Adding yet another horrifying anecdote to the ever-growing list of reasons the United States urgently needs to transition away from its disastrous for-profit system to Medicare for All—which is backed by 70 percent of Americans—Kaiser Health News (KHN) and NPR on Monday published the story of Drew Calver, a 44-year-old teacher with health insurance who was billed nearly $109,000 by a Texas hospital after he suffered a heart attack.

“How anyone can read stories like this and still think the for-profit health insurance model is acceptable is baffling to me.”
—Ben Spielberg”The heart attack was a shock for Calver, an avid swimmer who had competed in an Ironman triathlon just five months before,” KHN reports. “Despite the surprise, even from his hospital bed, Calver asked whether his health insurance would cover all of this, a financial worry that accompanies nearly every American hospital stay.”

St. David’s Medical Center—the Texas hospital where Calver had emergency surgery—assured the teacher and father of two that they would accept his insurance, despite the fact that the facility is classified as “out-of-network” on his Aetna healthcare plan.

But then, months after Calver’s heart attack and operation, the bills arrived.

“Total Bill: $164,941 for a four-day hospital stay, including $42,944 for four stents and $10,920 for room charges,” noted KHN, which published the billing statement from St. David’s Medical Center. “Calver’s insurer paid $55,840. The hospital billed Calver for the unpaid balance of $108,951.31.”

“They’re going to give me another heart attack stressing over this bill,” Calver told KHN. “I can’t pay this bill on my teacher salary, and I don’t want this to go to a debt collector.”

Calver’s story provoked outrage but not surprise, given that the 44-year-old teacher is one of millions of Americans who have been threatened with financial ruin by the United States’ for-profit healthcare system, which—compared to other advanced nations—is uniquely expensive while still delivering terrible results.

According to a recent study by the Koch-funded Mercatus Center, Medicare for All would save Americans $2 trillion in healthcare spending while covering everybody.

“How anyone can read stories like this and still think the for-profit health insurance model is acceptable is baffling to me,” noted journalist Ben Spielberg, expressing a sentiment that was echoed across social media in response to Calver’s story.