Law Students

Today, I am mailing my final payment on the massive amount of hospital bills you assholes charged me because I was underinsured during my pregnancy (because I had the crappy university insurance policy). For instance, every week that I needed an ultrasound (which was every week from week 21 to week 36), you not only charged me at least $800 for less than 10 minutes of use of the ultrasound machine, but well over $300 for 10 minutes of the ultrasound technician's time, and 2 minutes of the doctor's time. Oh, and I might have gotten 5 minutes of some first year resident's time, but really, let's be honest, I should be charging you for that experience, not the other way around.

Now, what pisses me off about these bills is not a complaint about the service (other than the aforementioned occasional dealings with idiot residents and the obscenely long waits in the waiting room), because my prenatal care was just fine. They properly diagnosed my condition, referred me to physicians out of state that could help, and then watched my condition to make certain there were no further complications. And finally, they managed to retrieve the baby, without any massive trauma to me or to said baby. (Just some slight emotional scarring.)

No, what pisses me off is the fact that when my insurance company was paying for the ultrasounds, they only had to pay a fraction of that cost. A small fraction! Why is it that the broke law student and nursing student, both students of this institution, get the shaft while the insurance company gets a big fat discount? Oh yeah, AND MY HUSBAND WORKS FOR YOU. Why is it that when I asked for a discount in services, I was basically laughed at, because we don't earn below the poverty line? (Nevermind the fact that paying THAT FREAKIN' MUCH in medical bills is what would put us below the poverty line.) So, I have a HUGE balance on my credit card from having to pay you HUGE payments each month that there is no way I could have afforded otherwise. Yeah, so that's what pisses me off.

But, I'm done with you. I have paid you in full for the services I received. (Nineteen months later.) And I'm no longer a broke law student. I am an attorney (hopefully a licensed one as of October), and earning a very good salary. Our combined household income is now well into the six-figure range. Now, of course, I've already started to get mailings from you asking for donations. Are you kidding me? Seriously? I'll tell you exactly what I'll be telling my stupid law school when they call me for donations in October: HELL NO. I have paid you in full for the services I received.

Instead, we will be making annual donations to the Nonprofit Hospital that gave us a 30% discount on their services, donations that will greatly surpass the discount we received. If you're kind enough to not completely overcharge the few patients that actually pay you, they're much more inclined to give you donations.

We're grateful for the care our daughter received, but when you make it apparent that this is just a business for you, and earning a big profit from our medical treatment is more important than charging us fair prices for services (so you can add on that ugly monstrosity of an addition that's overtaking south campus), then you don't get donations. Oh, and you don't even pay your nurses as much as the other hospitals in town do, or have nearly as good benefits, and they have to pay for their own parking. So, you can suck it.

You are the reason we need healthcare reform in this country. Because even when you have insurance, you still get screwed. We're just lucky enough to have the means to (eventually) pay off our medical bills. Most people in the same situation wouldn't have been so lucky.

And you don't care about them either.