An Indian man living in the United States has claimed that a short emergency room visit following his knee injury in New York resulted in medical bills amounting to several thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
Parth Vijayvergiya, in a now-viral video titled, \u201cInsane healthcare cost in US. Real life incident,\u201d explained why many people describe America as an expensive place to live.<\/p>\n
\u201cBohat log kehte hain ki America bohat mehenga hai. Main aapko examples dekar samjhata hoon kis tarah mehenga hai. Main yahaan rehta hoon (Many people say that America is very expensive. I will explain with examples how expensive it actually is. I live here),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Recalling the incident, he said the injury occurred on December 25 while he was ice-skating in New York with his wife and sister.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
While ice-skating, someone hit his knee very hard, which caused severe pain: \u201cI thought I had injured my knee or suffered a fracture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concerned about the injury, he visited a hospital\u2019s emergency room but avoided calling an ambulance due to the high cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaine taxi li khudse kyunki ambulance ka kharcha bohat zyaada hai yahaan. So, that was out of the question (I took a taxi on my own because the cost of an ambulance is very high here, so that was not an option),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He spent about 1.5 hours in the emergency room, where doctors conducted an X-ray, examined his knee and applied a crepe bandage for what was diagnosed as a muscle injury before discharging him.<\/p>\n
However, the financial impact of the visit became clear weeks later.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 3 weeks, mere insurance ne mujhe bataaya, ki aapko $1,800 dena hai (After three weeks, my insurance company informed me that I had to pay $1,800 {approximately Rs1 .5 lakh]),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also claimed that apart from his own payment of $1,800 (around Rs 1.5 lakh) for the brief emergency visit, his insurance provider paid an additional $4,000\u2013$4,500 (approximately Rs 3.3\u2013Rs 3.7 lakh) to the hospital, with the total bill amounting to roughly $5,800\u2013$6,300 (around Rs 4.8\u2013Rs 5.2 lakh).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why America is so expensive and salaries are so high here,\u201d he concluded in the video, which also included clips from inside the hospital and images of the medical bills.<\/p>\n
Watch the video here:<\/p>\n
In the comments section of the video which also made its way to X, several users compared healthcare costs in the US to those in India.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why healthcare affordability matters more than technology, because a simple injury should not feel like a financial punishment,\u201d a user said.<\/p>\n
Another commented, \u201cIt\u2019s true. I literally had to go to India for a wisdom tooth removal, and the entire trip plus procedure cost less than what they were charging here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others highlighted what they described as a harsh reality of the American medical system. \u201cThat\u2019s the reality of the US healthcare system \u2014 world-class treatment, but shockingly expensive. A simple X-ray and bandage shouldn\u2019t cost a small fortune,\u201d a user said.<\/p>\n
Some users were more critical, calling America \u201cnotorious for looting money on healthcare,\u201d while others contrasted it with India\u2019s relatively affordable medical system.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia may lack a lot of things, but it is very affordable, especially when it comes to healthcare and public transport,\u201d one comment read.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of availability and affordability of healthcare facilities, we Indians are much more blessed than we care to admit,\u201d another added.<\/p>\n
Advanced medical infrastructure and technology in the US often come at an overwhelming financial cost. For many residents and immigrants alike, even a minor injury can translate into a major financial burden, reinforcing concerns about affordability in one of the world\u2019s most expensive healthcare systems.<\/p>\n
– Ends<\/p>\n
Published On: <\/p>\n
Jan 23, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Indian man living in the United States has claimed that a short emergency room visit following his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[226383,64,63,226379,137,500,226382,226378,62290,226381,226375,226380,226377,226376,3349],"class_list":["post-432771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-5-lakh-us-hospital-bill","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-emergency-room-visit-cost-in-us","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-indian-man-in-us-pays-rs-1-5-lakh-for-knee-injury","tag-minor-knee-injury","tag-nri","tag-nri-breaks-down-rs-5-lakh-emergency-room-bill-for-minor-knee-injury-in-us","tag-nri-emergency-room-visit-in-us","tag-parth-vijayvergiya","tag-rs-5-lakh-bill","tag-us-healthcare-cost","tag-viral-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}