There's a good chance that they were not actually eligible for that discount card. I recall using one once while I didn't have insurance and I believe they were specifically for people who had no insurance. But you know... The pharmacist probably doesn't care.
Wait until you see how much the monthly cost is for a family these days if you're going through the exchange.
The other fun game is tech doesn't offer it anymore. I'm in the job hunt and 7 of 10 jobs make you go out of pocket, the next two give you and obscene monthly responsibility so they can say they offer it, and the 10th job has 5000 applicants.
I had a similar experience when paying out of pocket when a former employer offered really shitty healthcare. Turned an outrageous price into something minuscule just by them entering in some info on my behalf.
A lot of the food in the US has chemicals that are banned in other countries that have universal healthcare. The food companies spend millions on research and development to make the food literally addicting. Also our portion sizes are insanely huge. When the other countries have to pay for the healthcare of their citizens, they're going to make damn sure the food is healthier.
Who pretends america is the best? It leads in some metrics. Other countries lead on others. Quality of life is high for most but not all, comparitavely. However, there is more inequality and poorer healthcare. Even healthcare for the wealthy is expensive for little benefit compared to poorer countries.
I really don't feel like the quality of life is high in the US. How is that measured? Affordable healthcare? Well paid jobs? Affordable healthy produce? Access to public transport? Good infrastructure? Little wealth disparity? Access to education? Can someone tell me which of these the US leads in?
I once heard a european say we eat like we have free healthcare. No we don't. We eat like we have a government with more accountability to monied interests than to our health, a food industry that profits from us being compelled to overeat cheaply produced foods, and a healthcare system that profits from chronic illness and sudden misfortune. Oh yeah, this onion's got layers, and it's rotting from the inside-out.
In fact, I think a genuine effort behind universal healthcare would involve the government suddenly caring a lot more about industry in general growing profits by running things as cheap and dirty as they have been and, in a way, passing their costs onto the general population.
I’ve had literally insane run-ins with the US healthcare system, and have a bad enough health issue that I’ve been absolutely ruined by it: physically, mentally, financially, and socially. I do mean utterly – that was not hyperbole.
I have nothing else to add right now, because I have medically-induced PTSD and can’t even think about anything medical without having a panic attack now.
Just wanted to chime in with how bad it can get, and I know my situation isn’t as bad as it can be. It ruined everything for me and destroyed my family, but I never had to care for a dying child. There are no forbidden depths.
That's the goal. The insurance company wants your premiums while keeping the out of pocket so high you find another way to pay, so they don't have to cough up a dime.
I've never wanted to be American. But I'm glad I'm not American.
I live in a totally shit country with a crap corrupt government, but everyday I am thankful, because, at least I don't live in the US. Sadly I don't live in the "best country in the world".
It's not a "healthcare system". It's a "health insurance system". And like all insurance systems, it's designed to make money for the insurance companies. It functions quite well in that respect.
Many countries in the world actually have health care systems, but the US does not.
GoodRx or something like it was used. Welcome to the man in the middle scam that makes people think they're getting a good deal when in reality, they pay for insurance but insurance makes it so costly to use their insurance that people have to pay for it out of pocket or with an HSA but can't apply the cost to their annual deductible. This is a win win for insurance companies and patients get screwed. I hate the US healthcare system so much from spending time interacting with it from the perspective of work and personally.
