On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, our daughter Megan texted us a picture of her foot. She was in Cocoa Beach with friends and had injured her foot while skim boarding. A risky sport. Not something I would try, but hey, Megan is a lot younger.
Given the pain she was experiencing and the swelling, she felt her foot was broken. I told her I would be in Orlando the next day and we would get her to a clinic. Sunday morning a friend drove her to a walk-in clinic where, for $299, they took X-rays and put her foot in a splint and advised her to see an orthopedic specialist as soon as possible. Up until last year, she had health insurance. It lapsed in January and she didn’t renew it because she figured trump would annihilate the Affordable Care Act that was enacted during the Obama administration.
By the time I arrived, Megan had sent the X rays to several friends in the medical field. The consensus? A cast for 4 weeks, a boot for another 4 weeks. Here’s where it gets synchronistic. Her roommate, Alex, sells metal plates, bolts and nuts, and joint replacements to orthopedic docs. His brother is a medical resident specializing in foot and ankle injuries. One of her friends is an ER doc. Another friend, Evan, is a physical therapist who showed the X-ray to a doc he works with.
We drove over to an emergency room and were told they didn’t do casts. She had to see an orthopedic. Since it was a long weekend, we had to wait until Tuesday, when we went to an orthopedic walk-in clinic. Big mistake. These clinics are in the surgery business. For $250, they took X rays and saw a PA – physician’s assistant – who was one of the rudest and most condescending individuals I’ve ever met.
Nope, this injury requires surgery, gotta have it done, otherwise she’s going to have arthritis in that foot at the age of 40. That’s it? we asked. Arthritis? Hey, she doesn’t have insurance. And suddenly, his attitude was like, Hey, you don’t question me. I’m the authority here. She needs surgery. He scheduled her for an appointment the next day with the orthopedic surgeon upstairs.
We left the place in a state of near shock. This kind of surgery costs between 30-40 grand without insurance.
The next day, we saw the orthopedic surgeon for another $250. I liked the man. He was forthright, honest. Usually, we treat this injury with surgery. But in the days before metal plate and nuts and bolts, he added, we treated it with a cast. What’s the worst case scenario if we opt for the cast? we asked.
Well, she won’t lose her leg or anything. Arthritis in the ankle later in life, maybe a loss of flexibility in that ankle, but maybe none of that. He recommended she return in a week, on June 7, after the swelling had gone down, for a cast. He added that the surgery is very expensive, but there are payment plans and we should talk to his clerk. So we did.
She said the surgical center was the most expensive part if Megan opted for surgery – they asked for everything up front. She promised to call Megan by Friday with a breakdown of costs.
No one called.
She’s going for the cast.
Megan is self-employed. Three part-time jobs. Dog walker (tough to do if your foot is broken), art teacher (have to teach with your broken foot resting on a knee scooter) and artist.
So far, this journey has cost nearly $800. By the time the cast is put on, we’re looking at $1000. For a broken fibia.
Why should anyone have to make choices like this based solely on economics? Bernie Sanders had it right – single payer health care, Medicare for all. It should be a right, not a privilege reserved for the wealthy who can afford the 30 or 40 grand for the surgery. Why are we the only country in the industrialized world without universal health care?
Mike, your UK plan sounds reasonable and is one that certainly might work well here in our country. I didn’t mention this in my earlier comments: talk about horror….my husband’s insulin costs over three hundred dollars for a single tiny vial that doesn’t last a month, and we can’t afford prescription insurance that is totally out of our reach due to the premiums. Our previous primary physician, who is a personal friend, gave T samples of his insulin given to her by the drug reps. Goes without saying that without the insulin he would die, so we scrape from Peter to pay Paul, so to speak, in order to purchase his insulin and other meds. She had to close her family practice when Obamacare kicked in, as did numerous other docs in the area, according to her. It’s a widespread epidemic of doctors quitting. Shameful. There MUST be a way out of this
healthcare quagmire. And the rip-off pharmaceutical companies in this country are abysmal.
