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I second this. Just went down with appendicitis - doctors call this a "routine" surgery. Well, the bill came to $50,000+...

by arbuge 14y ago

Evbn 14y ago
Was it worth the money?
- krakensden 14y ago
  Well, appendicitis can kill you, so theoretically, it's always worth the money. On the other hand, when clever people notice this and decide to get in on that infinite, inelastic demand, the rest of society tends to get grumpy. Hence the ceaseless political trench warfare over how to pay for health care since the Johnson administration.
  - jacoblyles 14y ago
    In a free economy, a company would notice that, say, 2% of people get appendicitis in their lifetimes and that it costs $50,000 to treat - an expected cost of $1,000. Then they would offer you lifetime appendix insurance for $1,500. Unfortunately there are tens of thousands of pages of regulation preventing that from happening.
    - arbuge 14y ago
      The "it can't happen to me" syndrome would likely stop anyone buying anything so specialized as appendicitis insurance. If you tried selling that to me 10 days ago I would have shrugged it off as unnecessary. But something does need to give or at least should. The system is so broken and involves such huge amounts of money that whoever figures out even a small piece of this will become a billionaire many times over. I'm open to ideas if you need a cofounder ;)
- arbuge 14y ago
  I hope so - haven't fully recovered yet. Doctors do a good job of selling this as "minor" and "routine". Anyways, after insurance the bill is likely going to be around $5k. Still pretty nasty, but one order of magnitude does make a difference. ps. I cannot for the life of me fathom how hospitals in the USA justify charges of $4-$8k/night for hospital stays. To be clear, this is just for the room. The surgery and anaesthesia costs are billed separately. 90% of the bill is the hospital stay.

I second this. Just went down with appendicitis - doctors call this a "routine" surgery. Well, the bill came to $50,000+...

by arbuge 14y ago

I second this. Just went down with appendicitis - doctors call this a "routine" surgery. Well, the bill came to $50,000+...

Evbn 14y ago

Was it worth the money?

krakensden 14y ago
Well, appendicitis can kill you, so theoretically, it's always worth the money. On the other hand, when clever people notice this and decide to get in on that infinite, inelastic demand, the rest of society tends to get grumpy. Hence the ceaseless political trench warfare over how to pay for health care since the Johnson administration.
- jacoblyles 14y ago
  In a free economy, a company would notice that, say, 2% of people get appendicitis in their lifetimes and that it costs $50,000 to treat - an expected cost of $1,000. Then they would offer you lifetime appendix insurance for $1,500. Unfortunately there are tens of thousands of pages of regulation preventing that from happening.
  - arbuge 14y ago
    The "it can't happen to me" syndrome would likely stop anyone buying anything so specialized as appendicitis insurance. If you tried selling that to me 10 days ago I would have shrugged it off as unnecessary. But something does need to give or at least should. The system is so broken and involves such huge amounts of money that whoever figures out even a small piece of this will become a billionaire many times over. I'm open to ideas if you need a cofounder ;)
arbuge 14y ago
I hope so - haven't fully recovered yet. Doctors do a good job of selling this as "minor" and "routine". Anyways, after insurance the bill is likely going to be around $5k. Still pretty nasty, but one order of magnitude does make a difference. ps. I cannot for the life of me fathom how hospitals in the USA justify charges of $4-$8k/night for hospital stays. To be clear, this is just for the room. The surgery and anaesthesia costs are billed separately. 90% of the bill is the hospital stay.