The Life Price: A Healthcare Cost Crisis | deep dive$

Episode 19 of deep dive$ explores the ugly, heartless world of medical costs and asks why we can't be more like...every other developed country.
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Background Music:
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1. Sampha - Without
2. 2 Chainz - Money In The Way
3. Mario - How Do I Breathe?
4. Bryson Tiller - Inhale
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Chapters

0:00 Living Reckless
1:34 America Is Care-Less
5:38 How It All Works
7:50 The Plans
10:04 Bell's Palsy
12:18 The Heart of the Problem
13:28 The Way It Could Be
15:00 The Personal Cost
16:25 Conflicts Of Interest
21:56 How We Cope
24:02 What's Product Hopping?
24:42 Pharmacy Benefit Managers
26:31 Fighting Back
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Sources

[CamJames]

There's a reason why you've never seen me mock anyone's physical appearance on this channel.


We couldn't possibly hit every corner of the healthcare world, but it was our best effort within ~30 min. Love!

[bemtheman]

I am a PhD student in cancer research. Got into it because my Mother passed away of breast cancer. I am looking to pivot out. Long enough in the industry and you realize you dont work for patients you work for insurance companies at the top 1%. You and I and most people in this comment section would never be able to afford any of the new treatments I am working on. It is essentially my job to research how to sell people their health and I just cant keep doing that. So I am looking to leave.

[AlexHider]

The sole fact that, for the majority of people in the US, leaving a job that can be ten kinds of bad for you is sometimes impossible because they would then lose their health insurance is evil. Evil.

[xelefonte]

It’s so incredibly sad that CNN+ with a budget of $300 million couldn’t achieve a product (a relatable investigative news channel) like Cam James who had a budget of $0. Let that sink in.

[viceroybolt]

Dear Able people.

It's temporary. It's *always* temporary. You are only going to feel this sense of immortality until the second you are no longer able, whether that's sick, hurt, old, or dead, and there's only one of those where you won't wish you had showed more solidarity with the disabled population. We need radical reform in healthcare and disability, and we need it 50 years ago.

[MusiciansRule]

I have Fibromyalgia (I just spent a day in the ER), Bipolar 1 with Mania, and other problems and while I'm fortunate enough to have Disability and Medicaid, I have to fight to keep my coverage constantly. The government will do anything to find an excuse to cut coverage and I have to shop around for more insurance because abruptly, they don't cover my doctor or they doubt that I'm actually disabled because I'm functional. I can only imagine what other folks go through. The American Healthcare System is broken and flawed. My heart goes to everyone who's been battling them and to those who can't afford any sort of insurance.

[streetinscotland]

The US healthcare system is crazy. I'm glad we have the NHS over here. It's not perfect, but it's not crippling people financially.

[scottbuck]

Dude I'm sorry you went through that: sudden hemaplagia is very scary and I'm glad you're doing better

[sdotcire]

"3 Root Canals in the last 6 months".. dawg... I hate how closely I can relate to this. I've dropped like 10k on my mouth the last two years (wisdom teeth, root canal, 4 crowns) and I have both dental and health insurance. That would have been double the $$$ without insurance so I'm blessed, but it's ridiculous. I'm a first gen American, so I should have been doing preventative care, but my mom didn't have insurance, so it never happened. I know my son is definitely getting that preventative care since you'll definitely save money in the long term. In general, as a society we need to make preventative care a priority since it will decrease costs for everyone.

[shelbywilliams]

Now hospitals have been buying urgent cares and charging hospital prices! Make sure you triple check that your urgent care is not associated with a hospital, because they’ll be able to charge hospital fees!

[cooldaddy]

Having moved to the US from the EU, I got to experience the anxiety of being without coverage. I was always wary about getting injured or getting too sick. As of now, six years later, I am moving back to the EU and am relieved to finally be able to get some reliable healthcare again.

