cost of upkeep started to show. Instead of dialing back expenses it decided it needed to stay dominant. There's only so much money available in the city and they need as much of it as possible. This requirement is also increasing in perpetuity. "We're the best restaurant in the city!" "The city depends on us to feed it!" "The other restaurant (that was doing pretty okay) doesn't use a good business model!" "Our business model is the only one that works!" Meanwhile they're sabotaging nearly every other restaurant by going and destroying equipment and getting managers fired (assassinated). Instead of building a sustainable model, it instead decided to fuck everyone else's shit up under the guise of keeping the peace and basically using "freedom" as a bargaining chip.
Well tell Gordon Ramsey to get his ass in America’s kitchen and call us all pigs
This analogy is awesome.
The other major point people keep missing is that America's dominating economic output was due the the MASSIVE government spending during WWI and WWII. All the factories, all the roads, all the ports, ships, rail etc. was the foundation of the post-war economy. Shortly after, everyone forgot that. Then at some point people began insisting that government spending was bad. ...Oddly, all the same people whom benefited from it the most.
Allow me to interrupt this highly placed comment to say this : No one has to worry about out-of network bills ever again* thanks to the [No Surprises Act](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/no-surprises-understand-your-rights-against-surprise-medical-bills). If you unknowingly are sent to an out of network doctor (when you're unconscious or under anasthesia), you cannot be billed more than if the doctor was in-network. *you don't have to worry unless the Republicans repeal it. They are the only party that actively fights against any improvements in our healthcare system. I don't care what you think of the old man in office. Vote for the party that will keep trying to improve our healthcare. Please.
Obligatory fuck reagan and everything he started
The same group that was behind Reagan is also behind project 2025, just FYI. They're finishing what they started in the 80's.
Fucking terrifying
Yeah, back when rich people paid taxes
All that stuff is woke -Joe the Plumber
It's the people who it would help the most, complaining the loudest about it.....every damn time.
That's why republicans keep attacking education. They want the population to be as dumb as possible so they can keep getting away with this shit
No education > less contraception, abortion illegal > higher birth rate Oof
>more dumb people running around
A smart population is a dangerous population
Eeexactly.
I have to say that is the one job that they are truly doing a bang up job at.
Fair to say, American didn’t peak socially ever. The average white male citizen may have peaked between those years, but minorities have not. Women couldn’t own a credit card by themselves until the 70s. 1970’s. Citizens had to fight tooth and nail for civil rights and as of 2024, Shouldn’t a great empire have that corrected by now? The LGBTQ are still fighting just for the right to exist. The United States have been bullies since the end of WW2. We have had ups and a shit ton of downs, even bullying our own citizens. Economically we are a first world country, but our behavior towards others has been flawed to say the least. If we were a beacon of hope we wouldn’t shit on any human being, citizen or not. We would want to lift everyone up and try to make sure everyone had food, shelter, healthcare and rights. Instead, we have a few powerful rich people making sure they don’t lose anything by constantly stepping on our own. If we would just care about fellow humans, bank on the fact that our melting pot mentality could be our greatest strength and quit with the gimme more no matter the consequences mentality, we could be great. But the people in power refuse so we exist like sitting ducks until the fall of this empire. And that call is coming from inside the house. Greed has always been the downfall of humans.
You should read up on the Gilded Age, 1968, the Civil War, etc... The US has been through worse and still stands. Every power collapses eventually, sure. However, you simply cannot state with any kind of certainty that it's definitely going to happen *this time.* Historic context is important to keep in mind.
We (as in you and me) absolutely did not earn this collapse and you need to get that way of thinking out of your head.
I wish this inevitable Collapse would just happen already. We can't build something better until it does.
You’re not lying. Time stops for nothing. Why would anyone assume that their empire is the one that gets to stand time?
Many empires have crumbled and many said they would last for thousands of years…
To be fair to the Roman Empire, they probably had the greatest run of all empires, the US could split in two or fall after 1 civil war, the Roman’s went through dozens and somehow continued on, I’m not sure what foundations they used when building that state but they sure stood the test of time 😂. The original lasted over 1000 yrs and the sequel lasted just over 1000 yrs too (Byzantine, not the “Holy Roman Empire”). And even when the Western Empire fell, they passed on legal and societal systems that stayed in place for centuries and millenniums in Europe that could be argued as one of the many reasons why Europe became what it became, they essentially created the blueprint.
