We hear it all the time: “Healthcare should be free!” But here’s the thing—free doesn’t actually mean free. Someone’s paying for it. The question is… who?
In this episode, we’re breaking down the true cost of American healthcare—not just the ridiculous bills, but the broken system that makes those bills possible. From $98 insulin vials to $300,000 snake bites, we look at why staying alive here feels like a ransom note.
The answer isn’t just “tax the rich harder.” It’s about cutting the waste, stopping the scams, and fixing the system without killing the incentives that keep innovation and quality alive.
Get mad. Laugh anyway. Stay in the gray.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction: The US Healthcare Circus
00:44 - The High Cost of Healthcare
03:24 - Insurance: A Gamble
04:48 - Drug Prices: A Political Hot Potato
07:43 - Quality of Care: The Real Debate
13:16 - Real Stories, Real Struggles
16:24 - Potential Solutions and Final Thoughts
00:00:00
I want to talk real people, real bills, and the absolute circus
00:00:06
that is the US healthcare system.
00:00:13
I'm not saying that it's cut and dry that we need to do this or
00:00:17
we need to do this. There's a lot of Gray here, and
00:00:20
that's what I do. So here's the deal.
00:00:22
Healthcare is expensive in America because it's built to be
00:00:25
that way. The solution isn't just free
00:00:27
stuff for everyone. Free isn't free.
00:00:30
It just means someone else is paying the bill.
00:00:32
The question is, do you pay for it with your wallet or with your
00:00:36
life? Let's talk about it.
00:00:38
All right? Hey, guys, good to have you.
00:00:40
It is April the 24th, 2025, and let's roll.
00:00:44
Why does it cost a small fortune in the United States to stay
00:00:48
alive? What do I mean by that?
00:00:51
Well, today I'm asking you the question.
00:00:54
Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with a bunch of policy
00:00:57
jargon. I want to talk real people, real
00:01:02
bills, and the absolute circus that is the US healthcare
00:01:07
system. I'm not saying that it's cut and
00:01:14
dry that we need to do this or we need to do this.
00:01:17
There's a lot of Gray here, and that's what I do.
00:01:20
Before you start yelling, we just want free healthcare.
00:01:23
Free, free, free. Everyone likes to say free.
00:01:27
Well, it's not free. Somebody's paying for it.
00:01:31
You're going to pay for it somewhere.
00:01:33
The question is, do you pay for it with your wallet or with your
00:01:38
life? Let's talk about it.
00:01:40
All right, I'm going to start with a little mood booster.
00:01:43
The numbers. This is on the surface what gets
00:01:46
everybody kicking and screaming, and I'm going to give a few
00:01:49
examples on why people do this, and it's just on the surface.
00:01:53
You got to dig in a little bit, but when you hear this, you get
00:01:55
frustrated. In the US, an average hospital
00:01:57
stay for a day is about $2500. It's a good chunk of change.
00:02:02
That's per day. Like I said, it's not a week or
00:02:05
a month, it's a day. In Spain, 400.
00:02:09
OK, still not inexpensive, but in Australia 765 going up, but
00:02:15
still not that 2500. Again, there's more to it, but
00:02:19
just on the surface you're going what's going on?
00:02:22
I'm going to tell you how about another example.
00:02:24
You need an MRI $1100 here, Netherlands closer to $350.00.
00:02:30
It's quite a difference. How about ambulance ride?
00:02:32
I, I had one of those once and the, the paramedics were honest
00:02:37
with me. They were like, Are you sure you
00:02:38
want? And you could probably get there
00:02:40
on your own. And it's quite expensive.
00:02:42
And I was like, no, I want to go, just take me.
00:02:44
I don't want to deal with it. And, and it's about 900 to $3000
00:02:49
depending on where you are. And that's just like you're,
00:02:52
you're, it's like taking an Uber that's loud to a hospital.
00:02:56
That's not even the procedures yet.
00:02:58
Nothing's happened yet. And you're already down close
00:03:01
between 903 grand. Do you want the lights and the
00:03:04
sirens on? Apparently that's extra.
