I feel like I should make a post about this because it’s not something that’s very well-known, and that Americans in particular may need to know about given the uncertain state of our healthcare system at the moment. I’ve wanted to write this out for a while, It’s kind of a long post, so sorry about that!
If you have an emergency and have to go to the hospital, you’ll owe the hospital a lot of money. (I got into a car wreck and broke my ankle and my arm. My hospital bill was around $20,000)
You’ll also owe the ambulance provider, if you need one. (My ambulance bill was about $800)
You may get separate bills from the anesthesiologist or surgeon. (My anesthesiologist bill was $1,700)
You may need follow-up appointments. (My orthopedic surgeon billed me for the appointments and his surgery together and it was about $1,000)
You’ve also got to pay for medical equipment you need afterward, like crutches or a walking boot. (Mine cost about $75)
Altogether, I ended up with almost $24,000 in medical debt from one car accident. That’s a really scary number for someone like me who makes $10/hr at a 12 hour a week job.
I got my debt down to $1075 by making some phone calls and submitting some paperwork.
The first thing I did was contact the hospital. They don’t make it easy to find, but many hospitals (perhaps most hospitals?) have financial assistance programs for people who can’t afford medical bills. I don’t make a lot of money, and I have bills to pay, so they were able to help me. I called the billing department and asked if they had any assistance programs for low income people who can’t pay their bills. I had to call multiple times, and I got transferred in circles by people who didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I got an appointment with someone in “Eligibility Services” (I don’t know what other hospitals call it, if it’s something different). I had to bring my pay stubs and copies of all of my bills. When I got to the hospital for the appointment, nobody knew what I was talking about so I had to wander a little to find where I needed to go. I spoke with the guy in Eligibility Services, and I waited for a decision on how much of the bill they would forgive. A month later, I got a call telling me it was totally forgiven.
I did the same thing for my ambulance bill and my anesthesiologist, but the process was a LOT easier. I just had to mail some paperwork and it was totally forgiven.
I didn’t bother with the medical equipment suppliers, since the bills came from separate companies and I didn’t feel like going through the process twice for $75. I was assured at the hospital that they had similar programs for debt forgiveness, so I could have probably avoided paying that too.
The only thing I couldn’t get taken care of was the surgeon/follow-up appointment cost, but they were able to put me on a no-interest payment plan.
Medical debt is scary because it’s something that can come from stuff that’s already really scary. I didn’t need the burden of $24,000 in debt on top of trying to get around on a crutch with a broken arm (it’s not easy, believe me!).. but I can’t imagine what it would be like with a bigger debt or a more severe medical emergency. I see lots of people in even worse trouble than I was in, both financially and medically. Please know that there are options for you when that GoFundMe doesn’t do enough. Even if your income is higher than mine, it’s worth a shot even for partial debt forgiveness.
I am about 900% sure there are people who don`the know this.
PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU LIVE IN AMERICA AND HAVE MEDICAL BILLS
I had to do this once as well and I can ABSOLUTELY confirm that this is true.
Get in contact with the hospital. Don’t just…sit there and let the anxiety grow and panic and then ignore it in an effort to find peace.
For the record, the guy actually invented this with the intent of it being used to crack down on human trafficking. Traffickers often cover their victims in heavy/unusual makeup before posting pics of them online, to make them harder to detect using normal software.
oh
So basically this is a case of really shitty reporting. The article could have been about an app used to rescue victims of trafficking but they decided to flippantly make it about make-up
two years ago on new year’s eve I went out to a gay bar for the first time with a group of men and about 30 minutes before midnight I had to pee and the line was So Long and I got out of the bathroom literally during the 10 second countdown and I was just shouting the countdown as I wove my way through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, a little tipsy, looking for my friends, and I found them at the 5-count and my friend grabbed me and said “FOLLOW ME” and in the last 5 seconds before midnight he desperately shoved me into a girl he’d apparently met while I was in the bathroom who said she had no one to kiss and he yelled at us both “SHE’S A LESBIAN” and she kissed me. I’m not sure what my point is here but maybe just go out with a group of gay men who talk to strangers.
To be honest.. if more children were shown from birth that they are loved, cared for, and listened no matter their gender we might not have some of the problems we have now.
Parents: Aloof disdain! Shun! Distance!
Also Parents: Why doesn’t my child talk to me?
In attachment theory, providing care to a child allows the child to experience “secure attachment” in which they learn that their caregiver will provide for their needs and keep them safe while doing so. This sense of attachment is important because it allows a child’s developing brain to learn how to trust and form close relationships with other people. And it’s such an important aspect of our psychological development that attachment occurs in infancy, before a child has become verbal and can even process the world as the rest of us do.
When this process is interrupted, whether through abuse or neglect, it can result in an attachment injury, which in turn can lead to attachment disorder. Lacking secure attachment as an infant, people with attachment disorder face significant difficulty trusting other people, leading to lifelong challenges in interpersonal relationships.
We are human beings. Our strength comes from our compassion and our ability to care for one another, whether rooted in empathy or not. Children need to be protected, cared for, and just held, all so their brains can develop and grow to become who they are meant to be.
As someone who suffers from attachment disorder, I am asking you to take this seriously. I don’t want any child to deal with the problems I’ve dealt with.
scott lang, completely misunderstanding peter parker’s power: hey if u want man we could get tiny and just like hang out, i don’t know if you’ve ever been in a lego castle but it’s pretty sweet
peter parker: u have no idea how much physical pain having to turn this offer down is causing me but,
Scott Lang, upon realizing Peter Parker can’t shrink: oh okay no biggee, we’ll just make the LEGO castle big
My father had taught me to be nice first, because you can always be mean later, but once you’ve been mean to someone, they won’t believe the nice anymore. So be nice, be nice, until it’s time to stop being nice, then destroy them.