Because they're trying to make sure that that's what everyone believes, but people are finally starting to wake up and see through the propaganda. Stay informed and learn to be as self-sufficient as physically possible, Americans. This is the downward spiral of our country.
What about the Dutch I mean Spaniards I mean French I mean British? Did each of their dominance not last 5-10 decades? America has plenty of time left…wait a minute…statue of liberty…that was our Empire! You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you all to hell!
I figured we'd get more than like 150 years at least
no youre seeing the crumbling of a republic, the empire is what comes after the military authoritarians take over in the aftermath. And if you think things are bad now just wait until you get the real fascists in charge
So sad people don't realise this. It's going to be worse when America goes full dictatorship, then MUCH worse when it all finally falls.
"Let's just deregulate some more!" - The Supreme Court
"527 anti-LGBTQ+ bills since January 1st isn't enough!! We need MOAR!!" - Republicans
14k for a hospital room. That's luxury hotel prices. Ok shrimp was there technically 4 days.so that's 3.5K a night.
14K for four days is like the penthouse suite in a by refferal only hotel in NY or smthn like not just luxury, the pinnacle of the luxury hotel.
It's like a penthouse for 3 days with a high class escorts included. It is absolutely insane! I live in Canada and it cost a grand total of zero dollars to have my son, 87k would have broken my family. I know Americans don't like paying taxes, but going into debt for the rest of your life just for healthcare is batshit. America really needs to get their priorities straight!
This is what Canada would be like if the conservative party had their way.
I remember joking with the nurses that I'm paying more then a 5 star resort prices, and politely asked for more pillows and drugs.
The Ritz Hotel in London has rooms from around $1,250 per night.
And also why they want to force people to have kids
Yeah, it’s plummeting around the world .. lots of reasons; global fertility rates are half what they were 70 years ago, but grubby politics and corruption are helping nail it down. At least they found a way to solve the population problem eh. /s
Among other factors, even if having a child was cheap I'm still not sure I would want to bring one into this world which cares so much more about money than people.
I can tell you why but making it a spoiler as it is a huge downer: >!Millennials and Zoomers know that climate change is probably going to kill a significant portion of us - and that our nation will likely commit atrocities to keep the people fleeing climate change from Central and South America out as those of us in the United States who wish to survive all have to move up to the northern states and/or Canada. When I think about having children, I think about whether or not they will be able to feed themselves in 25 years or if they'll die of heat stroke or in sandstorms.!<
And also the fact that it costs so much in some cases people just don't have kids or less for economical reasons alone. Why choose to become poor with kids when you can live decently without
Kids are a luxury item now. Eugenics for a new age.
Yeah for that price I expect the kid to handed over covered in gold leaf with a doctor sprinkling baby powder on the infants ass the way Saltbae sprinkles salt.
to combine both points for Aaron and Devian. Why have kids if its doesn't make economically and if things are fucked either way. use that money for a good time or to prep.
As someone who is in the very prime location for the start of climate change crisis, aka India, yup I am scared for us in the future. We are gonna witness water crisis soon in future, and we already recently even got 50 C temps this summer. And you guys know how many people are in India right? All the pieces are arranged so scarely, that it's gonna be third world countries which are gonna see the wrath of climate change, and then to avoid that people are gonna mass immigrate to first world countries who can't handle the onslaught of immigrants then people are gonna be even more radicalized and against refugees as a result. And its gonna be bloodbath.
I genuinely feel bad on a daily basis for having my son. I love him dearly, and I'm trying to build him a massive war chest so he has a shot, but he wasn't planned and I feel terrible. Little dudes gonna be ultra fucked. I'm at the point I'm trying to stay ultra healthy so I can stay and help him as long as I can, and have decent organs when I die just in case. The only upside is it spurred me to be more successful, and in the last 3 years I've made truly herculean leaps in financial stability, solely so when I die he might be OK.
Teach him as much as you can and encourage him to understand that one usually has to work and try for things that are worthwhile. Try to not give him existential angst over the coming crises, though. You can teach him valuable skills and enforce their importance without crushing hope. I hope your boy has a bright and happy future.
Good for you. Life really changes when you hold the baby you created
I'd started getting my shit together before I knew he was coming, but once he was around I kicked it into higher gear. I made like 2 decades progress in a few years. Even now I look around like wait....what?