[AndrewJohnson-ytnl]

Bro stay humble and real like you always have been and you will keep fans that will fight for you. I see what your doing, I see the dialogue your building up too. Keep it up man, You genuinely bring me to tears saying things that I've thought were self evident and as I get on in years I just see people being shitty to each other for money. I feel as though you are not motivated by money and THAT will have me stand by you 100% all day, every day even on the weekends.

Love from Charleston (Summerville), SC.

[aliasfakename]

My father has epilepsy, my grandma has diabetes, and my grandpa died after a battle with prostate cancer. So far, I'm healthy but I'm not an idiot. To all the people who think socialized healthcare is bad, check your family's medical history. Because everybody's gangsta until they need socialized healthcare themselves. You do NOT wanna spend your life shitting on social welfare only to wind up needing it and finding there's a million hurdles to getting it.

[PorkChopProprietor]

My Union has a contract with CVS so that my psych meds are super cheap. One of my psych meds is $400 out of pocket but with my union discount it’s $50. My medication coverage is grade A but coverage for dr’s appointments and specialist is straight up 💩! I have a ppo and going out the network is expensive and staying within the network is just as expensive! It’s very aggravating 😖

[LionelWatson-jibf]

I learned this lesson the hard way. Got a gash in my leg from messing around at work. I needed stitches. Went to the emergency room (big mistake) for 2 stitches and a tetanus shot and later received a bill for $1500. I later found out I could've saved atleast $1k if I went to Urgent Care instead for the same treatment.😂

[johnmoosey]

I caught bells palsy 10 years ago ...left eye squints when I chew and leaks ....can't get a smile on that side of my mouth. I recovered 80 percent....

[oregonvibez]

I just exited the health insurance industry after 3 years. It was a very stressful, overwhelming and emotionally damaging role. So many of my coworkers have blank stares of a sociopath, never focused on the issue only the money. It was a weird environment, but I made it through my time without selling out, and have moved on to something new. At 25 I realized there's more to life than this desk and this job beyond the hollow validation that once was a career in these sections. Myself, i just can't sit with it

[namenamenamename]

Part of the reason why this can't change is because, if the major "health" insurance providers got legislated out of existence tomorrow, it'd cause hundreds of thousands of cushy office jobs for high-paid insurance office workers to disappear overnight. Those upper-middle class jobs are people who definitely vote and definitely contribute real $ to major political parties.

[HermitDragon]

I have fibromyalgia. To get that diagnosised I spent $2000 in one year (not including the $200 a month I pay to be insured in the first place). It took 3 years to diagnose.

I need a wheelchair, but my insurance doesn't cover "medical equipment" so that is an additional $1500 out of pocket. There is no way to get them to cover medical equipment, even if my doctor signs off on me needing it. I just have to wait until November and get a different (probably more expensive) insurance plan that will cover it.

I was recommended surgery for chronic back pain. I will not be able to afford it for another 2 years, because even with insurance it'll be $4000 for the surgery alone. This does not include any follow up appointments, if anything god forbid goes wrong, any supplies I'd need to buy during/for the 2 week recovery period, ect.

My insurance decided that they no longer covered ADHD and there was no indication of this before I signed up. Any appointment I went to the doctor for and mentioned ADHD in was suddenly not covered and my $25 doctor visit shot up to $150 with no warning. It took 6 months of talking to insurance representatives to figure that out because everytime I called they gave a different excuse. I can no longer see my doctor for that condition until I get new insurance.

All of this and I pay for the BEST and MOST expensive insurance my job offers me, because getting insurance independently would be more expensive. And none of this is mentioning my medication costs, urgent clinic visits, or other conditions that took time and money to diagnose. The US medical system is indeed f*cked up

[brittanyb]

I'm a pharmacist, and it drives me insane how insurance companies work. Literally see patients whose condition may improve on a certain med, but they won't cover it, or the copay is astronomical even with financial assistance programs. I'm grateful for my health, but it pains me seeing people struggle when our healthcare system is not on their side.