Hospital asks my sister to prepay for having her baby.

Originally posted by brainwrek

Originally posted by Sean48


Have the baby in the Barbarian Socialist country called Canada.

They give your baby a teddy bear, you a bouquet of flowers .

Total Cost = 0

Whats the total cost to everyone else that has to cough up tax money to pay for it?

After reading some of these posts, the costs just go a whole lot less.

It's really not that bad, especially when the taxing system is fair and not set up to cater to the exorbitantly rich and corrupt.

Or having to deal with insurance companies that have too many stipulations and shady practices.

Universal health care may have some cons, but so does capitalistic medicine.
I'll take my chances with a little more income tax.

some people have short memories....

they demanded a few grand from us before they would set my ankle, remember....

that was the specialist though, not the hospital...
if the hospital is taking federal funding to keep the afloat I don't think they can refuse her is she shows up at the emergency room, not sure about the doctor who she's been seeing all along and paying though.

but, of course, it wouldn't be a good idea to wait till labor to make sure of this. and it would be quite nerve wracking for your sister I imagine.

I still say my husband went into work and told his boss he was gonna fly the coup because of my problem. and then the boss called a nice little state legislature on my behalf, who then called me, and I just explained to him. the foot had been bothering me for years, I was trying to get it treated but the medical expenses drained us of money long before they even had a diagnosis for it. It got bad enough that I decided that maybe just quitting the job was the way to go, after all, the work I was doing was just making it worse, and the medical care I had gotten wasn't doing any good. I lost my insurance with the job. And, well, I also told him that I could juggle those numbers every which way, there was no money for the healthcare while I was working, there was no money for the insurance after I quit, and there was no money for no downpayment. so, well....I had resigned myself to being a cripple which made a heck of alot of sense, now didn't it! since, well, if my husband did fly the coup, well, then the state would end up paying for that medical care, along with the rent, the food, and all the other things expenses of a family of four. I had asked for help from the gov't a few times thoughout that past year, and well....was denied everytime....we made too much money....well, that money wasn't enough to pay for those things that they were providing for those single moms out there who had weren't even trying to find a job! and, I probably asked him why in God's name they wanted me to be one of those single moms anyways!!

well, after I finished talking to him, it wasn't long at all when the specialist called me to make arrangements for the operation I needed to be able to walk again!

try contacting you state representative....
they are always saying that no one is denied medical care in this country because of the lack of funds.... at least let them know that this isn't true!

reply to post by dreamseeker


wow!! I have to say that is absolutely horrible, i have never heard of anything like that, no wonder people don't want kids. I am also glad I had my first son in the military(1997), we paid $20 to have him, military paid the rest. In the USA my daughter who was born in 2001, and the second one born in 2002, I paid 200 dollars each. We ha really good health insurance, thank god. They paid for the anesthisia (sp) as well. They never bothered me about payment until after we left the hospital and we got the bill. I am just happy I had my kids when I did. I was looking at formula, baby food, and baby items one day at the store, and it's extremely expensive to have a baby any more!! I wish her much luck and sorry to hear about this huge cost!

I think the point about Universal health care like we have in the UK is that it is free at the point of receival. everyone pays for it through their taxes, but are never charged Individually, the premis being is that at somepoint in your life , either you or one of your family is going to need to go to the hospital. Not to mention seeing a GP whenever you want

The OP is an example, needing help not for himself but for his sister. I understand many Americans dont like the idea, but it is better for society, for all our brothers and sisters.

I don't have anything to say besides i wish your sister the best of luck, i'm in my second trimester but being in australia i'm choosing the public system as you have to be a private member for 12 months before falling pregnant to give birth at a private hospital (unless you want to pay 100% of cost), so we won't be out of pocket - but i can imagine how the stress must be making her frantic, especially in a time where she should be relaxing and looking forward to the upcoming happy arrival. So i hope it works out for the best, like someone else has suggested, if the cesear is more for convienience and not a must do, can she try to labour to make it cheaper? i know a lot of doctors are trying to do more cesears nowdays, but if its not necessary, she can refuse it.

[edit on 19/2/2010 by bkaust]

Sorry, but not living under the interestingly unique US health care, I guess the first thought that popped into my mind was what they would do if they botched up on the payment arrangements... grab her and shove the kid back inside?

I had two major surgeries in the last ten years, never was asked for anything up front at all.

Cost for both about 90 thosuand dollars, I pay less than one hundred for both, on my first surgery I was in the hospital for 5 days.

My insurance, humana tricare, yes government sponsored insurance, so sad that the health care reform has turn into crap thanks to the misinformation that corporate private insurance giants has waged on the ignorant minds of those that never will understand what real socialized government is all about.

Guess what all the stimulus to pay for the too big to fail to preserve the wealth of the few on the top was exactly what people are so afraid of socialized and forced take over from the tax payer for the rich.

Now perhaps people will start fighting for what is right and start forgetting party lines.

Now perhaps if the OP opener claim to be an illegal immigrant he probably get away with free care for the wife and baby to be.

Sad that tax payer in this nation has to fall under the slavery of private fat rat corporations like the multi billion dollar insurance company empire and their many ways to gouge the people.