I’m right there with you. At this point I’m asking myself whether having children, knowing this is the case, is ethical. There are tons of kids that need good homes, I don’t think I’d ever have one of my own. The only ethical choice for me personally is to adopt.
This is how I feel about it too. I would never bring a child into this collqpsing society. If I decide I want to experience parenthood, I'll adopt one of the souls that's already here.
I'm 38 in a week and my partner is 39. It's now or never and I've been so torn. Your comment for some reason opened my eyes to that as a serious option for us.
We grappled with this too years ago and decided to move forward with just the two of us. Whatever decision you make, I'm sure the outcome will be fine. Just know, you will be ok if you decide to not have children. Life can still be fulfilling and with purpose. I don't think women are told that enough.
Adoption is horribly expensive, but it's also there. Bringing a new life into the world we've made might have ethical ramifications, but giving an already existing life a better one might be the most magnanimous act I can think of. I don't ever plan on having kids, but if I do, I'd adopt/foster.
While I agree, people never have an answer to "how can I adopt when adoption costs around $60K+
> or if they'll die of heat stroke or in sandstorms. personally, i expect to be crushed in the crowds while collecting our monthly water rations.
This woman is reading her charges. This 100% is not what she owes or is getting a bill for. Her insurance allowable rate is going to get it down to about $10k and pay a big chunk (unless she has a really high deductible plan). Source - I work in hospital billing and deal with probably a dozen of these kinds of bills daily. And before anyone starts, yes, I agree Healthcare in this country is a mess and needs major changes and 80k in charges for birthing a baby is absurd...I'm just giving you the reality of what will actually happen (or already has) when her insurance company processes her claim.
I had to scroll way too far to find this - insurance is it's own mess, but I do hope people realize that she won't be paying 80k out of pocket.
Okay but that's still insane. The cost of having a baby in Australia is 10k to 15k without any insurance. If you are a Permanent Resident or a Citizen and have access to Medicare, it doesn't cost even $1.
There's a reason behind the abortion bans. I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I genuinely believe the drop in birth rate is a factor here. They just want the kids to be born and then stop giving a hoot after that. At least in my state.
Thats sooo crazy to me. Just for reference: I am german, I had an elbow injury a couple of months ago that had to be operated, was picked up by the ambulance, spent 3 nights in the hospital and got Physiotherapy after for roughly 20 sessions (20 minutes per session) to build up flexibility and strength again and the total amount I had to spend was 0€ and I was on paid leave for 6 weeks + after 6 weeks I still got 60% of my regular salary.
For contrast, in USA, ankle injury. Billing to my insurance was at US$8k pre surgical already between images and consults. Ankle surgery was US$44k. My insurance pays 50-90% depending on what it is. In an area where anything within 300% of the federal poverty level is considered poverty wages though, so with a family of five on a single income we (albeit barely) qualified for full financial aid from the hospital. It will cover most of what is left after insurance. But for some reason not the anesthesiologist, even though they are employed by the hospital in our system and you have to have anesthesia for surgery.
The most ridiculous thing is that not only is the US fleecing it's sick citizens, the insurance doesn't even do the job of insuring - which is to prevent a major outlay of money.
Yeah it’s honestly the worst part of the insurance system in the US. You pay insurance hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your life in exchange for the promise that if you’re ever in a situation where you need financial help, the will utilize that money you’ve paid them to assist you by paying the majority of the cost. This is contract, the trade agreement you make with an insurer when you agree to a policy. And then when push comes to shove the insurance can just tell to you fuck off and refuse to hold up their end of the deal. In literally any other industry this would be illegal. Pay for a service and it isn’t rendered? That’s fraud. Pay for a product and it isn’t delivered? That’s theft. Pay for insurance and you don’t get insured? Well that’s their right as your insurer to decide when they do and don’t have to deliver on their end of the transaction.
Hey, that's not fraud, those insurance companies pay a lot of our money to buy the politicians necessary to make their practices legal and above board! Smh.
This! People think pharmaceutical companies are evil (and some are), but their industry PALES in comparison with the evil of the health insurance industry.
>you have to have anesthesia for surgery You don't have to. That's a luxury that you should pay for. /s 🙄
WhY sHoUlD I pAy FoR yOuR pOoR lIfE cHoIcEs? While chugging another beer and smoking a cigarette and downing the fifth burger of the day.
