thanks so much for posting this.

I don't believe this is THE answer, but it sounds like a good step.

What you don't think these greedy fuckers would collude to jack up prices - think again - they already did

Last edited Sat Aug 20, 2016, 12:59 PM - Edit history (2)

to be revamped all together with a single payer system put in place. Like many other developed nations have. The for profit system we have is a failed model.

Our healthcare is not the best in the world contrary to what we hear. But it is the most expensive. My grandmother died in a hospital a yr ago yesterday. The last 16 hours of her life she spent in a hospital in ICU...and was just basically monitored. Given some anitbiotics and a meal...the bill for that 16 hours was $85k.

Was it 16 weeks? 16 months? Don't tell me it was 16 days at $85k!?!?!? I'm Canadian and cannot imagine such an outrageous sum.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother.

I put it in but I think autocorrect nixed the abbreviation.

She was in ICU for 16 hours. There was no surguery, no resuscitation events, no extrordinary measures. She had MRSA and the infection had spread...ironically an infection she got from a previous hospital stay.

$85k for 16 hours! That's insane!

There must be a lot of Americans suffering (and dying) at home in order to avoid a costly hospital stay.

Last edited Sun Aug 21, 2016, 12:04 PM - Edit history (1)

My mother died at home in 2004 from cancer because of cost. Half way through the chemo therapy treatment after her surguery her insurance called and said she had reacher her policy limit that they would no longer cover the chemo. She had already leveraged all the assets she had at that point to pay what she could and had nothing else.

I have had a lot of exposure to our for profit system and have the greatest of contempt for it...

I don't know what I would have done had it not been for Hospice...they are a fantastic organization and well worth any donation anyone would want to make to them.

One of the most rewarding endeavors I have ever engaged in.

Respect the world could use more humans like you. That's a hard thing to do.

And I feel the same way about the vast majority of nurses and doctors that I see in action when I do my shifts at the hospital, or when they come into the patient's home. These health care professionals are sometimes spat on, sometimes punched, kicked, have their hair pulled, etc. by patients who are not in their right mind. And the most amazing part is that, other than taking some basic precautions, the doctors and nurses are right back there hours later, offering care without any hard feelings.

I have not been subject to that sort of abuse. Most of the people I have had the privilege of spending time with in their waning days have been appreciative (if they are aware at all). So what the doctors and nurses do is just awe inspiring.

I feel like were always gonna be gouged so long as healthcare is a 'for profit' system though.

Makes me want to cry just thinking about that.

Too bad it won't happen.