50 Stories That Expose the Harsh Realities of American Healthcare

I've had type one diabetes since I was 7 years old. When I was 13 I elected to start using an insulin pump instead of injections with hopes of better control. My endocrinologist was happy with where my numbers were, but it was a huge pain to keep them there. My a1c was around 7 at the time, and my insurance company decided that unless my a1c was over 8 I didn't need a pump. So we actually backed off on my care and let my blood sugars run higher for a few months until I hit an acceptable a1c for insurance.

I have known two separate people who both refused to marry the loves of their lives, not because of an aversion to commitment or anything like that, but because they knew they'd die first and they didn't want their loves to inherit their crushing medical debts. (One had terminal cancer, the other chronic heart problems.).

I worked for one of the top four largest insurance companies in the US for a number of years. My department was outsourced and my team was let go. I was eventually hired back as a contracted worker and was denied health coverage by the same company I devoted so much time to. So yeah, our system is total s**t.

Got an absurd bill from our pediatrician. We have pretty good insurance so I called to see what was up. Turns out, or pediatrician was covered under our plan 100%, but the office where we saw him was not—so all the vaccines and materials from that visit (from the pharmacy of said office) were “out of network” so we were responsible for 100% of those.

The biggest kicker? Our pediatrician also practices out of a different clinic ACROSS THE STREET that would have been fully covered under our insurance plan. We just didn’t know at the time, and because there was a delay in billing we made another visit to the non-covered office before we found out.

My boyfriend (36) needed an amputation because he had a blood and bone infection, the bone was softening up like a marshmallow. The doctor stressed how time sensitive it was to have it removed but in the next breath told us she wouldn't be able to perform the surgery if we didn't have 25% down. We spent 2 months of our rent money trying to get his surgery taken care of. She tried to reschedule when we were $100 short. Our insurance doesn't cover preexisting conditions, which they claimed his condition was.

Going without a fairly important medication for over a year because my insurance company wouldn’t. Several appeals and back and forth between me, the doctor and the insurance company. Aetna’s customer support bureaucracy is more byzantine than anything I’ve ever seen. It was an unbelievably degrading and frustrating process.

Had been to the doctor once in a 15 year span and for a check up. Go to an urgent care because I was in week 3 of nervous breakdown, had lost 20 pounds in 9 days and could no longer drink water without vomiting. The doctor told me "anxiety doesn't affect your stomach" and treated me like a rx seeking j****e and sent me on my way without so much as advising I call a crisis hotline. It took everything in me just to leave the house and make it there so I couldn't even express my shock. My insurance expired that day and I didn't know I'd be rejected by another nine doctors and psychiatrists or I might have just killed myself to make it stop. A friend with depression who was prescribed xanax she had no use for saved me and I self medicated for 6 weeks and carefully weaned off it to recover. Thanks US healthcare.

Had to have a mass removed from my breast. I did all the leg work to be absolutely sure that the procedure, hospital, and surgeon were all covered. Personally called all these same places to verify copay and deductible amounts and began making payments before day of procedure. So basically doing all the right s**t. Three months after surgery I get a bill for $2500 for an out of network surgical tech. No I don’t think so. Started with the hospital by telling them they needed to resubmit to my insurance as I had no control over who was in the surgical suite once I was unconscious and they were nah you don’t want to pay it you figure it out. Same issue with my insurance, you need to talk to the hospital about the bill because this was out of network. Took over a year of back and forth with both to finally get it sorted and cleared. They also sent tissue from my mass to a pathology lab in NY (I’m in TX) and then tried to stick me with the bill.

My oldest child’s medical bills for the whole of his short life were 1.3m. At the time I had amazing employer insurance that had no lifetime cap so we never had to worry, unlike some of the other families that were in the hospital at the same time we were who had million dollar lifetime caps. Meaning their helpless children would lose their coverage and then be saddled with a ‘pre-existing condition’ that would then make them ineligible for coverage anywhere else (this was before they got rid of pre-existing condition exclusions).

The bill.

Skin cancer runs in my family so I have to go in for full body checks at the dermatologist every six months. My insurance considers it cosmetic and will pay nothing towards biopsies when my dermatologist needs to shave a mole off. As if I’m going to get my lips Botoxed or something. When in reality all I’m trying to do is prevent my death.

Lost my insurance because I couldn't afford the premium anymore. Later on had to get my appendix removed, it ruptures during emergency surgery, more complications ensue. Wake up much later and told that due to the complications they had to ditch the laparoscopic procedure and do a traditional open procedure. They said they were successful but some air was left in me and that it would settle in my joints for a bit then go away. Was given giant pain killer pills that came in handy because that s**t f*****g hurt soon after leaving the hospital.

Long story short, I managed to catch up on my insurance payments by selling a bunch of things but they said my procedure was a few days outside of being retroactively covered, or something like that.

50k+ added to the s**t pile of medical debt I already had. That was the beginning of a downward spiral into depression and anxiety problems that also contributed to my medical debt.

F**k America's medical system.

$700 bill for a doctor to tell me that blood in my urine ”isn’t an infection, might be bladder cancer - but don’t worry-it’s very treatable“ and see a urologist if it happens again.

I needed some dental work done after breaking my jaw and my insurance company refused to pay for any of it because "the damage wasn't extensive enough" to need the work done. I had two teeth that were out of place, and half a molar missing.

