I spent A LOT in medical care in 2022. I have multiple chronic illnesses that require expensive medications and therapies. And don’t get me started on co-pay accumulators that rack up my costs even more… that’s another video. But tell me what you spent in medical care in a given year. I’m curious to know.
Watch the video to see how much I spent in 2022.
Below is a transcript if you prefer to read it:
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So we all know why you clicked on the thumbnail.
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It’s to see how much money I racked up in medical bills last year. And
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it was in the six figures
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To keep me alive and functional
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Last year I racked up $292,000 in medical bills.
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So I do have medical insurance. So let’s figure out how much I paid after that kicked in.
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So I have a PPO plan that means that my insurance company contracts with a ton of different physicians, hospitals, imaging centers.
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and if I use my insurances, in-network providers, I get a discount on the services that those providers give me via the contract that they have with my insurance company.
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So let’s see, looking at my computer. So my plan last year, it had no deductible. I’m very honored to not have a deductible.
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It had a 10% coinsurance on medical services until I met my out-of-pocket maximum of $4,500 dollars.
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Prescription drug benefits are slightly different. They are four different tiers of medications, anywhere from 0 to $250 per medication per month is what I could potentially pay.
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A lot of the specialty medications are at that $250 tier.
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So this is really interesting, just for my specialty medication for my autoimmune arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, (blue
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heart’s in the comments for all of my autoimmune arthritis buddies,)
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So just for that medication alone, my insurance company paid the specialty pharmacy
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$120,000.
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gonna say that one more time. $120,000 for
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one
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medication that I take for my multiple chronic illnesses.
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If I had absolutely no insurance, that would be $320
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a
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day
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for one medication.
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It’s really shocking to me that they can charge that much for that one medication, considering it’s a medication that’s been around for 20 years.
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It’s unbelievable. It’s baffling.
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That’s another video.
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So I’m lucky to have health insurance. I used as many in-network contracted providers as I could last year. So for my premiums and any of my out-of-pockets for medical care for prescription drugs, I had to pay
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$24,000 in
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So it’s also important to note that that $24,000 does not include vision or dental.
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to break down that $24,000, that means that every day last year
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for my medications, doctor’s visits, anything related to my health,
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I had to spend
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$65 a day.
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So that I could be a functioning member of society.
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Go, America.
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All right. So now I got a little tidbit of information for all you people in the United States so we can feel so much worse about our medical costs here.
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According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditure Data,
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in 2021, U.S. health care spending reached $4.3 trillion or $12,914 per person.
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So, look, I understand that, like, not all of you are actually spending that amount of money on medical care. I mean, clearly, some of us are because. Hello, $24,000 here. Fun. And I have medical insurance.
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I don’t have a high deductible plan.
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Clearly, I have no deductible.
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So I’m very lucky. But I want to put that in contrast to the European Union.
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So the European Union, on average
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in 2020,
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spent
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$3,050 per person.
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And it’s it’s important to note that the EU has
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double the population of the United States.
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We definitely need to work on lowering our medical costs here in the United States, but that is like a whole other video.
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So I thought it might be interesting for some of you to learn what I spent on medical care last year. Am I six months late?
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Yes.
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Does it matter?
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No. You clicked on the video
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because you were wondering how much money I spent.
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And I spent a lot of money.
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If this video is interesting, please consider sharing it
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perhaps with your elected representatives
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and subscribe. We talk about content regarding healthcare, medicine, just like livin’ daily life with chronic illness and disability. And if you like this video, you might like this one next.
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Thanks so much. I’ll see you next time.