
$153,161.25 for a Snake Bite - Keverw
https://twitter.com/mcpheeceo/status/622179748685283328
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naner
This same topic has 14k comments on reddit. Here is one of the attempts at
explanation by a physician:

[https://np.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/3dngld/this_is_the_cos...](https://np.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/3dngld/this_is_the_cost_of_a_rattlesnake_bite_in_america/ct71jme)

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ryguytilidie
This is the biggest problem I have with Obamacare. Getting everyone insurance
isn't that impressive if the insured still have bills like this. Why not cut
out the middleman, reduce the waste of giving insurance companies tons of
money, and just make healthcare free?

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notjimhalpert
In other nations, universal health care is actually cheaper for the state per
capita than our system in the US.

Source: [http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-
media/newshour/photos/2012/10/02/...](http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-
media/newshour/photos/2012/10/02/US_spends_much_more_on_health_than_what_might_be_expected_1_slideshow.jpg)

~~~
Veratyr
The US actually has higher per capita spending on healthcare and
pharmaceuticals than any other OECD nation and public expenditure is only
higher in the Netherlands and Norway.

Source:
[http://www.compareyourcountry.org/health?cr=oecd&cr1=oecd&lg...](http://www.compareyourcountry.org/health?cr=oecd&cr1=oecd&lg=en&page=2)

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antonius
The possibility of becoming poor and/or bankrupt as a result of an injury is
the scariest part of being part of the American society. Hope this changes one
day.

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slickwilli
Seems better than dying :/

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jschwartzi
Given what a bankruptcy can do to your credit and job prospects, I might
seriously consider dying instead.

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leighmcculloch
US health bills seem extraordinarily high, maybe 5x in comparison to other
first world countries. Why is this?

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foolrush
Unfettered, for-profit medical system.

In short, capitalism.

The same toxic structure is at work in the US penal system.

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maxharris
_Unfettered_

Are you for real? Nearly every aspect of medicine in America is regulated:
from the number of people entering training to become new doctors, to whether
a procedure will be reimbursed and at what rate, to what devices and drugs
will be permitted for sale, to whether or not physicians are allowed to
unionize, or discuss what their procedures cost (they are not in either case).

Whatever your ideology is, it doesn't change the fact that the health care is
one of the most heavily regulated industries in our economy.

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foolrush
Unfettered in the capitalist sense and over-arching system, not necessarily
administration thereof. Also remember that it is precisely unfettered
capitalism that leads to layers of said administration, seeking profit at
every turn.

Turning over a few rocks and we can quickly see that the cost of
administration of medicine, including devices, pharmaceuticals, etc. is also
wound up in this dance of maximal profit at all cost. This doesn't even begin
to examine the cultural role capitalism has played in the legislation the
enshrines the administrative layers to preserve profits for the corporate
entities.

The last concern under such a system is the person and their health, or the
ethical-societal implications, because such a model provides no such metric.

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maxharris
Capitalism unfettered by what?

Capitalism, in pure form, is a _political_ system (this is not a typo - I did
_not_ mean to write "economic") in which a strong central government protects
the individual rights of each of its citizens (mainly by going after people
who murder, theft, fraud). A capitalist government does not regulate industry.

Despite what you say above, what we have today is not capitalism. In
healthcare in the US today, it's 80% state control, 20% private (if not
90/10).

I'm not going to comment on the rest of what you've written because the above
is a more fundamental point, and we clearly don't agree on it.