00:03:06
They'll even probably crank up a Spotify playlist for you or
00:03:10
extra. Are the numbers scary?
00:03:12
Absolutely. But here's the plot twist.
00:03:14
It's not just about the price. It's about how the game is
00:03:17
played. That's what I want to talk
00:03:20
about. It's not as simple as well,
00:03:21
that's just too high. There's there's more to it than
00:03:23
that. So combine insurance.
00:03:25
That's the other issue. It's like a gamble.
00:03:29
It's not even it's, you know, we have insurance that should
00:03:33
handle things, but it just doesn't.
00:03:35
You just kind of paint to spin the wheel one more time and
00:03:37
that's that's kind of what it is.
00:03:39
And individual coverage, I have around 7900 a year average
00:03:44
family plan over $22. And yet 41% of working age
00:03:50
adults still struggle with medical bills.
00:03:53
Even with insurance. There's too much.
00:04:00
It makes my head explode when I think about insurance and I
00:04:03
actually have some experience in insurance.
00:04:06
I'm trying not, I didn't want to give you that detail, but I
00:04:07
actually am licensed, not medical and property and
00:04:11
casualty. But I understand how the fine
00:04:14
print works in the medical industry.
00:04:16
My goodness. And it doesn't make things any
00:04:18
easier. Deductibles, co-pays out of
00:04:21
network nonsense in the magical surprise bills that you receive
00:04:25
for what it feels more like a protection.
00:04:29
That's just a big gamble, honestly.
00:04:31
And who's responsible for this, this issue?
00:04:35
And yes, it's fine print from the insurance company.
00:04:38
Or is it the fact that medical caregivers can charge like
00:04:42
they're selling yachts, not just check UPS.
00:04:47
It's a big issue. Let's talk about drug prices.
00:04:54
This is another big one. This is, this gets political,
00:04:56
especially when you're talking about something like insulin,
00:04:59
which is what I'm going to talk about.
00:05:01
Insulin is life saving. It's necessary for many, for
00:05:04
millions. A lot of people need it daily,
00:05:07
every couple of hours. In Canada it's $12.00 a vial.
00:05:11
In Germany it's $11.00 a vial. Here, $98 per vial.
00:05:16
It's the same drug, the same companies, but different prices.
00:05:20
Why the US doesn't negotiate drug prices federally?
00:05:25
I didn't understand that. I didn't even know that.
00:05:28
Instead, Big Pharma spends $300 million a year lobbying to
00:05:34
Congress to keep it that way. That's something we need to look
00:05:37
into. That's not healthcare, that's
00:05:39
racketeering with paperwork. And but I'll go the opposite
00:05:44
way. How about this?
00:05:44
I'm going to give you both. How about the opposite?
00:05:47
When I lived in the UK, I've used in my UK life before in
00:05:52
examples, I had to get some medication.
00:05:56
I had an anti anxiety, anti depression medication and they
00:06:01
call them tablets. I like to make fun of them for
00:06:03
that. But it was very, very cheap.
00:06:06
And I was just shocked. But what it wasn't was that they
00:06:12
still had to be shipped over because the UK didn't really use
00:06:16
all these meds. They just didn't, they were
00:06:17
like, we don't, we don't have that here.
00:06:19
How am I supposed to get it for you?
00:06:21
And they had it shipped and it was going to take a week and
00:06:23
then it was, you know, they got it down to five days.
00:06:26
It's but it's cheap. So what are you willing to what
00:06:29
do you want to sacrifice? Are you willing to wait the time
00:06:32
it takes? A lot of times you can't do it.
00:06:35
That's not that's the point of this medication is that you take
00:06:37
it daily. So what am I supposed to do?
00:06:39
And that's the same situation that you deal with when
00:06:42
wondering if something like ANHS, which is British Universal
00:06:47
Healthcare is possible here. Those are the types of questions
00:06:51
that need to be asked. It's not just simple.
