Hospital charges man $55k for a cat bite

Quote from WindySummer : Please stop.

Too tough to defend ObamaCare?

Obligatory:

Quote from andyfico : Too tough to defend ObamaCare?

Too tough to compete in a Global Economy?

Quote from zzyzzx : Obligatory:

That's too cute.

I like cats,.. taste like chicken.

Quote from WindySummer : Too tough to compete in a Global Economy?

What gave you that idea? I'll take your non answer as a yes, it's too difficult to defend ObamaCare. Don't feel bad. Many Obama supporters feel that way.

Quote from Dumpsterdiver : See,.. but not go to?

I was quite happy with the level of care I got at the military hospitals before Clinton shut them down.

Quote from andyfico : It's too difficult to defend ObamaCare. Don't feel bad. Many Obama supporters feel that way.

I was joking with DEVO.

Since you choose to take it literally, compete, stop whining, or MTFO.

Quote from WindySummer : I was joking with DEVO. Since you choose to take it literally, compete, stop whining, or MTFO.

lmfao

Quote from roughnready : As always, follow the money...

Good Article. Health care costs are out of control.. It's very hard to see how Obamacare will work.

Quote from zzyzzx : I've had some pretty bad infections that lingered for months. A doctor and an urgent care place told me that if their one weeks treatment of antibiotics didn't work, I'd have to go to a hospital and get an IV. Refusing to believe that, I checked the internet, since I was sure that someone outside the US would never do that. What i found was that often the one weeks antibiotics aren't enough and/or the dose is too low. All I had to do was to go on eBay and buy a months worth of antibiotics and take them until the infection went away, which it did. No expensive hospital bill required! An irony of this is that one of my cats is really sick right now so he is getting my leftover antibiotics.

Please do not do this. I have had to treat four patients who went into renal failure due to "over the counter" abx purchases like this - and 2 of them are permanently on dialysis now. I also saw a patient who went into fulminate liver failure because of an anitfungal she took thinking it was an abx. If you can't trust the people giving you abx what makes you think you can trust the drugs you put into your body. 5 days of cipro usually won't cause renal failure. 30 days can take 20 years of your life and permanently cripple you should you have tendon ruptures. If you really want to know what abx to take and for how long, shell out $50 and go see an infectious disease specialist in office - simple 10 minute visit and most of they time they will keep you out of the hospital (since their job is to keep abx from being "wasted").

Drugs are not toys.

Quote from chazjr : Good Article. Health care costs are out of control.. It's very hard to see how Obamacare will work.

The current system is broken and expensive. There are too many people without coverage. It is a very good example of the free market run amok. Changing the status quo and introducing more oversight (via Obamacare) is a very good start actually.

Quote from paradoxum : I have had to treat four patients who went into renal failure due to "over the counter" abx purchases like this - and 2 of them are permanently on dialysis now.

Thanks for posting this.

as I actually read through the article.. I looked at some of the info. (which happens to exclude a decent amount also).

Quote : First, let's take a closer look at some of the charges I racked up during my hospital stay. At four grand a night, that's $24,000 right there. The surgery on my hand: $12,282. Anesthesia: $780. MRI: $3,290. Assorted drugs: $3,412. Laboratory services: $4,534. Inserting a tube in my arm so I could have an intravenous drip at home: $2,352. All in all, the various services and supplies I received were priced at $52,660.53. The assorted doctor visits and physical-therapy appointments that have accompanied this mess added a few thousand more to the equation.

often for room rates it depends on the hospital and the room they have.. for example I just pulled a PDF of room rates in my state.. They vary from $800 to $8000 per night.

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/por...137&mode=2

also the way this sounds like an ER visit. Does it not make sense that an ER visit would cost more than a scheduled visit? Imagine every patient hospital visit being an ER visit. You would never be able to account for number of personnel, number of rooms, what to keep on hand etc.. It were pure scheduled visits it would obviously be less expensive, because you wouldn't need to plan for possible excess.

Then I see talk about an MRI.. but MRI's in general cost near $500k to purchase and then you need staff to run, view the results, evaluate. Last I checked specialist doctors make a pretty enormous some of money.. don't you get several doctor's undivided attention for x amount of time?

Although I do believe prices are somewhat inflated it's alot like students loans in the United States. I know a ton of people who have interest rates at 6.5%+ (because of the year of origination). Can they refinance.. no? The simple explanation for the rate on these federal loans.. is someone has to make up for the people that never pay them back.. Those that pay pick up the slack for those that don't.

If you go to the ER never pay them back .. what do they do? Who picks up the tab? Um.. the people with coverage of course. As inhumane as it sounds.. what do you think the cost would be if they didn't treat people w/o medical coverage? 1/2 as much? subsequently how much do you think your insurance would be, if suddenly ER visits only costed half as much? Would employers be more prone to hire people if providing healthcare was so much less expensive than it currently is?

Keep in mind I DID NOT say this was the answer.. just some things to ponder when you think about the effects of treating everyone. Not sure how many stories I've seen about hospitals providing millions of dollars care to a mere one illegal immigrant and they cannot discontinue service. In one scenario they got a court order to send one man back to his home country to one of their hospitals. Their family then sued the hospital??? (no clue what ever came about, I know it was in Florida).

Did I say Cipro? I only took more of what I was previously prescribed by a doctor.

Quote from Tony_Danza : Man with insurance fails to seek care for wound which leads to serious infection requiring expensive treatment. I don't see how health care reform can fix this.

The man was stupid sure, but the expensive treatment shouldn't be nearly as expensive. The $16 for 1 pill of generic Tylenol should be a good spot to start looking. There are thousands of dollars of unreasonable spending that the insurance company and our government should not be paying. Please also remember this, if the insurance company and our government are paying, who is really paying? You are.