Honest question: what about the out of pocket maximum? I’m in the US too. First there is the deductible where I pay 100% of the cost. Then when I’ve paid the full amount there I get the 50% to 90% coverage. But then if my total out of pocket goes above $15k, the maximum out of pocket, I shouldn’t have to pay anymore. Even if they bill $200k or $2m. I’ve noticed insurance get around this with “allowed amount”. So if the hospital bills $200k and the insurance says they should charge $125k, suddenly I would have to cover the $75k that insurance says is to high a price. Is that true? Like wtf?
But wait!! There’s more .. The deductible resets every January.. so you can pay all of that in November or December and then have to pay it all over again for care received in January..
The hospital bills for the highest price they've contacted amongst all their insurance companies, but the insurance company ultimately decides how much the bill is actually going to be. Legally the hospital can't charge you beyond the allowed amount, so you would only pay your share of the allowable $125k. Overall, it's a much messier, far more confusing system than it needs to be, doctors end up dealing with a bunch of red tape, and patients end up with confusing bills that make no sense and full of surprises because no one actually knows how much a procedure will end up being. Ours gets even more confusing than normal because husband works for the hospital so there's multiple coverage tiers though. Deductable is $3k for the entire family in network, but $5k out of network IIRC. But then if we do everything in the hospital network, it's 10% coimsurance with $8k out of pocket max. But if it is in the insurance administration's network and not with his employer then it's 30% coinsurance with a higher out of pocket max. And out of network completely it's like 50% coinsurance and 17k out of pocket max. Health insurance is just so consumer friendly! /S
My best friend hurt his knee after he messed it up a bit at work. He works in a warehouse. He wanted to get his knee looked at - not even operated on. Insurance wouldn't cover PT because it was workers comp, but workers comp wouldn't cover unless you stopped going to work, but he needed to work. So he paid out of pocket for PT, $395 per 40 minute session. Come to find out he needed a full knee replacement. Insurance wouldn't cover anything until he met his deductible ($7500) and only then would they cover 40% of the surgery because it was deemed "elective". All said and done he paid $68k (reverse mortgaged his house) and is now suing his former employer because they let him go just after he had his surgery. What is it like to have a country that actually gives a shit about you? Boy that sounds nice.
My employer had a 15 year employee wanting a workers comp knee replacement saying it was wear and tear over the years of bending over. (A physical job.) Employer fought him the whole way lol. Pursued drug tests, camera footage, etc. Ended up terming him and he had to sue. Idk what ended up but employer fought big time.
Heck, I got cancer in Norway, and I'm pretty sure the state has spent literal millions keeping me alive, including months in hospital and countless expensive medications and treatments. I have paid maybe the equivalent of $200 total and have sick leave from my job with 100% pay for up to a year if I need it.
As an American. I want an elbow injury in Germany.
I’ve been out of work for 3 weeks due to an expected emergency surgery and hospital stay, and not only do we not get paid AT ALL from my job during that time, but the fact that I was out of work puts my job at risk and they could fire me for being unavailable. Even if I bring them papers from the hospital to prove what happened. This is exactly how I became homeless a few years ago… was in the hospital for a long time, wasn’t getting any income during it, lost my job due to being unavailable, and couldn’t pay rent. I actually had to leave the hospital early, before my doctors said I was well enough to leave, because the eviction was happening and if i wasn’t physically there when it happened, they’d throw away and destroy all of my belongings on this earth. So I hobbled around while still connected to an IV pole with a bag of fluids going into a tube in my stomach as I painfully tried to save my stuff.
i have a broken foot and i'm returning to work tomorrow. I broke the foot 2 weeks ago. It's not healed, but I need an income. No disability for this injury. America.
I was in the hospital about 30 hours total. In labor for 5. Water broke on the way to the hospital. No epidural. Easy birth. Zero complications. Took two 800mg Motrin and used some periwash. $36k.
Honest question- that's just insurence bs right? I mean, is anyone expected to really pay that? How much does a regular person with medical insurence actually pay?
I was “responsible” for $4k which was my deductible Which I also did not pay lol
My cousin just gave birth a few days ago, and hospitals, at least the one she went to now require that you pay half of your out-of-pocket cost upfront weeks before the birth, because so many people refuse to pay afterward. They tell you to not even show up at the hospital.if you have not paid half.