00:06:53
The system is built this way because this is how it's
00:06:56
supposed to work. Fee for service means doctors
00:07:00
and hospitals get paid per procedure, not per outcome.
00:07:04
The PBMS, which are pharmacy benefit managers, they act like
00:07:08
they're negotiating the prices, but really they're just kind of
00:07:12
just the middle man skimming off the top.
00:07:14
A lot of people don't realize who's doing the negotiating, and
00:07:16
it's not the federal government. My understanding is that these
00:07:19
people are not the federal government.
00:07:20
Admin costs. People don't realize this. the
00:07:24
US blows 8% of GDP just on paperwork.
00:07:29
France and the UK were like 2 to 3%.
00:07:33
So that's a lot of you can chop off right there with the admin
00:07:36
work. It's a lot of people getting
00:07:37
paid just to basically keep track of what they're going to
00:07:40
charge you. So wipe it out.
00:07:43
I'm looking at you, Doge. The quality of care.
00:07:45
This is the thing that nobody wants to talk about.
00:07:47
This is one of my biggest issues when people toss around the
00:07:52
phrase free healthcare, universal healthcare.
00:07:55
It's a great idea. Why would I not that people if
00:07:58
you're not considerate, you don't care about you're not
00:08:01
compassionate, you care about other people having Healthcare
00:08:04
is a right. No, it's not.
00:08:06
I think that I want the best quality care in the way that
00:08:11
these other countries are set up.
00:08:14
In my opinion, having experienced some of it and
00:08:17
having hear hearing stories, which we'll get to, the quality
00:08:21
would suffer. And that's my opinion.
00:08:23
There are all these other things that we can talk about, but when
00:08:26
we're talking about quality, that's what we have to ask.
00:08:29
So the real question, would you rather have good care and pay a
00:08:33
bill or average at best? And no bill, some of you might
00:08:38
say average at best if you're just going in for a checkup, but
00:08:42
it's those big incidents. And again, we'll talk about
00:08:45
that. Me, bill, me bill me hard.
00:08:50
Oh, if I'm bringing my kid in there and his life's on the
00:08:53
line, my life or my way. Anybody on my plan, on my
00:08:57
insurance plan or in general? Even if I not on the insurance
00:09:00
plan, I want the best care. I don't want a bargain been
00:09:03
brain surgeon. If something is needed, I want
00:09:06
the one who's well paid, well trained, and caffeinated enough
00:09:10
to keep their hands steady. This is where the free stuff
00:09:14
argument falls short and not only with this, but in other
00:09:18
things where people are yelling give me for free.
00:09:20
Somebody's always paying for it. The incentives matter for our
00:09:24
doctors and nurses, innovators. They don't work for hugs and
00:09:28
gratitude and thank you for saving my life.
00:09:31
Some of them might, but I guarantee if it's incentivized,
00:09:35
you will have more people that are willing to go through the
00:09:38
process, which is a lot of school and a lot of work and a
00:09:42
lot of debt. That's where quality comes from.
00:09:45
I once again, I've told the story.
00:09:46
I'm going to tell it again very fast.
00:09:48
I once had to hit up the ER and when I lived in the UK, those of
00:09:53
you that know me know where and those of you that don't maybe
00:09:56
heard me talk about it before. But the great people light, but
00:10:01
the weight and the quality had a lot left to be desired.
00:10:06
I needed to have a book or something entertained me while I
00:10:09
waited with chest pains. Fortunately ended up being a
00:10:13
form of GERD over there. They call it gourd because of
00:10:16
the O at the beginning of esophagus.
00:10:18
In their version of English. It's basically a reflux on crack
00:10:22
and but I didn't know that. And if it was something serious,
00:10:27
were they just willing to let me die in the chair, like because
00:10:31
I'm waiting in line because other people were walking into
00:10:33
this hospital with a sprained ankle or they stubbed their
00:10:38
fucking toe. But hey, it's free, so let's
00:10:40
just all go clutter the emergency rooms and clutter the
00:10:44
doctor's offices. And the people that need the
00:10:46
help are unable to. That's what I try to get across
00:10:50
to people that want this universal healthcare.
