Posted 2021-August-28, 06:48
If anything, Adam's "very strange" understates the matter. In the 1940s our family doctor made house calls, no one had insurance, prices for the everyday medical needs were modest. This was hardly perfect. I ell while climbing, hurt my back, my father took me to the hospital, they refused to treat me until my father proved he could pay for it. So it's better but make that sorta better, and much better for some of us than for others.
It helps to lead a boring life.
I started my college job in 1967 and retired in 2004. All that time at the same job entitled me to a very good insurance package in my retirement for the rest of my life. So was clever, or responsible, or something like that? Not really. I did not, in my 20s, plan my career so I would have good insurance in my 80s. I know people of various incomes, for example we have someone come around to do some house cleaning. She is reasonably young and healthy, that's good in itself, but it also might be essential financially. She is a very responsible person with a couple of kids and a husband with (modest) health problems. She tries to keep up with the changing rules about insurance but it ain't easy. And she is far from the only such example I know of.
Getting a good deal seems to depend more on good karma than on good planning.
As to prices, good grief. I take pills. For some I pay $5, for some I pay $20, ( once asked about how the amount was determined, the pharmacist had no more of an idea than I did), for some I pay nothing, I occasionally look at the actual cost. $500 is not rare. If I were to get into health details, I'll spare you, I could find considerably more extreme examples.
Well, here is one example for amusement. This was maybe 14 years ago. I woke up in the middle of the night with extreme pain in my back and chest. We called for an ambulance, they took me to the hospital, I stayed for a couple of days and then went to another hospital for further checks before going home. Not all that long after I was first admitted, the pain in my chest subsided but my back still hurt. It must have been some weird muscle seizure since they never found out what it was and it never came back. However, despite me telling them that my chest was no longer bothering me, it was just my back, all of the write-ups emphasized my chest pain. I speculate that they figured insurance might be more willing to pay for further examinations if the complaint involved an area associated with my heart. Even if this is just my over-active imagination, I think insurance issues distort choices.
Short version: Our medical system is seriously screwed up.
Ken