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Jul 17 2015 08:14pm
Healthcare costs might be a little high at the moment. Glad I live in an area where there are no snakes:

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Jul 17 2015 08:23pm
my sister had to have most of her lower half reconstructed, which took 2 months in hospital, countless surgeon hours & drugs. it was covered by her health insurance. the thing is, if she didn't have health insurance it would have only cost around $10,000.

is rattlesnake antivenom just super expensive or is this the average cost to save an uninsured life in america?
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Jul 17 2015 08:25pm
Quote (AspenSniper @ Jul 17 2015 10:14pm)
Healthcare costs might be a little high at the moment. Glad I live in an area where there are no snakes:

http://i.imgur.com/BbQgU8a.jpg


what am i looking at here or should i say whose bill?
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Jul 17 2015 08:25pm
Quote (Devil_kin @ Jul 17 2015 08:23pm)
my sister had to have most of her lower half reconstructed, which took 2 months in hospital, countless surgeon hours & drugs. it was covered by her health insurance. the thing is, if she didn't have health insurance it would have only cost around $10,000.

is rattlesnake antivenom just super expensive or is this the average cost to save an uninsured life in america?


A one hour stay in the ER and a 5 minute x-ray cost 4000 when I got hit and my car totalled last november. Glad it wasn't my fault, but still, very expensive. I can only imagine if I had to get admitted.....
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Jul 17 2015 08:26pm
Quote (kalelvszod @ 17 Jul 2015 20:25)
what am i looking at here or should i say whose bill?


https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/3dngld/this_is_the_cost_of_a_rattlesnake_bite_in_america/


Quote (Thor123422 @ 17 Jul 2015 20:25)
A one hour stay in the ER and a 5 minute x-ray cost 4000 when I got hit and my car totalled last november. Glad it wasn't my fault, but still, very expensive. I can only imagine if I had to get admitted.....


the fk

This post was edited by Devil_kin on Jul 17 2015 08:27pm
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Jul 17 2015 08:29pm
Quote (AspenSniper @ Jul 17 2015 08:14pm)
Healthcare costs might be a little high at the moment. Glad I live in an area where there are no snakes:

http://i.imgur.com/BbQgU8a.jpg



NVM

This post was edited by nobrow on Jul 17 2015 08:38pm
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Jul 17 2015 08:39pm
Healthcare is affordable now thanks to Obama. This is a fake picture.
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Jul 17 2015 08:40pm
The woman who spilled McDonalds coffee on herself had hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills because of skin grafts and infection (why the settlement was so high). It's very easy to rack up a ridiculous bill. When you have insurance though your insurance company doesn't pay that much, they typically have deals worked out with their network providers to get much better deals. They just screw over people without insurance doubley so.
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Jul 17 2015 08:58pm
insurance companies look for a way to get out of paying for your expenses pretty sad
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Jul 17 2015 09:01pm
Someone made a very good post on the reddit submission when this image was originally posted. I thought you guys would like to read it:

Quote (/u/Iatros at reddit)
US physician here. I'm pretty late to the party so this will probably not be seen by many, but I feel obligated to post this, or something very similar, when these topics come up. This seemingly outrageous bill is an artifact of how healthcare is billed in the US. It's incredibly dumb, but here's why it's so ridiculous on its face. The OP will almost certainly pay much less than what's on the bill. Here are some things to keep in mind:


  • Part of the reason costs are so high in the US is because it's a coy little game (especially in the fee-for-service model). Providers bill far above their actual cost because they know that they'll be reimbursed pennies on the dollar (about $0.20 from Medicare, less from -caid, slightly more from private insurers). The provider, however, can't charge different rates to different payers, so even if they wanted to charge you cost + a bit more to, you know, "have an income," they can't because they'll be audited by the government. So, when you get a bill for 10k, without insurance they have to bill that much, but in reality they may get 2k. Additionally, most hospitals will send you the 10k bill, then take the 2k you pay and be happy with that, even if you're paying cash. But that detracts from the narrative of "greedy doctors and hospitals."


  • In the comments on these sorts of posts, populist appeals just find their way to the top of the discussions. Ever read the posts about how a bag of saline costs $0.44 to create so that's exactly what inpatients should be charged (who cares about sterilization, standardization, regulation, storage, provider oversight, IV access, etc). Somehow, the fact that administering tylenol costs $6 in the hospital is a reflection of the prescribing physician's greed and the insane margins that hospital administration can yield. Because, as we all know, everybody pays their bills and those costs are in no way related to high human resource costs, liability, regulation, and displaced reimbursement for services rendered below cost.


  • An enormous part of the "high cost" here is also the fact that anyone with coverage is subsidizing all people without coverage. Guess what happens when some gangbanger gets his tib/fib blown up? Ortho admits him and does the floor work/surgery/post-op for free. The radiologists read the studies, the nurses care for the patient, the lab uses reagents to run tests, etc. Plus the opportunity cost of a bed being used by someone who doesn't pay jack shit. Physicians and hospitals do a *ton* of what is essentially free work for a significant portion of the hospital population and you, insured responsible adult, are paying for the care of such individuals.


  • This is exactly the type of situation that things like the bronze level plan were designed for in "obamacare" - catastrophic medical emergencies. And let's be very clear here: this person likely would have died without ICU level care and (extremely expensive) antivenom. Even with a bronze plan (the coverage of which is total garbage, admittedly), the total [out of pocket maximum for this care should be around $6500](http://www.healthpocket.com/individual-health-insurance/bronze-health-plans). While that's not cheap, I kinda think that's a bargain price for something that saves my life. If this person didn't have insurance... well, that seems like a really bad life decision. It's now legally required and subsidized for those who can't afford it.
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