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What kind of Doctor? What kind of Visit?
Let's say the family type, and a checkup for any of the more mundane things above.
Typically, out of pocket no insurance cost for primary care physician visit is around $200-300.
If you know the doctor, maybe $100 if he or she does a sliding scale.
That's encouraging, at least. It's not cheap per se, but definitely not as exorbitant as I assumed.
That is exorbitant for most people for a basic doctor's visit. Federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr. Takes an entire work week for a minimum wage worker to afford a doctor's visit.
As other's have explained to you, that is just a visit. It covers nothing else. No medication, no tests, no referrals. Just to talk to the Nurse Practitioner for 15 minutes. You will not be talking to the doctor.
Just brutal, I can't imagine losing my job and home because I got sick. It's been the case for many thousands of years typically, but it just seems so arbitrarily cruel to know that there's a better system that's been adapted (matter of opinion, I know), but strike it from consideration altogether because of the business model surrounding American healthcare. Paying higher taxes kind of sucks, but at least I've never had to remortgage for serious injuries.
For most lower income Americans that can be cost prohibitive.
There are some lower cost options:
CVS and some other retailers have mini clinics where you see a nurse practitioner. Out of pocket these visits can be $50-100 out of pocket.
Some hospitals and health departments offer free clinics but they are often busy.
Online options have become more popular but they often are limited to very simple issues (e.g. sinus infections, allergies, etc).
This assumes you don't need a prescription or labs.
From a prescription standpoint, Walmart still offers $4 prescriptions for very common drugs. Again out of pocket.
Labs your sort of SOL.
That does make sense, and although I guess it's good that there are ultra low-cost options available, there's that old adage about "getting what you pay for" to a certain extent.
Well, that's the problem, due to changes passed with the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), annual routine screenings are free including women wellness. A lot of people do not know this.
The problem is when they find something wrong. Going to a specialist can easily push from hundreds to thousands.
To add on: it has to be coded correctly for insurance. A “yearly physical” is its own special thing which does not require a copay, and if coded correctly covers like a basic metabolic panel, lipid panel, maybe something less common if family history suggests it. It has to be billed as a “preventative service” for something on this list of what falls under the “free” stuff, if you don’t want a nasty bill. I know a full lab workup for me is billed at around $1600 before insurance, and a primary care visit would be around $300.
Interesting, it's no wonder that so many Americans have a difficult time with medical bills. I was also under the impression that the Affordable Care Act had been dismantled, it's a bit tough to catch all of the headlines with so much going on all the time.
Affordable Care Act is mostly still there, but
Also the current administration is trying to
It's still counter-intuitive to me, the thought that any country/state would try to save money by rolling back coverage for immunizations. The total loss to GDP from chronic and acute health problems is nothing to shake a stick at, denying coverage for immunization is like a country shooting itself in the foot (assuming that they can cover the cost to begin with).
Yeah, I don’t understand it either. Immunization has always been such a huge benefit, such a huge return on investment, such a huge positive, that I just don’t understand how even the most self-serving, manipulative liar with no morals would try to cut it
So far as I can gather, it all comes down to vaccine hesitancy. The (dis)information coming down the line has led to some people calling themselves "Pure Bloods" in recognition of their common unvaccinated status, with the belief that there's some kind of high-handed conspiracy to monkey with people's DNA via immunization shots. It's a bit of a headfull, and makes for weird reading, but they've really dug their heels in about the issue, believing that their lives are on the line ironically enough. This is going to be one complicated ball of yarn to untangle...
Have you met Republicans? They like shooting themselves in the foot. They love guns.
And it is mostly the red states doing these counterintuitive measures. Unintended consequences going to catch up real fast.
I've been hearing that for a while (and it was said for a long time before my time), but they're still keeping afloat somehow, despite several generations of getting railed by the conservative politicians, lawmakers & industry that they love. The math just doesn't check out, how long can people hang onto a ledge by their fingertips while cheering for someone who spits in their face?
A lot of people think that it was gutted, but it's actually the reason we have a health insurance marketplace and why you can no longer get denied for preexisting conditions. Before it existed, you were just SOL.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordable_Care_Act
Not that it's cheap, but my employer charges about the same rate for a high deductible plan. If you are low income, you can get cheaper plans.
Healthcare in America isn't that BAD if you are relatively healthy, but it is nearly impossible to navigate... by design. Now, if you are actually sick, YMMV.
Damn, good to know that the bit about pre-existing conditions hasn't been struck down yet. I had to look up YMMV :(