4 ms·
By way of comparison, that exact same throat swab test - which some professor was trying to say was excessive - is available at no charge to the patient in Aust
by Gatsky 7y ago
By way of comparison, that exact same throat swab test - which some professor was trying to say was excessive - is available at no charge to the patient in Australia, and there are no 'out of network' labs.
I don't know how this nonsense isn't the number one election issue in the USA. Instead everyone just puts up with it.
- wyldfire 7y agoIt's a good point but the amount and payer for coverage is independent of the fraud that happened here.
- AdrianB1 7y agoThe comparison is meaningless: the patient did not pay anything in this case, but the cost is astronomical, the problem is with the cost not with who is paying. By the way of comparison, I just paid approximately $25 for a bit simple test (bacteria, not virii, but it included sensibility to antibiotics) in Europe last week. Out of the pocket, waiting weeks for the free public system was too much to be effective.
- Gatsky 7y agoThe article tries to make the sub-point that the swab was somehow an excessive test - I was trying to highlight that this is not the case, which makes the overcharging even more egregious. Also to clarify, in Australia there is no cost to anyone with permanent residency status, whether they are insured or not.
- AdrianB1 7y agoI now understand what was your point. Also to clarify, there is no cost for anyone (EU residents) here too if you use the public health system, but if you cannot wait till you're dead then you can use the (optional) private system and pay for that.
- xenospn 7y agoLast time I went to Slovenia I got strep throat. I went to the public doctor, on a Sunday, waited about 25 minutes and got a throat swab and a prescription for $14. And I was a tourist!
- OnlineCourage 7y agoWell for one thing our population is over 12x that of Australia, harder to govern on a federal level. For another we are likely much less healthy than Australia. Thirdly, medical lobbying by the AMA and doctors being treated like holy men and getting a pass for said lobbying.