Norway (where I live) is a prime example of socialized government (for good and bad). In addition to free healthcare (financed through taxes), we also get one year paid (80% of salary, or 8 month full salary) leave from work to be home with the newborn baby. 6 weeks are reserved for the father. If he doesn't take the leave, the 6 weeks are cancelled. That insures that almost every father i Norway spends at least 6 weeks at home caring for the newborn.

If your child doesn't attend kindergarten you get 500 us dollars each month until the child is three years old. That is in addition to 161 dollars that every mother gets for each child every month until the child turns 18.
If you are a single parent you get an extra 110 dollars per child.

Perhaps this is why the birthrate in Norway is still close to normal?

This is not an attempt to "show off" how great Norway is. It's just an attempt to show that there is more to meet the eye when it comes to what you term a "socialized government". It's not all bad.

Originally posted by pumpkinorange

Originally posted by xynephadyn
And to this day, I havent paid a cent.

How do you feel about receiving a service and paying nothing for it?

Health Care should be one of the main reasons you pay taxes and provided for free. I wouldnt be paying for their middle men business associates to take so much money that you'd be devastated all the time, or pay for black op projects or for useless government salaries or their wars.

A civilized advanced country looks after its own and taxes should be proportional to income, primarily wealthy people, loopholes for corporations closed so they pay as well, bascially you shouldnt pay anything until you're middle classed, and....boomerang back into your community in services.

Health care should be FREE. And the banking system, corporate slave system is hijacking liberty and sovereignity and is HIGHWAY ROBBERY OF CITIZENS.

I would never pay this.

well my sister had her baby because she almost went into labor. They did the C-section a little early but did not ask for any money upfront. She went into the hospital a couple hours early. She had a boy 8 lbs 13 oz.
I am sure once she is out of there they will start hassling her for money but my family is going to help her pay it and she will make pay arrangements on the rest.
I think that her being stressed when they called her about the money made her start habing contractions. She had to have a C-section because he is so big and she has a scar from her last C-section.

Congratulations on the brand new nephew! I'm sure he's beautiful.

Originally posted by psyko45
Nationalized health care, (which would be equal or better to in personel quality) would cost annually. Like a union or something. Then that would solve the issue?

Nationalized healthcare will remove private competition and cause quality to take a serious dump. If you do not believe me, just look at what a bang up job that the public school systems do…

reply to post by dreamseeker

Congrats…

reply to post by Koyaanisqatsi


Wasn’t Norway the first country to go bankrupt in the current economic crisis?
I cannot imagine why after reading your post.

Here in the US we already have a problem with people having children to make money under our welfare system, if we had a system like yours we would be supporting some folks eternally. I suppose that it’s a fine system in a smaller country where its not abused, but here it would never work.

reply to post by pumpkinorange


I feel awesome you moron, because all my hard earned damn tax money goes right towards those hospitals.

Now screw off.

reply to post by Revolution-2012


Hospitals in this country are not run by tax dollars, they are private industries. Basically what you are suggesting it theft. You are taking advantage of a service and not paying for it. That is covered by having to charge higher amounts to everyone else who is a paying patient there. The hospital can apply for some of the cost against Medicaid, but they only pay cents on the dollar, and seldom even cover the overhead of what your service cost. What you are suggesting is not any different then someone walking out on a tab in a restaurant, then saying that they had that right because they were hungry.

reply to post by defcon5


I don't know where you get your facts from but hospitals get government grants.

I pay my government, they better pay for my health regardless.

My co-worker had a baby in October. Now only did she get a bill, but a bill for 900.00 came addressed to the baby too! That made me mad!

Edit to add: reason being, how many people will not pay these bills and the kid starts out in life with a terrible credit rating due to a bill which they had no control over.... yeah great system!

[edit on 19-2-2010 by Greenize]

reply to post by Revolution-2012


I work for a medical facility; I am in one writing this as we speak. I can look down to my right, out the window, and I am 100 feet from the ambulance bay of the ER. Only certain hospitals get that kind of help, not all of them. That is why some patients are shipped out of certain hospitals after they are stabilized. The majority of hospitals can try to get you financial support through Medicaid, which does come from tax dollars, but it does not cover the majority of your expenses. Doctors often have to choose who, and how many Medicaid patients they can take, because if they end up with too many it WILL put them out of business. I have personally seen them pay out $5.00 for a piece of equipment that the company had to pay over $100 for. If you think that socialized medicine will work, or that its OK to skip paying your medical bills then you will learn the hard way what will happen to the level of care in this country. If socialized medicine could work, then Medicaid would work, as Medicaid is nothing more then another term for Socialized Medicine. Medicaid does not work, and does not pay 1/100th the cost of proper medical care. Skipping out on paying any kind of bill, if you are able, is theft.

reply to post by dreamseeker


your right. In the U.S.A our system is a corp system. Meaning you have to be greedy and fork the bill to the persons. Everything in the U.S is a business, even non profit organizations are in it to make money.

That is the U.S system bill the person for the cost and a little more to make a profit.