Best healthcare system in the world, right?

[Kangaroo Feathers]

Taken from Reddit: "This is what end of life looks like in the U.S. My wife had insurance she paid $500 per month for. The bottom two bills are for $400,000 the rest are between $50 to $5000. Sudden cardiac arrest at 47. I did CPR. Huge mistake. She lived two weeks in intensive care then told she was brain dead."

Keen to hear the "but socialised medicine is teh communisms!" Usual Suspects' defence. Not to mention the "but A+E has to treat you for free!" mantra-sayers.

 

[Altfish]

 

[SomeRandom]

Jesus! I went to the doctor for my flu last week. Paid 80$ and got 40$ back with my Medicare.
I’ll take my evil socialised communist medical assistance, warts and all. Even with all the waiting times. Bugger going bankrupt for having a heart attack or whatever.

 

[Enoch07]

Taken from Reddit: "This is what end of life looks like in the U.S. My wife had insurance she paid $500 per month for. The bottom two bills are for $400,000 the rest are between $50 to $5000. Sudden cardiac arrest at 47. I did CPR. Huge mistake. She lived two weeks in intensive care then told she was brain dead."

Keen to hear the "but socialised medicine is teh communisms!" Usual Suspects' defence. Not to mention the "but A+E has to treat you for free!" mantra-sayers.

Must have been some p00py insurance she had. I was hospitalized for 3 days they had to put me under for laser surgery the whole 9 yards. When I got the bill it was for $23,000. Insurance paid all but $300 of it. I gladly picked up the phone called the hospital and paid it right away.

 

[Neutral Name]

Taken from Reddit: "This is what end of life looks like in the U.S. My wife had insurance she paid $500 per month for. The bottom two bills are for $400,000 the rest are between $50 to $5000. Sudden cardiac arrest at 47. I did CPR. Huge mistake. She lived two weeks in intensive care then told she was brain dead."

Keen to hear the "but socialised medicine is teh communisms!" Usual Suspects' defence. Not to mention the "but A+E has to treat you for free!" mantra-sayers.

I am so sorry for you. I love universal health care. I lived in the U.K. and I live very near Canada. We do need it in the U.S.

 

[metis]

We don't rank well at all here in the States when we look at the comparative stats that can be found at the W.H.O. website, and yet we pay more per capita than any other country.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I don't think I would be entirely honest if I promoted the UK health care system as being exemplary but compared to many others we don't perform that badly - given the meagre amounts usually given to such by our right-leaning tendencies:

Stephen Fry has made the ultimate myth-busting video about private healthcare vs the NHS

 

[Stanyon]

That must be some pretty poor insurance if they have to foot the bill for all of it, with many insurances you pay a small deductible and then they cover the rest for major medical, typically up to $1,000,000 or more depending on the insurance company.

 

[Shaul]

Sorry for your loss.

$400,000 divided by 14 days of care is $28,500 per day. I would question this. Perhaps you should contact professional help in disputing the amount. This could be an attorney, a patient advocate, or state regulators or state attorney offices. Dealing with the loss of a loved one is not a good time for battling healthcare providers alone. Get help.

On a more universal note, since the U.S. government already spends more per capita on healthcare than any other country (except for Norway), clearly increasing government spending on healthcare is not the answer.

There are solutions. But in the end it is a cold, cruel world, and we all must be vigilant. There are many wolves amongst us disguised in sheep’s clothing looking to entrap the unwary.

 

[Stevicus]

Taken from Reddit: "This is what end of life looks like in the U.S. My wife had insurance she paid $500 per month for. The bottom two bills are for $400,000 the rest are between $50 to $5000. Sudden cardiac arrest at 47. I did CPR. Huge mistake. She lived two weeks in intensive care then told she was brain dead."

Keen to hear the "but socialised medicine is teh communisms!" Usual Suspects' defence. Not to mention the "but A+E has to treat you for free!" mantra-sayers.

I agree that the US badly needs universal healthcare.

But what really floors me is the fact that, even those who rail against socialism and demand free market medicine don't even have consistent views on the subject. As an example, prescription drugs are available only at a pharmacy with a doctor's authorization. Under the rules of the free market, a person should be able to buy whatever medications he wants at any location. There shouldn't be any such things as "prescriptions" or "controlled substances" in a free market economy.

Likewise, if I go into a restaurant and they burn my food, I shouldn't be required to pay for it.

Same for hospitals. If the patient dies, then they failed to deliver quality service, and therefore, they don't deserve payment. If they go to court to sue for payment, then they're violating their own principles, since they're calling on Big Gov to intervene in the free market.

 

[Augustus]

Same for hospitals. If the patient dies, then they failed to deliver quality service, and therefore, they don't deserve payment.

 

[Stevicus]

Hey, it's the rules of the free market. "Customer is always right" and that sort of stuff. Either they live by their stated principles or they don't.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Pretty interesting piece.

Here's the real reason health care costs so much more in the US

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Jesus! I went to the doctor for my flu last week. Paid 80$ and got 40$ back with my Medicare.
I’ll take my evil socialised communist medical assistance, warts and all. Even with all the waiting times. Bugger going bankrupt for having a heart attack or whatever.

When I got "off the doles" and had insurance through an employer, I had a mental meltdown that I'm still paying for over a year later. My brother had a car wreck that cost him over a quarter million dollars. Even his (legit) rich aunt had to sell off assets to cover her own end-of-life care.
Moral of the story: don't get sick in America. Unless you have excellent insurance you can't afford it.

 

[SomeRandom]

When I got "off the doles" and had insurance through an employer, I had a mental meltdown that I'm still paying for over a year later. My brother had a car wreck that cost him over a quarter million dollars. Even his (legit) rich aunt had to sell off assets to cover her own end-of-life care.
Moral of the story: don't get sick in America. Unless you have excellent insurance you can't afford it.

Yikes!

 

[Mister Emu]

It's amazing that the system that has produced medical innovation at a rate nearly, if not, more than the rest of the world combined is the broken one.

We have two major problems. An artificial limit on the number of doctors introduced each year and pricing that is an artifact of the parasitic relationship between Healthcare and Insurance, namely the write off. Remove the limit and institute universal pricing and the cost of healthcare will fall dramatically.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

That must be some pretty poor insurance if they have to foot the bill for all of it, with many insurances you pay a small deductible and then they cover the rest for major medical, typically up to $1,000,000 or more depending on the insurance company.

And a lot of them leave you with staggeringly high deductibles. If you're medically needy, such policies are a curse and simply unbearable unless you can manage to bleed cash.

 

[ecco]

Same for hospitals. If the patient dies, then they failed to deliver quality service, and therefore, they don't deserve payment.

Why do you believe that every person who dies in a hospital died because of poor quality service?