00:10:53
Oh, but but Great Britain does it.
00:10:55
But I don't like it. And a lot of people wouldn't
00:10:57
either if it was here and they'd have something else to bitch
00:11:00
about. But I finally got in.
00:11:03
Back to my story and I was they gave me all sorts of pain
00:11:06
medication which really jacked me up.
00:11:10
It's fun for a while until they left me in a renovated wing with
00:11:15
like construction everywhere and no other people in this bed for
00:11:20
about 5 hours. I didn't know what was going on.
00:11:22
Nobody swung by. I think I saw two people walk by
00:11:25
and they were they were worker working on the facilities.
00:11:28
They weren't even doctors or nurses or anybody.
00:11:31
And I didn't know what was going on.
00:11:32
Eventually, they wheeled me up to the renal ward.
00:11:35
I had nothing wrong with my kidneys.
00:11:37
And I had to sit there with three people on dialysis and
00:11:40
listen to to how the horrible experience they were going
00:11:43
through. And I felt, I felt guilty, like
00:11:46
I just had some chest pains. And I mean, I still didn't know
00:11:48
what was happening. But you know, I'm having to
00:11:50
listen to an elderly man tell his family he doesn't want to
00:11:53
live anymore. And it was quite difficult
00:11:55
because they didn't have any room in the hospital.
00:11:57
So I'm tossed up there and I'm getting completely different
00:11:59
treatment. It just was chaotic is a good
00:12:02
word to put it. I didn't see a doctor for three
00:12:05
days. I had a nurse.
00:12:06
I had a bunch of nurses as their shifts were ending, feed me,
00:12:10
drug me up and say, we'll get to you.
00:12:14
And they took my blood every day.
00:12:15
No one told me what was going on.
00:12:17
I'm telling you the care is not what you want it to be.
00:12:21
I'm not bashing the NHS. I'm not bashing the UK, although
00:12:25
they have their issues right now.
00:12:26
I'm just telling you that you pay what for what you you get
00:12:30
what you pay for or don't pay for.
00:12:32
And that's the case. And I'm just telling you be be
00:12:35
careful what you ask for. Meanwhile, let's not forget
00:12:37
about our neighbors to the north.
00:12:39
I know we have some friction with them right now, but they're
00:12:41
Canadians that routinely have to cross the border of the US for
00:12:44
treatment. There was a story of a woman who
00:12:50
had to cross over to the United States for a cancer procedure.
00:12:53
Cancer's not something to fuck around with.
00:12:55
They told her she couldn't get it out in Canada for three
00:12:57
weeks. Cancer can spread.
00:12:59
She was devastated. And she did a whole this whole
00:13:01
video interview about how she drove in, got the procedure that
00:13:05
day in the United States. Yes, she had a bill, but it
00:13:09
wasn't as high as what people thought.
00:13:10
And it's your life deal with the bill later that hit home that's
00:13:15
something to think about So here's some real stories it's
00:13:18
not theoretical we'll talk about Sarah 28 grad student she had
00:13:21
$11 emergency appendectomy. It's quite a bit chopped that
00:13:25
thing right up. James father of two crowdfunding
00:13:29
$50 for cancer care. Wow, crowdfunding GoFundMe is
00:13:34
now part of the American healthcare system and that
00:13:38
sucks. So I'm, I'm turning the corner
00:13:40
here and I'm telling you that these big tragic type events,
00:13:45
things that happen in your life that put you in there and these
00:13:48
bills, they can be addressed, but it's not the way that you
00:13:53
think it should be, which is this universal health care that
00:13:55
that is mirroring other countries.
00:13:57
I keep hearing the other country thing and it's just, man, I'm
00:14:01
giving you both sides. I'm giving you the countries.
00:14:03
I'm telling you what they're doing and I'm telling you why
00:14:04
people think it works. But I'm also going to give you
00:14:07
the other side, which is kind of where I'm hanging out.