Luckily, I have an awesome dentist who wrote letters to, and called my insurance company telling them that the dental work was most definitely needed. Insurance company ended up covering only $300, but it's better than nothing, right?

I've also been dealing with some chronic pain issues for the last 4 years, but won't get it checked out because I'm worried about the cost. It's sad that this is something people have to worry about.

I was sick with the flu and feeling dehydrated so I went to the grocery store for Gatorade and soup. Well I worse off then I thought and overheated and passed out in the checkout line.

I woke to paramedics checking me out. Paramedics advise me even though I am sick someone of my age shouldn’t passed out in public. So I should go to the hospital for tests. I took the ambulance to the nearest hospital.

Arriving by ambulance it took 1 1/2 hours till I was checked in a got a bed. Now I just want something to drink and go to sleep. The nurse says I can’t have anything to drink till the doctor sees me but you can lay down to go to sleep. 30 mins later a lady rudely wakes me up asking for my insurance. I give her my insurance card and she leaves. She comes back 20 mins later demanding my $325 co pay. I explain I am not very coherent so please call my wife or send me a bill because you can’t refuse service. She got extremely mad and starts going off on how my insurance demands my co pay immediately. At this point I tell her to leave me alone and mail me a bill.

About 20 mins later doctor comes in and orders a slew of tests. I am take for cat scan, X-ray, and an ekg. While waiting for the results I was kicked from my bed to the waiting room. I spent 4 hours in this waiting room feeling like I was gonna die because I was still told no water or food.

Finally they get all the results and determined I passed out from dehydration. I was discharged immediately no fluids, nothing just instructions to drink water and some Gatorade. By the time I left I bought a Gatorade from the vending machine. I was so dehydrated I couldn’t even drink it. I spent about 8 hours being denied water to be told I was dehydrated the exact reason I went to the grocery store.

On top of that I got two $325 bills. The only plus is my daughter was premie and hospitalized and maxed out our insurance, I just didn’t know that yet. So I didn’t have to pay either bill. But it took a lot of phone calls to clear those bills. Now the $10,000 bill for her is another story.

I cut open my finger. Bled profusely. Wrapped it up hoping it would stop. Checked it a few hours later and still bleeding. Decided to sleep on it. Woke up and still bleeding when the bandage came off. Went to the ER and was told they dont treat a cut if it's over 12hrs untreated because of possible infection that would fall on them if they were to touch it. So they gave me a bandaid. Month later got a bill for $500. For a fucken bandaid!

I have had (nearly) daily headaches and overall health issues (nerve pain, fogs, dissociative episodes, panic attacks, bowel issues, trouble sleeping) for 15 years and so far, no answer. I have been to tons of doctors and most of them seem to think I'm faking for pills. Even when I say I can't take narcotics with my heart condition.

Went into the emergency room with chest pain and shortness of breath after having a c section 4 days prior. I was having horrible chest pain and high blood pressure and a fever of 103.8. The nurse and doctor I had kept acting like I was faking everything but, did a urine test and ct scan. The urine test came back first so the doctor came in told me I had a bladder infection and laughed saying I’d be sent home with antibiotics. As she walked away I looked to my boyfriend and said “I’m no doctor but, my bladder isn’t in my chest” she then came back 5 mins later and said the ct scan showed I had a blood clot in my lung and said the nurse would be by with pain medicine and I’d be admitted. I waited for 2 hours for pain medicine then the nurse ask where my pain was and I told her and she laughed at me and said “that’s funny because, your blood clot is on this side” again... acting like I was making up the pain. I finally got admitted and moved to my room where I had a wonderful nurse who understood everything. I almost ended up in icu and was on oxygen and morphine the entire night and my temperature kept jumping to 103. Thankfully the nurses I had were great but, the emergency room nurses and doctors were complete trash and kept acting as if I was faking everything even after seeing what was wrong. Basically almost got sent home with a blood clot in my lung and no treatment for it. (Now on blood thinners for the next three months after spending 4 days in the hospital getting injections of blood thinners in my belly).

Went to the ER for an infection in my neck, they put me on antibiotics which in turn starting affecting my kidneys. 4 days later the bill for $84000 shows up and is quickly deposited into the trash for filling.

I used to have public health insurance, then i cancelled it in favor of my workplace insurance when i got a job. Three years later, i get a referral to see a surgeon using my private insurance and the surgeon won't see me because the state never bothered deleting me from their system, and the surgeon only accepts private insurance. So, i call the state and allegedly have it resolved. I get another referral, this time marked urgent. The issue had not been resolved. I call the state again and actually go into the office of public health to have it resolved. Still didn't work, when the surgeon looks up my social it shows I have public insurance. Three months had elapsed. I asked my doctor for a referral to someone who takes the public insurance, but they won't accept me because my public insurance is inactive and i have private insurance. In the time it took me to deal with insurance issues, my workplace stopped approving my disability because "there were no new notes on my case" because i hadn't been able to take the next step of my care plan. They fired me, thanks to my social worker from three years ago not completing their paperwork. Ironically, since i got fired for my illness I'm back on state insurance now. I moved back to my parents to for support with surgery and the state takes two months to process my change in county. It's now been 7 months since my doctor and physical therapist told me I need to see a surgeon, and not a single surgeon has accepted my appointment.

I was in ER waiting room for hours with a massive kidney stone, writhing with pain, because multiple people were ahead of me with sprains.

They finally fast tracked me when I threw up in front of them from the pain.