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dipmicro · ‎02-21-2013

One night last summer at her home near Stamford, Conn., a 64-year-old former sales clerk whom I’ll call Janice S. felt chest pains. She was taken four miles by ambulance to the emergency room at Stamford Hospital, officially a nonprofit institution. After about three hours of tests and some brief encounters with a doctor, she was told she had indigestion and sent home. That was the good news.

The bad news was the bill: $995 for the ambulance ride, $3,000 for the doctors and $17,000 for the hospital — in sum, $21,000 for a false alarm.

http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil · ‎02-21-2013

Welcome to US healthcare, if one has the money, or can afford health insurance.

Makes one appreciate where we live just a little bit more.....despite the few problems.

dipmicro · ‎02-21-2013

Read the whole article, it's quite outrageous.

I am self employed and don't have any insurance beside OHIP and some life insurance plus automatic travel insurance on my Passport VISA for $100/yr. I inquired with Dejardins and did the math and figured I would end up paying 4x more in premiums than our limits would be. As a family of 4 do spend about $20-$50 on a bottle of antibiotics maybe twice a year, 2x $150-$200/yr for pair of new glasses a year. Biggest expenditure is dentist, but you can get decent dental prices if you don't have insurance and they offer some kind of "family plan".

I hope it will not get as wild in here as it is down south. In what country you can buy decent shape house for less than cost of 3hr visit to ER? Only in America.

prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil · ‎02-22-2013

Yeah I read the whole article. $48,900 for starters, due in…… advance. She had access to funds, imagine those who do not. Health care has become big business. That’s people’s health and lives. What a society it is. The founding fathers are rolling over in their graves.

And to think, some people want that here.

I don’t have any urge to go stateside, so insurance I don’t care about.

puckstopshere · ‎02-23-2013

I love watching the medical dramas on TV - especially house.

They order tons of different tests for a patient.

I often wonder what those tests would cost in real life - hundreds of thousands probably.

The average joe would have no access to such medical services.

And, once they died, their families would find out about the wonderful world of funerals, another great ripoff.

Here in Canada, we are luckier, but you never hear about most of the tests you see on U.S. TV. My guess is that they are not available here - as the govt. won't foot the bill. If you are part of the 1%, you might be able to access them.

prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil · ‎02-23-2013

They order tons of different tests for a patient.

I often wonder what those tests would cost in real life - hundreds of thousands probably.

They do order them here. Most are not necessary (based on what I have been told by the professionals), but they do it to cover their butts for insurance. A cousin of mine had a rash....he knew it was poison ivy, but because he was working at the hospital he was told to have it looked at. So he went to the doctor.....the doctor ordered two tests....a week later the doctor told him he had.....poison ivy. I remember my old doctor when I was a kid. He would sit in his office with his sleeves rolled up. Smoking a pipe in his chair with stuffed fish on the wall behind him he would listen to your complaint.....do an exam....poke and prod here and there and then tell you what to get for medicine. He was old school and knew what he was doing. Those days are over. The medical world is now Big business.

ilurkthereforiam · ‎02-23-2013

We probably pay a similar amount except we pay for it out of our taxes.

If people knew how many unecessary tests were done and at what expense we would demand for their heads.

The hospitals have too many administrators and lawyers and not enough people doing the actual work.

We build new hospital wings and lay off the nurses and orderlies that are required to man them.

And Deb Mathews was made the Ontario Minister of Health again.

brandeentertainment · ‎02-23-2013

We probably pay a similar amount except we pay for it out of our taxes.

My best Friend is Marrie to a lady from The States and they had there first child there before moving to Canada without Benefits it would have cost her $26000 to have that kid...

I barely have if I even do have $26000 paid in taxes a year ......

I will deal with less doctors and nurses if I don't have to pay $90,000 to have my 3 kids LOL ...

pierrelebel · ‎02-23-2013

From Forbes magazine:

"The most profitable hospital in the country, 235-bed Flowers Medical Center in Dothan, Ala., recorded an incredible 53% operating margin. It is part of the big for-profit Community Health Systems ( CYH - news - people ) chain in Brentwood, Tenn. Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso snared second place with an ast..."

ilurkthereforiam · ‎02-23-2013

brande you don't have a child every year of your adult life and there will be many years where you won't need the services of the health care system.

I see my doctor evey 12 to 18 months for my yearly exam.

In the last 37 years I have been to the hospital twice for day surgery.

prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil · ‎02-23-2013

And Deb Mathews was made the Ontario Minister of Health again.

That brings up a question that has always amazed me........well not amazed really when one thinks about what politicians are like......but maybe makes me both laugh and angry at the same time. Why is it that politicians are often made Minsters of this and that and yet they have absolutely no qualifications in that field??? It's ridiculous! The one that I always thought was past ridiculous was Mike Harris's Minister of Education John Snobelen who dropped out of school in.... grade 11.

dipmicro · ‎02-23-2013

Here in Canada, we are luckier, but you never hear about most of the tests you see on U.S. TV. My guess is that they are not available here - as the govt. won't foot the bill. If you are part of the 1%, you might be able to access them.

They have all kind of fancy tests and yet lower life expectancy and higher newborn mortality rate.

Go figure. Maybe it's not in the amount of money thrown at the healthcare but somewhere else. Maybe people one day figure out that having more money does not overall improve their lives. Costa Rica is on the poorer side from western perspective and yet people are happier there than most wealthy western countries. Also good place to retire for Canadians, all you need is around $100k to invest locally to get residentship.