00:14:09
There's a family called the Feffers and you probably maybe
00:14:13
heard of this in there in San Diego.
00:14:15
Their toddler was bitten by a rattlesnake and the final bill
00:14:18
was almost $300. The anti venom alone was
00:14:22
$213. Why?
00:14:24
Well, let me give you a quick lesson here.
00:14:28
The anti venom comes from donor animals and mostly are horses
00:14:33
and they have to inject them with the snake venom.
00:14:35
Sounds like something out of medieval texts, but here we are.
00:14:38
And because of that is the reason they're claiming this
00:14:42
anti venom cost so much. There's got to be something in
00:14:44
that case that helps in I mean that's an, I mean that's an
00:14:48
extreme case, not people aren't rolling into the ERS every day
00:14:52
with snake bites and they're going to die.
00:14:55
These types of things. If it's going to cost $300,
00:14:58
we need to do something as a country, as a government.
00:15:00
There's got to be a way to help these types of cases.
00:15:04
Elizabeth Moreno $18 for year end tests.
00:15:08
It's a tricky headline because it's not just one test.
00:15:10
It was a A1 sample tested for many things and mostly were drug
00:15:17
tests for like every drug known to man because of chronic back
00:15:20
pain. It's that's, that's surprise
00:15:22
billing at its finest right there.
00:15:24
But you get the got the bill. They basically said these things
00:15:26
and they broke it down. These different tests cost us
00:15:29
much and it added up to that. She ended up only having to pay
00:15:32
about 7200, which is still a lot, but they got it down.
00:15:35
So some of these are a little bit misleading.
00:15:37
However, you get that bill and you don't look at it and you're
00:15:40
just like, you know, pay it. I mean, this is where we are as
00:15:43
people are being taken advantage of, but it's not by who you
00:15:46
think it is. This is the type of stuff that
00:15:48
needs fixing. That's what I'm saying.
00:15:49
It's not not subsidizing, you know, doctor visits for folks
00:15:54
who only show up when it's too late.
00:15:56
You know, these types of basic procedures aren't the problem.
00:16:00
It's the large ones that can get you into some heavy, heavy debt.
00:16:04
And if you can't, you know, do a $20 co-pay for for medication,
00:16:08
then I don't have to tell you, maybe take an extra job or
00:16:11
something because you should be able to handle that and someone
00:16:14
else shouldn't have to pay for it.
00:16:16
Snake bites $200 or $300.
00:16:20
Yeah, maybe we can chip in and see what we can do to help.
00:16:24
And then again, real quick, what, what other countries do?
00:16:26
Germany? I'm just, I don't agree with it,
00:16:28
but I'm going to tell you anyway.
00:16:29
Germany negotiates their drug prices.
00:16:31
OK, We need to do that. I agree.
00:16:34
No more of this middle man bullshit with negotiations.
00:16:37
We need to be strict. EU KS, NHS, I've spoken about
00:16:41
that a couple times. They only go through taxes.
00:16:44
Well, some people feel like our taxes should go there.
00:16:48
I'll get to that in a second. But to go after more taxes and
00:16:51
to tax the wealthy is not the way to do it.
00:16:54
Japan sets fixed prices for every service and that works for
00:16:58
them. They all keep their admin costs
00:17:01
low. This is huge.
00:17:03
I said it earlier, that's a lot of money.
00:17:06
It works there for keeping these low.
00:17:09
They don't need that many admin and all that work.
00:17:12
The question is, can it work here?
00:17:15
All these things without sacrificing the quality?
00:17:17
Can we do smart reforms like negotiating prices and cutting
00:17:21
up a middle men like I just said without turning it into another
00:17:25
tax happy socialist playground? And you guys hate when I use the
00:17:29
word socialism. We'll get to that in a second.
00:17:32
But let's be honest, jacking up taxes on people who actually
00:17:35
create jobs isn't really a winning strategy.
00:17:38
So this all leads to this. Can it work here?
