And text messages.
The $70 childbirth bill
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And text messages.
Clay Davis
Member
now you're definitely joking. I'm not falling for this.
On mobile phones yes. On land lines no.
I tried to look up the costs here in Sweden since this seemed really expensive to me. Apparently, as long as you are a Swedish citizen you pay 80 SEK (~12 USD) per day at the hospital. I found some "horror stories" about people who for one reason or another had to pay the full amount though, which was about 45k SEK (~6.7k USD).
You pay to receive texts in America. The whole industry is corrupt as fuck.
Sir_Crocodile
Member
I heard something about carriers being a nightmare in america but I didn't realise it was that bad.
If you do not have a plan, it costs you $0.20 per message, sent or received, on ATT at least.
Clay Davis
Member
crazy. how do they justify it? this is first I'm hearing about this. how do they get away with it? I can't begin the imagine the backlash against any mobile operator who tried this in the uk.
bloody hell. charging to send texts is fair, but charging to receive them? bloody hell.
You Are Viewtiful
Member
Not many people have plans that are that shitty so it's not a big problem.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
He's not joking. Though I'm not sure whether you are or not.
If someone spams your inbox you owe the cellular company 20ish for each message.
They charge the sender and receiver for double profits. It is fucked up.
grimshawish
Banned
...you have to pay to recieve calls...
...just wow...
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You don't pay for 911 though right? Thats at least free?
...just wow...
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You don't pay for 911 though right? Thats at least free?
Considering that ATT's text messages cost an extra $20 a month, yeah it's a HUGE problem.
Why not visit a carrier's website and throw together a hypothetical package and see how badly the US gets fucked by mobile phone contracts.
They pay more just to activate a phone than I pay for my bill each month.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
Actually there is a lot of people that have no text message plan.
The whole thing is super fucked up because it costs the cell phone service providers nothing. The character limit is 140 because that is the amount of data that can be pushed through during a regular cell phone sync with the server.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
Nothing. The expenses are fabrications of capitalism.
Clay Davis
Member
it's a massive problem. companies shouldn't be allowed to charge you for receiving calls or texts. it's completely messed up.
I honestly wasn't. it's coming as a big shock to me that they charge you for receiving texts and phone calls. it's crazy, but what I find even more crazy is that there's no massive public outcry against these practices. it's the most anti consumer thing I've ever heard of.
Why cant we apply this argument to pretty much anything then?
True Underdog
Member
That's socialist talk.
The issue of cost will be solved (eventually - might take a few years) with universal health care.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
Most "services" from these companies cost money too.
Buy a Cell Phone and want to use their service, ie you are choosing to give them your money over their competitors? They charge you $35 to start their service on top of whatever you are going to pay that first month.
Internet companies do the same thing here.
It should be illegal, and is tantamount to collusion, but our politicians fucking suck.
IISANDERII
Member
You guys are way, way behind. And it will get worse before it gets better:
"The objective of the predatory super-rich and their political handmaidens is to discredit and destroy the traditional nation state and auction its resources to themselves. Those super-rich, in turn, aim to create a tollbooth economy, whereby more and more of our highways, bridges, libraries, parks, and beaches are possessed by private oligarchs who will extract a toll from the rest of us.
Was this the vision of the Founders? Was this why they believed governments were instituted among menthat the very sinews of the state should be possessed by the wealthy in the same manner that kingdoms of the Old World were the personal property of the monarch?"
Well, it's not completely ridiculous to say that there's a cost associated with everything done in the hospital to facilitate a birth. Saying that the family should be responsible for those costs, however, is ridiculous and a good way of making a case for socialzied medicine.
Clay Davis
Member
I know this is satire, but it's a serious problem in my opinion. the entire system is set up to fleece consumers as much as humanly possible and everyone seems to be happy to accept it and not do anything to try and force a change.
there's no justification for charging people to receive a text or a phone call. none.
bloody hell. bloody hell!
I can't imagine living in such a society. companies in the uk give us stuff like free minutes, texts or other bonuses for choosing their network. charging to start service? I...I just don't know what to say.
