5 ms·

As a tourist in SF I got whitlow. I went to a medic. He looked at my finger and then gave me a box of antibiotics. Then his assistant asked for $300. I balked a

As a tourist in SF I got whitlow. I went to a medic. He looked at my finger and then gave me a box of antibiotics. Then his assistant asked for $300. I balked and they reduced to $200. This sample of size 1 (one) is enough to tell me that something is off in the US.

highpass 9y ago
Increasing this sample size to two: One heated day I punched an object that ought not be punched. Little finger swelled up and didn't quite work correctly. A few hours later said finger was bandaged, and holding a bill for $3,400. No medication. Just looked at, x-ray'd, and bandaged into recovery position. $3,400. US. It would have been cheaper to fly back to the UK and have it looked at - three times over!
- la_oveja 9y ago
  This is insane. I can't understand how Americans see this normal.
  - ac29 9y ago
    Most Americans dont see that as normal, healthcare is one of the top political issues in this country. However, the true costs of healthcare are extremely opaque. I'd guess the cost of the little anger incident above would be an order of magnitude less with insurance. To add another anecdote, I got a kidney stone ~5 years ago. The cost for ER admission, a CT scan, some lab work, prescriptions, etc was about "$20,000". However, nobody paid anybody $20,000. I paid something like $1000 and my guess is my insurance via their negotiated rates paid something like another $1000 on top of that. How we got there as a country is a long, complicated story.
ac29 9y ago
For someone with health insurance (as is legally mandated under the ACA) this would have cost about $30 ($20 office visit, $10 prescription). Completely agree that the prices they charge to the uninsured are insane. Not sure what the situation is for tourists, but for American citizens, my understanding is that you cant be refused treatment if you don't have insurance. And most (many?) people without insurance just dont pay the bill.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  > For someone with health insurance (as is legally mandated under the ACA) this would have cost about $30 ($20 office visit, $10 prescription). That's not what it costs, that's what they pay at that particular moment. It costs substantially more, which insurance covers out of the premiums being paid.
  - ac29 9y ago
    The office visit, probably (even though this would be less than 5 minutes of a Doctor's time, or increasingly a Physicians Assistant or similar). The prescription? No way, a course of penicillin or other common antibiotic costs pennies.
    - ceejayoz 9y ago
      Doctor's offices don't bill in minute amounts, they bill for a visit (with variance for complexity). Even a low-complexity visit costs $100+ here in upstate NY. While there are certainly plenty of cheap ones, there are antibiotics that cost $1k for an oral course like Zyvox.
  - narrowrail 9y ago
    Well, the insurance companies have a seat on the National Uniform Billing Committee, so they have a say.

highpass 9y ago

Increasing this sample size to two: One heated day I punched an object that ought not be punched. Little finger swelled up and didn't quite work correctly. A few hours later said finger was bandaged, and holding a bill for $3,400. No medication. Just looked at, x-ray'd, and bandaged into recovery position. $3,400. US. It would have been cheaper to fly back to the UK and have it looked at - three times over!

la_oveja 9y ago
This is insane. I can't understand how Americans see this normal.
- ac29 9y ago
  Most Americans dont see that as normal, healthcare is one of the top political issues in this country. However, the true costs of healthcare are extremely opaque. I'd guess the cost of the little anger incident above would be an order of magnitude less with insurance. To add another anecdote, I got a kidney stone ~5 years ago. The cost for ER admission, a CT scan, some lab work, prescriptions, etc was about "$20,000". However, nobody paid anybody $20,000. I paid something like $1000 and my guess is my insurance via their negotiated rates paid something like another $1000 on top of that. How we got there as a country is a long, complicated story.

ac29 9y ago

For someone with health insurance (as is legally mandated under the ACA) this would have cost about $30 ($20 office visit, $10 prescription). Completely agree that the prices they charge to the uninsured are insane. Not sure what the situation is for tourists, but for American citizens, my understanding is that you cant be refused treatment if you don't have insurance. And most (many?) people without insurance just dont pay the bill.

ceejayoz 9y ago
> For someone with health insurance (as is legally mandated under the ACA) this would have cost about $30 ($20 office visit, $10 prescription). That's not what it costs, that's what they pay at that particular moment. It costs substantially more, which insurance covers out of the premiums being paid.
- ac29 9y ago
  The office visit, probably (even though this would be less than 5 minutes of a Doctor's time, or increasingly a Physicians Assistant or similar). The prescription? No way, a course of penicillin or other common antibiotic costs pennies.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    Doctor's offices don't bill in minute amounts, they bill for a visit (with variance for complexity). Even a low-complexity visit costs $100+ here in upstate NY. While there are certainly plenty of cheap ones, there are antibiotics that cost $1k for an oral course like Zyvox.
- narrowrail 9y ago
  Well, the insurance companies have a seat on the National Uniform Billing Committee, so they have a say.