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originally posted by: Ghost147
Is there any actual evidence that this is the case.
I mean honestly, how is his situation stealing? $40,000 for a 5 day stay for a heart attack is absurd. There's a difference between stealing and being charged an insane amount that almost no one could afford
Are you honestly justifying this charge?
Look at it this way. In the states, the medical system is profit based. In places with universal health care, it's not, so companies aren't grossly inflating services just to make more money.
i pay 10% of my income to taxes which contribute partially to a universal healthcare system which, in my lifetime, has saved me and my family thousands, of not hundreds of thousand of dollars.
May I ask what you pay for income tax?
originally posted by: LookingForABetterLife
You're statement was made without knowing my complete story.
Due to my disabilities I cannot work. However the US Gov. has decided that I have gotten better somehow and has stopped my disability payments. My health has only gotten worse not better like they claim. I'm fighting this to get my payments back and be able to get back on insurance to not be such a burden on society. With the help of a volunteer nurse I have been able to contact a non-profit organization to help with the bills as I have no means to pay such bills.
Have a good day.
originally posted by: lordcomac
All insurance does is allows the healthcare companies to jack the price to absolute insane prices. Then nobody can afford it without insurance, which justifies the existence of insurance in the first place. [/
quote]
You are hitting a major nail on the head, here. Too bad there are so many nails needed to hit concerning diagnosing the cost problem of U.S. healthcare.
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
Yes, there is a ton of evidence that shows that, when people do not pay medical bills, that causes the cost to rise for other people. Keep in mind, though, that I did not say that this is the only reason.
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
Did you know that, at least here in America, most hospitals and care facilities are more than willing to work with you on the cost of treatment, especially if you can show that it is a massive financially burden, and doubly especially so if you aren't using insurance.
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
I said nothing of the sort--I called a freeloader who was seemingly proud of the fact that they are unwilling to pay ANY of their medical costs that could possibly have saved their life. I said ZERO about anything concerning my opinion on the cost of the treatment.
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
Let's look at it this way: Less than 1/5 of all medical facilities that have emergency medical capabilities are for-profit organizations. So, while some are for-profit, the vast majority of them are not.
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
There are many, many ingredients that go in to the issue that is the high cost of medical care in America.
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
Ha--I pay way too much for taxes because I live in a country that misuses and abuses my income to push political agendas that do little to better our own country (not to mention we spend way too much on things for other countries when we neglect our own). But honestly, that is irrelevant to this discussion, and that goes back to my comment concerning the myriad variables that go into making our healthcare costs high in our country. I recently posted a retort to a user from Australia touting their awesome healthcare costs versus the US's, and it was easy, but tedious, to cite the vast amount of contribution to the world scale of healthcare by the U.S. versus every other country
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: Ghost147
Did they pop it back into place? I've suffered that quite a few times, but apparently didn't have the severity of yours. My chiro was always able to adjust it back into place and send me on my way. In fact, I'm going in tomorrow because I think I have that going on again. Active lifestyles can be a b**ch, ya know?
originally posted by: CulturalResilience
You Americans should never have rebelled against us Brits. You would have much less crime, and a routinely unarmed police force as well as free healthcare at the point of delivery.
a reply to: kaylaluv
The great thing about Canada's health care system is that most people can go to the hospital, get treated by a doctor and leave without ever seeing a bill. But this means Canadians often have no idea how much services cost.
How much does the average visit to the doctor cost? How much does it cost to have a baby? What about a hip replacement, heart surgery, or chemotherapy?
Here's a sampling of average costs for health services [that Canadians will never have to pay out of pocket for treatment].
I'm not going to rehash the many, many times that I've explained some of the multitude of reasons that our healthcare costs so much more than other countries, but suffice it to say that it's not all greed from hospitals and big pharma, and your low costs are not something that the U.S. could see and still keep making such massive contributions and new technologies--in that breath, the entire world would lose out on innovation and medical advances, all in the name of keeping up with the low cost that other countries can appreciate because, quite honestly, Americans subsidize their costs as well.
originally posted by: Ghost147
I have no doubts that people whom actually abuse the system effect its cost for everyone, I'm moreso curious the amount that it effects it, rather than big pharma raising the bills because they can.
That's fantastic, it's still not free. And I have my doubts that they're going to reduce a 40k bill to something under 1k
Good! I'm very glad to hear that. So what Do you think a visit to the hospital should cost? And would it not be better if it cost nothing at all?
That's fantastic to hear. so why the high prices?
Let's go off of ignorance. Could you elaborate.
originally posted by: SlapMonkey
So I take it you're not going to let me know what taxes you pay?
This isn't a discussion about who's country donates more medical services globally, this is a discussion on what medical services cost for the citizens of a given country.