You Are Viewtiful
Member
How much would you pay for unlimited texting, 200 minutes and 1GB of data? I know in Canada you have to pay 20 cents to receive (except you have to actually read it) but even the shittiest plans allow you to receive at least 30 messages before they start charging you, and most people with a smartphone have unlimited texting so it's almost never a big deal. If the US somehow managed to make it worse than that I'll be pretty surprised.
grimshawish
Banned
Okay so theres some kind of service...whats in link...
Wait...what?
Bu-...
Fire...
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What?
When girls dont take it correctly, Otherwise its like 99.9%
99.9% isn't 100%
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
Nope 911 is a fee
911 Surcharge 1.00
That's on my Verizon Home Triple Bundle
Every Mobile line has to pay it's share of the fee
fastford58
Member
My wife has had three kids, one was a C section requiring a protracted hospital stay due to complications.
$0.
Almost makes the bagged milk worth it, no?
$0.
Almost makes the bagged milk worth it, no?
Clay Davis
Member
that's it. I'm out of here. I can't take any more, this shit is going to cause a stroke.
Al-ibn Kermit
Junior Member
What symbolism? It is interesting though that you can die owing money and be born owing money. It all balances out in the end.
Some people think this is a better option than paying with taxes, since they might not need government services and certainly don't want to pay for anyone else's.
For some, the phrase "Screw you, I got mine." is held in a higher regard than any other philosophical principle.
My girlfriend gave birth in the hospital earlier this year.
- weekly consults with a midwife from the 12th week of pregnancy.
- 6 days in the hospital before going into labor.
- 3 days after giving birth.
- all meals were completely taken care of (for me as well).
- she had a partial epidural after a couple of hours of being in labor.
- she had a cesarean after 12 hours of being in labor (a 10-head team was called in at 1am)
- we had our own room for the entire duration of our stay.
- she had two consults after delivery one for a physical check, one for a psychological check of having an unplanned cesarean.
- all parking charges were waived.
- 5 days of maternity care (8 hours a day) after arriving back home.
- probably a whole lot more I don't even kept track of since everything went so fast.
Our medical bill for this adventure: 0 euros.
Total cost of 1 year of insurance (which covers a shitload more than just this): about 1200 euros.
- weekly consults with a midwife from the 12th week of pregnancy.
- 6 days in the hospital before going into labor.
- 3 days after giving birth.
- all meals were completely taken care of (for me as well).
- she had a partial epidural after a couple of hours of being in labor.
- she had a cesarean after 12 hours of being in labor (a 10-head team was called in at 1am)
- we had our own room for the entire duration of our stay.
- she had two consults after delivery one for a physical check, one for a psychological check of having an unplanned cesarean.
- all parking charges were waived.
- 5 days of maternity care (8 hours a day) after arriving back home.
- probably a whole lot more I don't even kept track of since everything went so fast.
Our medical bill for this adventure: 0 euros.
Total cost of 1 year of insurance (which covers a shitload more than just this): about 1200 euros.
Public outcry would be deemed anti-business or anti-free market. In the US we just kind of let businesses do whatever, because free market is good or something and it's their right to do it.
And the business of keeping people here unwillingly is apparently booming...
On ATT, the lowest amount of minutes is 450, $40 a month.. Texting is $20 a month. Non-smartphone data is $15 a month. So for a dumb phone with any texting abilities and data is $70 a month.
For an iPhone smartphone, the cheapest possible plan is unlimited talk+text and 1 GB of data for $85 a month.
Something Wicked
Member
Doctors and nurses work for free in Canada?
Al-ibn Kermit
Junior Member
The hospital pays and sends a bill to the foreigner who then proceeds to leave the country.
I think there are insurance policies people who visit the US can take out while they're here. It's insane, yeah.
I had a friend that went through similar. She lost the baby late in the pregnancy and now $10,000 in debt. The health care in this country is FUCKED.
Travel insurance.
What if they don't have insurance? Do they get turned away or do they get the medical care?
They get care and the hospital will bill them for it.
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