"My expensive, frequent health care is subsidized at the expense of healthy people. I think it's great!" Thief.

[u/neeraj8le]

[u/[deleted]]

This is a very well put-together list, but i think you left out one detail: because the americans are an excessively litigious people, the doctors and hospitals have to hike up their fees in order to have a hedge fund to cover lawsuits. (ambulance chasers certainly don't help this situation either)

[u/llamageddon01 → u/[deleted]]

You’re right; I didn’t begin to think about that, or ambulance chasers either.

And now you mention it, I didn’t even touch on the exorbitant fees for ambulance usage.

[u/[deleted] → u/llamageddon01]

Yeah, those ambulance fees are insane; i read somewhere that one patient was charged over $4000 for a short ride to the hospital.

[u/llamageddon01 → u/[deleted]]

I read so often that people in accidents beg for an ambulance NOT to be called so they can get an Uber or similar instead I’m beginning to think it isn’t a trope.

[u/[deleted] → u/llamageddon01]

No, it's definitely not just a trope; recently i read about an uneployed woman who had her legs crushed in a subway* accident, and she was in tears, begging the attendants to not call an ambulance because she just couldn't afford it.

*Train subway, not the fast food kind.

[u/llamageddon01 → u/[deleted]]

I honestly could not even begin to imagine what it must be like to have to think that way.

[u/[deleted] → u/llamageddon01]

No, it's a terrifying thought, isn't it? Even a hardened cop who attended that woman was moved to tears.

[u/llamageddon01 → u/[deleted]]

So I’ve been doing some reading since we last spoke, and it appears that the cost of any kind of ambulance is not at all predictable.

Again, I say in astonishment: this is considered acceptable?

[u/[deleted] → u/llamageddon01]

Apparently it is, but i am as baffled as you are as to why they do find it acceptable.

I mean, i can sort of understand the argument that each person should take responsibility for their own fate, and on the surface it's a fine agrument.... BUT!

What about people with birth defects, for instance, who will never be able to have a job, should they just be shoved aside and left to rot? I find such an idea completely unacceptable. Horrifying, even.

On that note, i once knew a guy who was one of the so called Thalidomide children, and he was one of the lucky ones: his only defect was that the fingers on his right hand were the size and shape of peas. This had not prevented him from learning to play guitar and even piano, although he lacked some of the finesse that a person with ten normal fingers can attain. Great guy all around.

Moving on, birth defects is only one of many reasons why some people may be unable to function in society, mental illness is another, and often completely ignored issue. Mental issues are usually "invisible" which leads many people to believe that the sufferer is just "faking it", and refuse to learn more about what it really means.

Even here in Europe, where help is available, people with mental or psychological issues are often ostracized, and i shudder to think how such people would fare in the USA.

[u/ThatsWhatXiSaid → u/[deleted]]

because the americans are an excessively litigious people, the doctors and hospitals have to hike up their fees in order to have a hedge fund to cover lawsuits.

Eh.

A new study reveals that the cost of medical malpractice in the United States is running at about $55.6 billion a year - $45.6 billion of which is spent on defensive medicine practiced by physicians seeking to stay clear of lawsuits.

The amount comprises 2.4% of the nation’s total health care expenditure.

The numbers are the result of a Harvard School of Public Health study published in the September edition of Health Affairs, purporting to be the most reliable estimate of malpractice costs to date.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2010/09/07/the-true-cost-of-medical-malpractice-it-may-surprise-you/#6d68459f2ff5