Ask Lemmy

You would have lost your job and likely be on medicaid and disability and it would be very unclear if you have or lost your house and possessions but keeping hold of them moving forward would be almost impossible unless you could find a new job which is also highly unlikely.

Your first stop would be a bankruptcy lawyer.

This is too hard to answer because of the number of variables at play like, do you have insurance, does your condition/issue qualify you for Medicare, does your job offer disability leave, are you FMLA eligible, do you meet requirements for SSA disability etc.

Anecdotally, in 2017 I spent two non-consecutive months in the hospital. The first visit I came in through the ER, ended up in the ICU intubated and worked my way through each section as I got better.

My second stay I skipped the ICU but had a transplant halfway through. I also was on dialysis for the ~6 months in between.

Dialysis was billed at $7k a visit, roughly $500k in total. The transplant surgery alone was ~$750k. The hospital stays came to about $5k a day on average for roughly $300k in total.

So straight billed amount I was somewhere in the $1.5-$1.7 million range.

The average cost of a hospital stay in a U.S. hospital is about $3,000 per day, but it varies significantly by location. So long stays like yours might cost between $250,000 and $500,000.

If your insurance covers it (and about 92% of Americans have health insurance), you'd be looking at your annual out of pocket max, which the law caps at $18,000 for family plans or $9,000 for individual plans, but which most people on employer sponsored plans (around 60% of Americans) have out of pocket maxes around $4,000 to $5,000. Source

So for most Americans, your hospital stay would've probably cost the individual patient about $5,000. Insurance would've paid another $350,000.

But for some Americans, they'd be looking at a $360,000 bill and then would just file bankruptcy, start over with close to a net worth of zero, at least for non-exempt assets (people generally get to keep their homes, cars, and retirement accounts in bankruptcy so it won't actually be starting from zero if you're well into a middle age in the middle class).

Or worse, the hospital would realize they're not getting paid, and then would find a reason to kick you out as soon as you're stabilized. They have to keep you alive even when you can't pay, but don't have to treat you beyond that for free.

That depends.

Are you wealthy? If yes, you're fine. If no, you're fucked.

Are you a veteran? Same answers.

Are you poor? You probably died in the waiting room.

Haven’t seen anyone mention maximums. Sometimes insurance plans will straight up stop covering you after a certain price. Like, for the rest of your life. Imagine running up a cancer treatment bill in your teenage years and being cut off until you either die or somehow live long enough to get a job with different insurance.

Honestly, it would depend on what kind of insurance you have in the US. Each employer has a different set of plans.

No insurance? Absolutely screwed. With insurance?

End of 2018 I had a heart attack and open heart surgery with really good insurance.

Emergency Room - $150
8 days in the hospital + open heart surgery from the head of the cardiac department - $100
Drugs and all the oxygen I could carry - $100

Roll forward to January 2019... my company has been bought by a giant company. Health insurance changes. I lose my existing hospital and all my doctors and have to start over in a new system.

7 days in the hospital draining fluid from congestive heart failure - $6,500 - the annual out of pocket maximum for that insurance.

Good news though, hitting the out of pocket maximum on Jan 15 meant all my other medical care the rest of the year was covered at 100%.

You probably would have been sent home much earlier

That is bankruptcy, pure and simple. There's no way you'd financially recover from a four month stint in the hospital.

People have literally unalived themselves here over hospital bills like that.

Thank God you weren't in a shit hole country, like the US.

I spent six weeks in the hospital in the US, and my bill (before insurance) was over $400k.

my insurance paid $100k for 5 days in critical and 3 in regular room in 2014, 4 months should be 12 times that, plus add inflation

Unless you got a couple of million bucks in your bank account…. Super fucked

Also don't know the answer, but another anecdote.

I was admitted to the ICU where I stayed for about a month, not on any ventilator or any other machines except an IV drip (the medication was very dangerous and needed that level of surveillance). However, I was taking up space, so I was transferred to the next level down, where I spent another month on nothing but just that one IV medication. In total I had two non invasive heart surgeries during my time there.

For basically just room, board, babysitters, and the medication, I was billed over $650,000. I was 26 at the time, in college, no job, living off savings I'd accrued in the military....

Yeahhhh.

My hospital stay billed insurance like $300k for a 5 day stay. It was not critical care but it was specialized. Insurance covered all but like a thousand, I also have a $5k out of pocket max that goes into effect in some situations.

So if my hospital stay was 4 months and I didn't get a bulk discount we're looking at like $7mil USD but with insurance I'd instantly hit my out of pocket max and only be out $5k. Because there are lots of ways insurance can fine print you from actually hitting out of pocket though I don't know

If you spent 4 months in a U.S. hospital and didn't die, you would spend the rest of your life wishing you did.

Hmmm. Probably like $500,000. It would be cheaper, but good affordable rates are only available to insurance companies. But with a GoFundMe plan you might save up to a $50,000. Best bet is to get on the evening news with you in total shambles. The good news is you can haggle hospitals here, no joke. Not acceptable anywhere else in the US unless you're buying something hot.

You'd be fine, aside from the attorney's fees for declaring bankruptcy.

...Oh, and probably losing your housing.

Jury Nullification

Almost all of these comments are talking about the total billed amount, which is correct. On most plans, you'd hit a certain amount, and they'd start covering a larger portion of the bill. But your out of pocket expense would definitely be in the hundreds per day, (thousands if bad insurance), while the insurance company would pretend they did you a huge favor.

There are a huge variety of factors but one I think people tend to forget: your state of residence

Massachusetts or Hawaii, you'd prob not be much worse off than your current situation. Most states, you'd likely owe whatever your insurance plan's out of pocket maximum. In most of the Southeast and Texas, you'd probably be launched into the sun

It depends on your insurance. You might hit a deductible and only owe a few thousand dollars, or you might be bankrupt.

I'm British just reading this thread and shaking my head. Can't fathom these stories.

All the screwed. And now as of this month medical debt will be part of your credit reports, so good luck on getting a home loan or job

I don't know the answer to your question, but I will say that I'm glad you're still here with us, friend

In Canada. A very good friend of mine who is around 70 but acts more like in his 30’s which kept him feeling good. Hey we only have one life let’s enjoy it.

Unfortunately it caught up with him a month or so ago.

He was in a vicious motorcycle (his) accident that took an eye, a leg, needed facial reconstruction and wrecked chest. He cannot speak as his jaw is wired shut. I am disabled and cannot get up north to see him. His daughter calls me once in a bit to fill me in.

I cannot begin to comprehend how much his operations, rehab, prosthetics and hospital fees would be in the states. I assume he won’t be getting out for a few months (I am not very knowledgeable on medical stuff) then a ton of therapy. I was told he also has insurance on top of his Ontario health card so hopefully he is in very good hands.

More likely you just would not have been kept in hospital four months here. Somehow we have the combination of highest cost and also cost-cutting schemes.

To answer your question - $18,000 I guess, if I got lucky and the insurance worked correctly. That's the alleged max out of pocket for the insurance I pay for at work.

On the order of hundreds of thousands to over a million dollars without insurance, on order of $50k-$100k in copayments with insurance. Either way will wipe you out financially, effectively forcing you to go through medical bankruptcy and resetting any savings you have to $0. In addition, the equity in your house and car can also be seized, above some personal homestead exemption ($250k in New York for example, where the average house price is $2M, and $5k for vehicle). Not sure if they kick you out of the house immediately, or put a lien on it that comes due when you die/move out and house is sold. The only savings that are safe from bankruptcy are retirement savings in IRA and future social security payments.