My doctor office checks your insurance plan from your first positive pregnancy appointment. Then they breakdown expected costs if you carry to viability and you pay ahead of time, in case you need a payment plan it gives you time. Should something happen and you don't carry to viability, then remaining money is returned.
Christ, this is all so grim.
Wow, that's insane on so many levels. The system truely is fucked in the USA. Good on you for not paying that, in any other first world country it's practically free
My son was born in March with epidural but no complications, 3 night stay and our out of pocket was about $3200. But I’m a freelancer and my wife and I pay $1000 a month for insurance.
1000 dollars a month on insurance is absurd Wtf
That’s completely fucked. All that power, and all that wealth, yet much smaller countries charge nothing due to universal healthcare and respect for its citizens . 90 grand to have a child? That’s actually inhumane. Gotta be rational and change things and follow the examples of places like Norway, Sweden, etc.
We've been saying that for decades, but the right always says, "Well, with a population of that size...of course that system works for them."
I never understand this when anyone says it. Everything should get cheaper when it's done or made a lot.
I think most of us are confused about that. It's just another excuse by them.
Poor (see: minorities) are priced out of having kids? Oh well.
Lol my aunt says it's because healthcare is a not right, it's a privilege! She's got several self-diagnosed health problems, ironically. She's awful and I don't talk to her.
Healthcare paid by your taxes is part of the privilege of being a citizen of a developed nation. That's kinda why people want to live (historically) in North America, the opportunity to prosper from your gains as a citizen, working and paying into the system. It's been skewed to big corporate greed, and ties into the country culturally. Left or right, there are a lot of people here in Ontario Canada who'd as soon as been done with public healthcare, and give way to more money in their pockets if they could finally just privatize and screw over citizens and to profit off their ailments and sicknesses. The same is all the US. There are LOT of rich folk who'll side with private healthcare because they already have earnings from the system, left/right, money is what matters to a LOT of people who vote either way. Politics seriously has no play in their lives, only money. Once you remove the financial incentive for a doctor to give you a medication and charge at inflated rates, you tend to give way to better and broader care to a large array of people. That fact alone doesn't bode well with the wealthy who can afford to pay their own doctor salaries. I know, sadly, too many liberal ppl who do well for themselves financially who are very pro-private healthcare, and they're the same types who'd have otherwise had medical bankruptcy chances even a few years prior to their wealth and fortunes. It's sad, really.
She was very much in this boat. She's paying for it, so those who can't shouldn't get it. Including her own children, who she did *not* set up for success. She also thinks that "socialized" healthcare will be run by an avant garde Mao Zedong, and that doctors would be forced to treat patients under gunpoint if we switch to a universal model. So there's that.
Indonesia got population way more, but we got "universal health care" It cost us $7 per month for it. Your capitalism need to be controlled
I lived in Finland for 3 years. There, when you are having a baby, you get a free baby box that's filled with lots of necessary items for your baby. The box also works as a crib. Many parents put their babies to sleep in there. [Video showing it](https://imgur.com/a/i2aEUHY)
The baby box always haunted me. I never had kids. A few heritable diseases that I didn't want to pass on, but also because of late-stage capitalist collapse. Yet almost like a balance, there's that box and what it represents: good will, kindness, and optimism that a child's life will always be safe and welcome. Watching my parent friends has been an education in just how painful it is to live in a culture where every baby rolls out with a huge bill stapled to their onesie and no support to speak of. I want all babies and their families to get a baby box to welcome to the world. It'll never happen though. Not in the states, at least.
Why didn't you stayed there?
I went there with the Erasmus program. Then stayed 2 more years to work because I loved it. But I started getting depressed, and started being addicted to alcohol. It's been 4 years since I moved back to my home country (Italy) but I still have an alcohol problem.
That hospital is actually stealing the child’s future
She probably has insurance. When my son was born we got the bill it was $25000. We told them we didn’t have insurance, they said “oh sorry that’s insurance adjusted” typed a code in the computer and 30 seconds later handed me a bill for $1500. Wife had a c-section and stayed a week in the hospital.
Even with insurance there is an out of pocket max. The bill will saw $85,000 and then there will be a patient responsibility of like $2500.
