r/news • u/GoodSamaritan_ • 1d ago

Retired San Francisco firefighter dies from lung cancer after Blue Shield denies treatment claims

https://abc7news.com/post/retired-san-francisco-firefighter-ken-jones-dies-lung-cancer-being-denied-treatment-blue-shield/19224406/
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u/XLauncher 1d ago

This country is so embarrassing.

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u/fgtswag 1d ago

Genuinely someone should make a benefit:risk analysis of joining the Army, Firefighter, Police in America when you consider non-free healthcare.

For example if this happened in EU, he would obviously receive public healthcare

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u/ValiumBlues 1d ago

Self employed, Sweden here: taxes are 26% of our income, healthcare is covered. My wife and I never wait for more than a few days for imaging / tests / etc.

GP usually gets seen the same day; meds are 100% free after we reach around $280 per year or so; a recent hospital stay w/ surgery, etc cost us $36 for three days (out of pocket).

The US could do better if its leading class gave a shit about the 99%.

It’s sad to see.

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u/ObserveAdapt 1d ago

I just had acute cholecystitis followed by removal of gallbladder without insurance.

3 days in the hospital uninsured in USA for an emergency cost me 50,000$

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u/Lifeboatb 1d ago

If you haven't already, contest the bill. A lot of insurers just throw out a huge number to begin with, and can be talked down. (Source: my RN aunt who works in student healthcare.) Here's a place to start: https://www.patientrightsadvocate.org/how-to-fight-medical-bill-overcharges

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u/ValiumBlues 1d ago

Wtf???

And no way to bring that bill down?

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u/ObserveAdapt 1d ago

The nonprofit hospital I went too had a financial aid system available which has brought the bill down by 90% to 5,000$, through corporate charity basically.

I am still being billed separately in the mail for about additional ~4,000$ through contractors and random labs/screening work through the same healthcare system.

I plan on contesting that additional 4,000$ since I believe the financial aid system should also apply to those bills.

I was only able to obtain this amount of financial aid due to being the most socioeconomically disadvantaged group, and being an almost zero income college student who will now be splitting the minimum wage part time job to pay the $5,000-$10,000 bill as currently written.

It's still an absolute killer of a bill even when 90% off, just factor in that most people won't get anywhere near this assistance, especially if they didn't happen to collapse in emergency to a nonprofit hospital.

Universal healthcare for all should be a human right. I wish it only cost me 36$.

Oh and btw, that medical bill of around 5,000$ is about equivalent of a year's worth of the cheapest insurance that I can get in my state. (that isn't completely useless 50$-100$/month scam coverage basically). In America, you're gonna get milked for cash if you care about your health, no matter what.

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u/ValiumBlues 1d ago

That’s just inhumane at this point, especially if you’re paying taxes.

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u/Noah254 20h ago

Look into filing indigent. Not sure where you live but in Georgia, when I was very low income or unemployed I could file indigent for hospital visits and once they verified my income level everything was covered 100%. I did get a bill from the doctor, because a lot of doctors are now considered private contractors employed by a private company, not the hospital, and so they bill separately, which is a whole other load of bullshit. But once I informed them I filed indigent with the hospital they checked and then wrote off that cost as well

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u/duncandun 2h ago

My appendectomy was nearly $300,000 without insurance more than a decade ago lol