For most US medical bills the number you see and what the insurance company will actually pay (even to completely settle the bill) are entirely different numbers. Although this isn't medical insurance per se. I bet they negotiated it down though.
this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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Part of why medical bills in the US are so high is because if you don't pay them, they sell the debt to collections at pennies on the dollar.
Which means that the people who do pay the high prices are paying for those who don't or can't or won't.
Stop paying.
It sounds fake but its real. If they got a car and ran a baby over they'd have paid 1% of this. Our system is so deeply fucked up.
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This is the Greatest Country In The World, sunny Jim, and you better thank Republican Jesus for our for-profit system! Otherwise you might be forced into free socialist health care, where you have to get vaccines and stuff for nothing, and only a godless communist wants that. /s