Despite having health insurance I’ve lost my life savings three times now to medically necessary surgery that my insurance only covered a portion of. Insurance that cost a quarter of my income.
When I was in my twenties, I got a hernia. 16k out of pocket.
A bit later, a chair at work collapsed and I broke my wrist, workers comp paid for everything treatment wise including physical therapy, my wrist is still messed up, but workers comp showed me that actual medical care IS possible.
In my thirties, I broke both my ankles when I was knocked down some stairs on the way to catch a bus to work. I went to work, worked 6 hours on broken ankles and then took a bus to the hospital that decided my insurance would only cover one, and the other one was going to be mostly out of pocket. 12k out of pocket.
and then had a polyp on my vocal cord. Health insurance covered about 2000 of that leaving me with an 8k bill. My supplemental Aflac insurance covered the cost of a taxi (up to 40 dollars one way!) to the doctor for follow up appointments.
Now I can’t walk right, can’t lift shit, and can barely afford insurance, I need a follow up surgery for my hernia and I’m better off losing my job and going on medicaid than trying to keep a job and pay for it myself.
Crippling medical debt that builds interests rapidly and can’t be discharged through bankruptcy. It helped fill out my plate alongside the student loan debt that builds interest rapidly and can’t be discharged through bankruptcy.
That’s basically debt slavery isn’t it?! Sounds like a benefit gig for bankers if you ask me. Here in the UK our free health care system is a national treasure. It’s not perfect but it works.
Lots of shitty parents out there. It’s so bad that before you get your first paycheck in boot camp, they march the entire division over to the Navy Federal Credit Union, and whatever Bank was on base, and made you open an account with one of them, your choice. I went with the Credit Union.
Getting the soldiers to open an account seems like a smart move. Much better to get direct deposit and a debit card/checks than to have them cash a check somewhere.
Sailors in my case. I assume they do something similar in the Army and Air Force, as it was a policy the Navy adopted sometime in the Vietnam War era, because too many parents opened bank accounts for their kids with the parents name as well, and cleaned out their pay.
Damn that’s a ball ache. I didn’t get any savings when I left home, but at least I didn’t expect any. Just imagining the feeling of having that pulled away… ouch.
Did have parents spot my rent a couple of time; don’t make me out to be ungrateful.
I never missed a healthy day of work in the past 22 years, i have called in sick a handful of times to prevent others from getting sick.
I worked 84h weeks, but mainly 40/45h weeks.
If i hadn’t had my savings taken away at 17 i could have bought a house at 18, nowadays my labour isn’t valuable enough to afford me a house.
So if anyone has a spare 500k laying around so i can buy a small house…i’d gladly receive it.
We could wait the extra 5 years but i’m afraid a small home will cost closer to a million then.
Gotta love this economy and all these fancy modern things we get to enjoy…if we can afford them.
Despite having health insurance I’ve lost my life savings three times now to medically necessary surgery that my insurance only covered a portion of. Insurance that cost a quarter of my income.
When I was in my twenties, I got a hernia. 16k out of pocket.
A bit later, a chair at work collapsed and I broke my wrist, workers comp paid for everything treatment wise including physical therapy, my wrist is still messed up, but workers comp showed me that actual medical care IS possible.
In my thirties, I broke both my ankles when I was knocked down some stairs on the way to catch a bus to work. I went to work, worked 6 hours on broken ankles and then took a bus to the hospital that decided my insurance would only cover one, and the other one was going to be mostly out of pocket. 12k out of pocket.
and then had a polyp on my vocal cord. Health insurance covered about 2000 of that leaving me with an 8k bill. My supplemental Aflac insurance covered the cost of a taxi (up to 40 dollars one way!) to the doctor for follow up appointments.
Now I can’t walk right, can’t lift shit, and can barely afford insurance, I need a follow up surgery for my hernia and I’m better off losing my job and going on medicaid than trying to keep a job and pay for it myself.
I’ll be renting forever
What would have happened if you didn’t have the cash for the treatment?
I didn’t.
Crippling medical debt that builds interests rapidly and can’t be discharged through bankruptcy. It helped fill out my plate alongside the student loan debt that builds interest rapidly and can’t be discharged through bankruptcy.
That’s basically debt slavery isn’t it?! Sounds like a benefit gig for bankers if you ask me. Here in the UK our free health care system is a national treasure. It’s not perfect but it works.
Can you elaborate about the savings taken away at 17?
Lots of shitty parents out there. It’s so bad that before you get your first paycheck in boot camp, they march the entire division over to the Navy Federal Credit Union, and whatever Bank was on base, and made you open an account with one of them, your choice. I went with the Credit Union.
Getting the soldiers to open an account seems like a smart move. Much better to get direct deposit and a debit card/checks than to have them cash a check somewhere.
Sailors in my case. I assume they do something similar in the Army and Air Force, as it was a policy the Navy adopted sometime in the Vietnam War era, because too many parents opened bank accounts for their kids with the parents name as well, and cleaned out their pay.
It’s a parents thing, same happened to my sister.
Damn that’s a ball ache. I didn’t get any savings when I left home, but at least I didn’t expect any. Just imagining the feeling of having that pulled away… ouch.
Did have parents spot my rent a couple of time; don’t make me out to be ungrateful.
House prices have been falling for the last year now. Maybe… Nah. But maybe…
In your market maybe
Nationwide. They’re not plummeting or anything, but they’ve been steadily decreasing.
Edit: looks like they started going back up again a couple months ago. You can move the sliders to narrow down the chart.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS
I can’t find my market there. Must be because the world is bigger than the US ;)