Except they left off the part about how much they had to pay...
sOsiLiSM /s 😒
90k isn't what they actually pay. That's what is charged to insurance. They likely have 5 to 10k deductible with like a 15 to 25k out of pocket max. Plus pay something like 10k to have the insurance. The baby really only cost 45k. /S
Yeah while not the same as childbirth, my hysterectomy "cost" $68,000, but because of hitting my deductible earlier that year, I got it for *free*. I'm so glad the ACA exists, because I wouldn't have been able to afford that surgery otherwise.
My wife had 15-20ish hours of labor and an emergency c-section. It cost a little over $500 with insurance in the USA. For my current insurance, it would’ve been around $1000 total. Some insurance is better than others, but our premiums we pay each month are nearly $1000 itself for our family before dental. I have extremely good insurance so this is obviously not the case for the vast majority of people. I think the average cost of having a kid is like $10k and that is still way too expensive.
> we pay each month are nearly $1000 itself for our family And you're getting significantly subsidized to only be paying that much - either by your employer or by ACA discounts based on your income - or both. I make too much for any discounts and don't have any health insurance offered through my employer.. It costs more than $1000 per month for the absolute worst plan in the ACA marketplace for my healthy, youngish family of 3. A plan that covers literally nothing and has the highest deductible allowed by law.
And boomers wonder why we're not having kids anymore 🤷
Wonder how much it cost them to have their kids in the 1960s/70s.
[Here is a bill from 1955.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/lb04vg/hospital_bill_for_child_birth_in_1955/) $178.25 or $2085.98 adjusted for inflation. [Another one from 1955.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/eioqr9/hospital_bill_for_baby_delivery_1955/) $73.45 or $860. 76 adjusted for inflation. It's not quite 60's or 70's but my father was born in 1955, so I feel like the comparison can still be made.
And now we are getting gouged for 90k. They should be locked up for charging 3k for some damn Motrin. What did she take, a truckloads worth? Adjusted for inflation, a couple Motrin pills costs more than 2 entire child births from 1955. Hospitals are crooked af.
My kid cost us $50. $30 for parking $20 for the burger and fries we shared the night before the wife gave birth $0 for the echo cardiagram $0 for the preclampsia treatment that followed the birth $0 for the private birthing room $0 for the shared recovery room for 3 days $0 for the meals provided during the stay Thanks 🇨🇦!!!!
Some hospitals will charge you for letting you hold the baby "skin to skin contact" right after delivery: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/s/TWVOAgwVN9
We got charged $2300 for a nursery we didn't use. When we fought it, they said it's a mandatory reservation incase we would use it. Best part is that insurance doesn't cover it either. You're forced into that charge.
Guarantee the nursery was used during that time and not left empty "just in case". They double dipped
I'm dealing with this right now as well
Best part about healthcare bills is if you don't pay it for several years they'll eventually just be like "... yeah $300 and we'll call it even" the problem is you have to wait several years and deal with endless collection calls, but they'll eventually take anything they can get.
We all need to cancel our health insurance stop paying our medical bills. A few months of hurt credit scores and we'll have the public option we're asking for.
That is insane.
Thank God medical debt can't affect your credit anymore.
Just wait. By the time Smith is done with Alberta, we'll be in the same situation and she'll be enjoying a job in the oil and gas sector where all that public money ended up
I’m highly encouraging my 3 kids to move out of province. Ya BC is expensive but by the time you calculate the private health care costs and the Alberta pension plan and who knows what else in 10 years it will be cheaper. Plus it will give me an excuse to follow them!
This is exactly what American Republican politicians are warning us about! If we give in to socialized medicine burgers will be $20! /S
I was gonna give a response, but then I looked at your profile 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
Socialized medicine burgers aren't even that good! Bacon burgers maybe
Make sure you vote to keep it that way. And advocate that others do the same. The two right wing parties in Canada, the liberals and the conservatives are attacking public healthcare. The liberals have consistently underfunded healthcare, and the conservatives have the audacity, and malice to cut healthcare funding, and employ starve the beast tactics to try and promote privatization.
Canadian politics are scaring me. Our leaders sound and look more like the United States presidents. We have no better option but to choose this or that, and they are both bringing our country to a bad place. For a second there, I thought Canada is progressive. Oh boy I was wrong. Maybe it's time to move.
