$29,000 for five minutes in the emergency room

[Chris]

... and what realistic way would you cut that cost?

How bout instead of me teaching you something.. You teach me and explain how 30,000 is reasonable for 5 minutes.. How is 6,000 a minute reasonable?? Or realistic..

I was in a hospital ER for 6 hours, flown to another hospital and the bill from the original ER was only 6,000..

So I ask again.. How is 30k reasonable for 5 minutes..

Exactly.

Other countries control costs by making medical schools cheaper to attend, reducing the cost of drugs, eliminating useless procedures and tests, using electronic records, streamlining admins, limiting malpractice, paying doctors less, and covering everyone, so the most expensive medical care there is, the emergency room, is used less often.

Every other industrialized nation in the world has national health insurance, and they pay HALF per capita what we pay for healthcare because they do these things.

So there it is in a nutshell, my friends. This is how the rest of the world does healthcare better and cheaper than we do.

 

[rdean]

... and what realistic way would you cut that cost?

Health Care reform.

The reason emergency room care is so expensive is because many people just "show up". The emergency room is there primary source of medical care. They have nothing else.

Also, they usually frequent the emergency room when the illness is so bad they know that without immediate care, they will die.

The high expense is for the few that can afford it, is so they can pay for the cost of those who can't.

I would have thought that after all this discussion on health care reform the answer would have been obvious. This is one of the major reasons driving health care reform.

Please tell me you knew that, but was just asking a facetious question.

 

[B L Zeebub]

... and what realistic way would you cut that cost?

How bout instead of me teaching you something.. You teach me and explain how 30,000 is reasonable for 5 minutes.. How is 6,000 a minute reasonable?? Or realistic..

I was in a hospital ER for 6 hours, flown to another hospital and the bill from the original ER was only 6,000..

So I ask again.. How is 30k reasonable for 5 minutes..

Generally, it is your responsibility to answer her question first. That is generally the way things work.

But... she never said that $29,000 was reasonable. She asked Chris, I believe, how he thought we could bring down the costs. A very reasonable question as far as I am concerned. Current health insurance reforms being thrown about are not going to do that. So, the question remains, how do we lower that outrageous $29,000 for 5 minutes bill?

Something I think is also outrageous is the fact that the callous people at the hospital screwed up and sent the grieving parents a $29,000 bill in the first place and a rude letter when they should have been billing the insurance company. And they get away with, "It was a mistake"?

Also included with the bill was a letter addressed to Scott indicating he was now considered indigent and if he needed more medical treatment, to go to a county clinic.

UC Davis profusely apologized, stating the letter was never intended for the Hawkins.

Period!

Immie

period to an englishwoman means her monthly curse, to an american woman it means full stop, much the same for an american man I suppose

 

[B L Zeebub]

... and what realistic way would you cut that cost?

How bout instead of me teaching you something.. You teach me and explain how 30,000 is reasonable for 5 minutes.. How is 6,000 a minute reasonable?? Or realistic..

I was in a hospital ER for 6 hours, flown to another hospital and the bill from the original ER was only 6,000..

So I ask again.. How is 30k reasonable for 5 minutes..

Exactly.

Other countries control costs by making medical schools cheaper to attend, reducing the cost of drugs, eliminating useless procedures and tests, using electronic records, streamlining admins, limiting malpractice, paying doctors less, and covering everyone, so the most expensive medical care there is, the emergency room, is used less often.

Every other industrialized nation in the world has national health insurance, and they pay HALF per capita what we pay for healthcare because they do these things.

So there it is in a nutshell, my friends. This is how the rest of the world does healthcare better and cheaper than we do.

Chris I like the cut of your jib squire, also your avatar bears a striking resemblance to me