Photo via brittanyalaine/TikTok
April 29, 2021, 12:36 pm
A viral TikTok video in which a woman shares her experience with the U.S. healthcare system for her non-American followers is causing people to once again ask why we live like this in a world where there are clearly better options.
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Brittany Alaine, an ESL teacher and world traveler, told the story of when her dad got cancer after one of her followers asked how it works in the U.S. if you have to take time off for work because you have an illness like depression or cancer.
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If you live in the U.S., you can probably see where this is going.
“My father got diagnosed with cancer, he made $11 too much to qualify for government assistance,” said Alaine. “But don’t worry! After he lost his job, he was able to get some help, but it wasn’t enough.”
“The average cost of chemo treatment for a cancer patient is anywhere from $1,000 to $12,000 a month.”
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Alaine appears to have pulled this information from Asbestos.com, an advocacy website for mesothelioma patients, which states the same cost ranges for chemotherapy. They note that even with health insurance, patients can end up responsible for over $10,000 in medical bills while recovering from cancer — and that’s not counting all the other costs involved in receiving this treatment.
“One of my father’s pain meds cost us $400 a week, which we couldn’t afford, and we had to extend for an entire month,” Alaine continues. “So we had to do things like creating a GoFundMe page and playing the lottery.”
Alaine tears up in the video as she reveals the sad news that her dad did not survive his battle with cancer, but even so, his medical bills had to be paid.
“My dad died at the age of 43. He should not have had to spend the last year and a half of his life wondering how he was going to pay to live and also worrying about the debt he was going to put his family in after he died.”
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Alaine is currently living in Germany and makes TikTok videos comparing this country to the U.S., sometimes poking fun at the different laws and other times making more serious videos about the negative aspects of her former home. She recently made one about how she does not miss the aspect of “active shooter drills” about teaching in the U.S.
As such, many of Alaine’s followers are German or otherwise European, and so the comments on her healthcare video are full of people who are stunned and aghast by her story.
“Waiiit you have to pay off his debt?? Isn’t it written off?” asked one TikTok user. “My mums debt is not is not my responsibility to pay now she’s gone.”
“I know the NHS isn’t fantastic but it’s hard to believe in this day and age people die because they can’t afford healthcare,” said another.
*First Published: April 29, 2021, 12:36 pm
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