00:17:42
The real Gray area had to do it. Here's my problem with the
00:17:46
entire debate. Anytime you suggest fixing drug
00:17:49
prices or cutting administration bloat, someone screams
00:17:54
socialism. OK, I do it.
00:17:56
I I know people do it consistently.
00:17:58
But negotiating the drug prices, That's not socialism, that's
00:18:02
common sense. Lowering the admin fees, common
00:18:05
sense. Taxing the wealthy into oblivion
00:18:09
to fund it. That is socialism and it's dumb.
00:18:13
You need the wealthy. I've said it before, disagree
00:18:17
with me all you want, you're wrong.
00:18:19
You need innovation, you need people.
00:18:21
Incentivize to build great hospitals, cutting edge
00:18:25
machines, and yes, make a profit.
00:18:27
So instead of bankrupting the people who build the system, why
00:18:32
not cut the dumb spending elsewhere?
00:18:36
What DOGE is doing. We don't need to spend
00:18:39
$2 for Moroccan pottery classes.
00:18:43
We don't need to spend $300 for DEI bird watching
00:18:48
initiatives. Try not to laugh.
00:18:50
I know that $300 is not a lot in the big scheme, but there
00:18:53
are a lot of these and they all add up and some of them aren't
00:18:57
in the 10s to 20 million range in billions. $700 for an
00:19:02
LGBTQ musical production in Ireland.
00:19:07
What the fuck is that? What are all these things?
00:19:09
Could it be that their code for what's happening in the old
00:19:14
government and in the the establishment, which is
00:19:17
laundering? I can't imagine these are real
00:19:19
things, but God, they that's that's what they are.
00:19:22
If you take that money and you distribute it the right way
00:19:25
without frivolously spending it, perhaps we could put money into
00:19:29
something like universal healthcare and do it the right
00:19:32
way and still incentivize and not lose the quality.
00:19:36
It seems so simple to me. Priorities, people.
00:19:39
The CBO says negotiating Medicare drug prices alone could
00:19:44
save $456 billion / 10 years. Let's start there.
00:19:49
I'm all up for it. So here's the deal.
00:19:51
Healthcare is expensive in America because it's built to be
00:19:54
that way. The solution isn't just free
00:19:57
stuff for everyone. Free isn't free.
00:19:59
It just means someone else is paying the bill.
00:20:01
The fix? You kill the scammy middle men.
00:20:05
Negotiate prices. Incentivize the people who
00:20:08
actually save the lives and stop wasting billions on nonsense.
00:20:14
It seems simple. Why haven't the people in charge
00:20:17
figured it out yet? I'm available if you want to
00:20:20
consult with me. My hourly fees are fairly low.
00:20:24
Thanks for hanging out. This is a topic that I get
00:20:27
yelled at a lot for it by by a lot of the people screaming for
00:20:32
free stuff. They don't like that I've got
00:20:34
other ideas that don't involve taxing the hell out of people
00:20:37
and having someone else pay for it, which is what screaming for
00:20:41
free stuff really is. The other side, you know, they a
00:20:44
lot of people I don't agree with on that side either, where they
00:20:47
say, hey, everyone's responsible for themselves, so, you know,
00:20:50
fuck them. It's a little harsh too.
00:20:53
There are things here that we can help all of us with, and I
00:20:57
think we should do them. If it made you think, if this
00:21:00
episode made you think, if it pissed you off, if it, God
00:21:04
forbid, made you chuckle a little bit at parts, share it
00:21:07
with someone who might be interested in the subject.
00:21:10
Again, it's a broad a broad analysis of of the US healthcare
00:21:14
system. And in my own style, I know
00:21:16
there are people that dive into it a lot deeper, but a lot of
00:21:19
people don't have time for the interest to dive that deep into
00:21:24
it. So hopefully this helped you.
00:21:26
Subscribe, leave me reviews, stay questioning, and I hope to
00:21:30
continue to give you great content.
00:21:32
So love you guys, see you next time.
00:21:35
Stay laughing, stay in the grave, stay in the grave.
00:21:38
Love you.