• 19 Posts
  • 1.15K Comments
Joined 3 years ago
cake
Cake day: June 29th, 2023

help-circle



  • It is dystopian, but there arr plenty of programs to mitigate the issue. If you go to a charity or teaching hospital (like the one referenced in the post), and you have no insurance, your bill might be mostly forgiven if not entirely written off. Emergency rooms cannot refuse service and if you are broke, they might write it off. More than likely they will sell off the debt to a third party for a small fraction and those guys will hound you for life. Again, if you are poor, plan ahead (teaching or charity hospital) and you should be fine.

    PS: I am sure you have heard of Planned Parenthood due to the GOP’s crusade against abortion. The real thing to note is that they offer pre and post natal services to make sure that mother and child are healthy, free of charge. Every time a Planned Parenthood clinic is forced to close, those services disappear for the poor.


  • Are you saying that people who give birth in a hospital are sent a 13 000 USD bill afterwards?

    Without insurance? Yes, it can be that or more.

    What if you don’t have the money?

    No hospital will refuse service in case of an emergency. I believe that it is actually illegal. They will send you a bill afterwards though.

    What if something does go wrong and you call an ambulance, du they bill you for that afterwards as well?

    Absolutely. For a lot of money in some cases. Do a search for ambulance service cost in the US and you will find a few horror stories.

    What if you have no money for that either? Just… die?

    Ambulances cannot refuse service in case of emergency, but they will invoice you later.


  • $418 in 1961 is about $4,438 in 2025.

    I searched and the average cost for a vaginal birth in 2025 is about $13,000.

    EDIT: I looked up The Long Island College Hospital and it seems like it was replaced by NYU Langone Long Island (also a teaching hospital). The bottom line is that you might be near $0 out of pocket there, as it was in 1961.