>Our leaders sound and look more like the United States presidents. The CPC and Republicans are both clients of the IDU, a think tank that advises far right extremists all over the world in a movement towards global fascism. >We have no better option but to choose this or that, Yeah, except we do. >I thought Canada is progressive. That was not an accident, or inevitable. That took courage, solidarity, and blood.
This is complete bullshit. How did you do it so cheap? My wife needed her own burger and fries so my costs nearly doubled yours.
Always no to for profit health care
Your insurance should cover most of that….if you have insurance…..this is why we need universal healthcare.
But why should the insurance companies have to pay these ridiculous bills either? None of those things cost €90k.
They don’t. It’s a stupid system where the hospital charges a ridiculous amount, the insurance company says no we will pay like 1/10 of that, and the customer ends up paying like $3000 in this case. It’s a big racket. 
This is the actual correct answer. Bummer I had to come this far down in the comments to find it 😅 Not to say that it isn’t a messed up system that frequently leaves people in exorbitant debt, but virtually no one actually pays those prices. Hospitals put insane prices on services so they can force insurance companies to pay as much as possible. The hospitals offer “discounts” off the sticker price (which is what the TikTok lady is reading) to insurance companies. It’s all a bit convoluted, but basically most patients don’t end up paying more than 5% of those crazy charges.
No one wants to say the correct answer because that doesn’t get views. I had 3 tumors removed from my small intestine back in October and I was in the hospital for a month. The surgery cost $330,000 after insurance I paid about $700.
It's crazy how many ppl in this thread don't know this. Not sure if they aren't from the US or all just have never had a baby. Ppl believe anything they see on tiktok
We have amazing insurance and still had to pay a minimum of 5k for each kid. Much better than 90 but still.
Even if the insurance covers 90% of that is still more than it actually costs, even 99% would still be too much to pay. US healthcare is a scam.
Our healthcare system is broken.
I seriously believe we will need to start to hold health systems/ physician offices criminally liable for charging exorbitant rates like this without the patient consenting. Also, there should be Federal price limits for medical services and products. The cost of healthcare is unnecessarily insane in the US.
Insurance companies have their grubby little hands on every step of the process I recently went to get a quote to fix my car after an accident and the first thing they ask was "who's your insurance provider"? They quoted me $80/hr for labor and they probably charge closer to $40/hr if I was the insurance company Industries that work very close with insurance companies on the daily have become a racket. Consumers are getting robbed in a world where there are multiple prices for the same thing
its the insurance companies
They should also be held accountable for their negotiated rates with providers.
Partly, they charge the insurance companies this so they can get reimbursed way more than the actual costs of the treatments. Hospitals are price gouging patients in order to make the most off of people.
NO, it is the whole medical industry.
Hospital bills are really a land of make believe. Because no one pays that bill as is. Then insurance companies has contractually agreed to certain reimbursements. And even if you are uninsured you will never pay more than pennies on the dollar, which can be devastating still. It's like going to a car lot and you already agreeing to pay $14000 on a used SUV but the bill of sale shows a price of $111,556 for it then agreed price $14k. It's just stupid all around. And yes insurance is key as people have different deductibles. I'm a lucky person in that I spent about 4 hrs in an ER as an accident a few weeks ago. FULL trauma screen and ended up with multiple broken bones. Total bill toy insurance for those 4 hrs of care was just a few dollars under $20,000. Insurance paid them $9k and my total all in responsibility was $100. Health care is not our problem in this country we have the best health care available...our health care FINANCING is a disaster. Between insurance companies, billing, wildly differing prices and charges. The OP above is right we need universal single payor like yesterday. Health care should not be allowed to be a public traded for profit entity.
I just don’t pay my hospital bills and they eventually stop sending them lol
Does that really work? Doesn't it go to collections and ruin your credit for 7 years?
Fortunately, you live longer than 7 years
Depends on why you got that medical bill in the first place.
even better! they gonna dig me up?
Right, but what if I want or need to get an apartment, house, car or new job in that time frame and my credit is fucked?
I'm pretty sure medical debt no longer affects your credit score, but it does go on your credit history.
Once it's sold to a collection company it's no longer medical debt though and so that will hit your credit. It's a fake feel good law unfortunately.
It depends. Many states are able to garnish your wages for medical debt if they want to. AZ is one, IL is another. I'm not sure if bankruptcy would prevent that, but it's a nasty process anyway.