Glad Megan is going with the cast instead of surgery. She’ll be back to herself soon and her foot will be mended well! But it is frustrating for a healthy and active young person to deal with restrictions caused by injury! Hang in there, Megan! Regarding healthcare, I’d like to share our experience even knowing many will disagree. But it was OUR experience with Obamacare. I’m sure by now everyone knows we’re geriatric. When my husband, whom I will refer to simply as ‘T’ and I went on Medicare and Social Security, we purchased a United Health Care Supplemental plan to cover expenses not covered by Medicare….Medicare covers about 8o%, the rest is owed by the patient. T is an uncontrolled diabetic with heart disease, and I have advancing, crippling Parkinson’s Disease. Nevertheless, our plan with UHC was absolutely fantastic. We had no deductibles, no co-pays, and we could choose ANY physician and hospital we wanted, which meant we were able to stay with the doctors we loved and trusted. Our premiums were a little high due to our ailments, but very manageable. A year or so into this age group, T developed kidney cancer requiring major surgery. He was in surgery at Mayo for nine hours, and in the hospital for ten days. The final bill, all inclusive, exceeded a million dollars. We were stunned. However, after Medicare paid its part and our UHC kicked in for the remaining 20%, WE DID NOT OWE ONE CENT! NOT ONE CENT! Our UHC supplemental insurance paid every single dime. We were astonished, and of course, thrilled beyond words. Then, along came Obamacare. When it arrived on the scene, our UHC premium escalated horrifically as a result, beyond our ability to keep it. So, we had to drop it, but believed we would be able to find a plan under Obamacare that wouldn’t carry prohibitive premiums for us. WRONG. Over a lengthy period, we searched each and every aspect of the Obamacare plans for folks our age. What we found were total lies and ripoffs hidden in fine print. They ALL had co-pays. ALL had deductibles. ALL had limited choices of physicians and hospitals, and ALL had exorbitant premiums for the care we needed because although they deny having higher premiums for pre-existing conditions, that, too, was a lie. We would have been much better off if we had remained with our UHC. Unfortunately, checking out the Obamacare plans had taken time, and we couldn’t return to our original UHC Medicare supplemental plan. So, now we are stuck with just Medicare. Obamacare may be great for the younger population, but for geriatrics, no. And we have several friends who have had the very same experience with Obamacare. My husband has clients who live in Canada who come here for the Canadian winter and stay in their FL condos then return to Canada for Canada’s summer. Talking with them, we’ve learned about Canadian health care. It’s government controlled and EVERYONE is well-covered, all ages, and regardless of ailments, and includes long-term nursing home care. They even have stable, all-inclusive prescription coverage. Some of our friends have established dual citizenships, in America and Canada, as a means of being covered by the Canadian healthcare system. In our opinion, THAT is what we need in our country. As it stands now, there is a significant number of geriatric patients whose quality of life is terribly
impaired and the life span shortened. That’s OUR experience with Obamacare.
Trish and I have a supplement for Medicare through United Health Care and pay nothing. If you don’t like Obamacare, just wait for Trumpcare and see what you think! We need single payer. That’s the only thing that makes sense. Every other Western nation has it. There’s a video from March or April with Trump complaining about Obamacare. He turns to the Australian prime minister, who is visiting, and says: “Sorry about this, but you have much better health care in your country.” Yeah, exactly. It’s single payer. We need to take the insurance companies and profiteering out of health care. They can sell other kinds of insurance.
Those costs are scary. We moan a little about our National Health Service in the UK but I think we are very lucky. Go to see a doctor: costs nothing. Go to Accident & Emergency: nothing and so on. When I had surgery: nothing. Okay we have to pay a percentage of earnings, dependent on income, until retirement but it’s worth it. This way, at least in theory, everyone gets equal treatment on the NHS.
I agree Mike, those costs are scary in the USA, which puts me off visiting the country, as knowing my luck I’ll break a leg, or get shot and end up with a massive medical bill and owing a king’s ransom.
I’ll stick to Australia for my holidays at least if that happens over here I’ll get free medical treatment.
Like Trump said to our Prime-minister when he was over there, “Australia has the best health care system in the world”.
Which is pretty much the same one England has and sounds pretty much like Obamacare in many ways to me.
Just saw this today! I wish Megan a speedy recovery & really take no notice of predictions of arthritis etc, the NOCEBO affect. I broke my wrist in two places age 5 and at first it was set wrong in a cast had to be re set under anaesthetic and although I have arthritis in other joints I don’t have it in the wrist that fractured so badly, so just ignore negative projections completely.
Symbolically a broken ankle cd be connected with being uncertain of the next step.
Sending loving healing thoughts to Megan , I remember when we first hooked up sending healing for Robs ankle when he was in a wheel chair and he felt it and it had a beneficial effect.
I am so disgusted with the health care we don’t get in this country. I am old enough to be on Medicare Advantage but fear that even though it’s not cheap, I will be priced out of the market by inability to pay if we keep on going like this. Single payer is the only way to go! Makes me angry when I read about things like this. For a broken bone, for heaven’s sake.
And the costs just keep climbing.
There is so much greed in the medical and pharmaceutical industry in this country. I don’t think we will ever see universal health care here. I hope Megan heals quickly. I do hope she can get some new health insurance. Young people feel so healthy but they don’t think about the cost of accidents. If she had to spend a few nights in the hospital the cost would have been astronomical. It is so shameful. My late husband’s 8 month battle with cancer cost nearly $2 million. Thankfully we had insurance but there was at least $15,000 in out of pocket expenses. So sad.
Two MILLION?? Wow, that’s awful. And he suffered so much and you were always there for him. Yeah, the greed is incredible.
you guys R typing PA for physicians assistant… Hmm!!!,, yup left ankle from summer “02”, remember when “that” must of been little (tendon) something detached and put a small red mark… then went away… back then what May “11”…. Buster and cousins…..
Hope Megan is feeling better and I am sure just a cast will do just as well. My friend opted for a cast instead of surgery on her wrist and it is just great. I think they are all in cahoots to get as much money out of you as possible.
In cahoots – you said it. I agree completely. Thank you for the well wishes!
My son had all the symptoms of appendicitis Christmas Day and off we went to the ER in Orlando. He has insurance that we pay over $200 a month for. Good news: Diagnosis..no appendicitis Bad News: His share of the bill $6700. Yes, you read that right. For 2 hrs in the ER. Tried fighting it and got no where. Insurance paid around $200. Seems they add on a huge “unnecessary use of the ER charge” if they don’t find anything major wrong with you. Insane
Wow, Priscilla. Is that even legal for them to do that??