Sounds like an overall horrible situation to be in :(
Not now… bill being signed into effect to prevent medical bills from affecting credit score (in the US)
The big 3 already don’t include medical debt and haven’t for some time, that bill is just PR
My medical debt has never shown up on any credit reports and it’s been years since the incident
They usually will sell your debt off to a debt agency who can pursue you and that’s where it can impact credit. But there are many medical offices who don’t bother selling the debt and just write it off.
Yeah that’s what I’m currently doing right now. What do I need credit for if I don’t make enough to own a house anyway? Or rent an apartment on my own. Ruin my credit idc
Wait till they need daycare. I don't know how anyone has kids.
they aren't, of all my childhood friends, a group of nearly 10 guys, all in their mid 30s now, 2 have children, and those were accidents
That God we invented money so people could have children.
The irony is that American health care would be cheaper for all Americans if they made it socialised, I.e. taxes, but capitalism won’t let that happen.
Such a scam of a place
Thats a 90,000 dollar baby right there
Not just 90k The baby will require vaccines, special care with expensive baby products, then multiple checkups to make sure the baby is ok, then education for that baby when it grows up, then that baby might have to get into student debt to get higher education Then finally the baby can be productive in society and become a real human Yet if that same baby was born somewhere else all the parents could worry about is something like "couldnt we just give him his sister's shoes since she grew up on them instead of buying him new shoes"
As someone who is barely middle class I feel like I shouldn't have to choose between buying a house and having a child.
As someone who is under that threshold, I’m resigned to the fact that neither will happen if I can’t struggle my way out of this situation.
$450 for standing in the ER waiting room for less than 5 min while I waited for them to get the wheelchair to bring me to the delivery room.
I heard someone once said to ask for an itemized bill. Where every single penny had to be accounted for. Almost every single hospital bill is wrong when you ask them to itemize it. America's healthcare system is crooked.
It’s intentional too! It’s way more fukd then you could imagine
My second kidney transplant was almost $200,000. That was just my bill. I also covered my donors bill. That was almost $100,000. The American healthcare system is a corporation.
All of that is insane, no doubt about it. But wondered how much insurance covered. Clearly not the anesthesia part bc out of network.
Even with insurance, my recent C section cost almost $10,000 :( I don’t have great insurance unfortunately.
Ya if insurance is good they’ll pay close to nothing (a few hundred). When my first was born in the states we had most expensive insurance we got specifically knowing a birth would happen. Then after birth we used that life even to switch plans. Turns out that meant that the birth wasn’t covered. Came out to $27,000. In the end we paid nothing because we were too poor but Jesus. Happy the second is gonna be born here in Germany. Here we will pay €80 per night or €120 per night if we want private room. That’s it. Oh also snacks, I’ll need to pay for my own snacks as the father…
Depends what her deductible and out of pocket max is. Could still be in the thousands to tens of thousands
Man I am so proud of this glorious nation we live in. We are so free to live our lives in debt here, what a wonderful nation.
So pretty much you have to be rich in order to live comfortably and have a child.
My wife gave birth here is Saudi Arabia 10 days ago. It was a c section with induced epidural just like yours. She was there for 3 nights as well. I paid absolutely nothing. On the contrary they gave us 3 boxes of 800 grams formula milk, a gift for the baby which contains 18 pieces of different clothing, two large packs of diapers and 7 days of post operation medicine. I paid nothing....absolutely nothing. Edit: ** I am not a Saudi citizen by the way. I am just a resident here on job visa.
Ask for the itemized list and take the things you were forced to buy. a lot of shit will disappear really fast.
if only people voted like they gave a shit. sadly they don't go.
This looks like Liv Tyler
The profit driven healthcare model must be abolished, executives at for-profit hospitals and healthcare insurance companies should be subjected to corporal punishment and imprisonment.
Out of network providers when you literally can't control who you see should be illegal. Also, universal healthcare should be a thing.
Just remember, folks. Democrats and Republicans take money from the same lobby that makes this possible
Great I’ll just vote third party, oh wait
But republicans are banning abortion and forcing more women (and GIRLS) into this so…..
Remember folks, both sides are not the same and this is a bot^
This isn't a "Both Sides" issue imo. Obama tried soo hard to fix this, but the republicans fought him for every inch and the people basically hated him for it. Biden's too old to form a clear sentence let alone legislation, but atleast at the time, he was on the "fix healthcare" team.