Huge ER Bill from Texas Children's Hospital (Mart: to buy, costs)

[quosi moto]

Hi. I don't think poverty level has anything to do with the portions of the bill. Creditors are snakes! Won't matter if you tell them about working or your situation. I think you should contact Our State Representative and see if he can pass some lesgislative bill to protect all levels of people in the credit system since so many of us have insurance or not. It's ridiculous how financial structure only protects classes not everyone.... i.e - singles over 30, female and also race. sux.

good luck. bills are bills.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by JasonAndJulie

Maybe kids medical bills should be bare minimum no profit.

If you were a drug producer, would you risk billions of dollars to take a drug to market that primarily was used for children if you did not make a profit?

I'm sorry, but if you were to take away the profit from treating kids, you'd be taking away development of medicines, equipment, procedures and supplies used primarily for children. That's just a cold fact.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

This is the only country in the modern world that has such glaring issues with healthcare

REALLY?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ents-year.html

"NHS doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly hospital patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds, a senior consultant claimed yesterday.

Professor Patrick Pullicino said doctors had turned the use of a controversial ‘death pathway’ into the equivalent of euthanasia of the elderly."

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

not to mention plenty of people ready to call anyone who wants to fix the system a commie.

I may have missed that, can you point to somebody calling anyone a commie?

[JasonAndJulie]

Doesn't St Jude do this?


I know what you're saying, but I was talking about more on a hospital level.

[JasonAndJulie]

But please, do not forget the FDA/USDA and all the ties to lobbyists. I understand there is risk in making drugs, but we need them because the chemicals in our food are killing us. There is a way to do this right, I just haven't put enough thought in to it. I am all about a Capitalist market but there has to be a balance. If bankruptcy is mainly caused due to medical bills, then the current system including businesses are being hurt. There has to be middle ground, especially for sick kids.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by JasonAndJulie

But please, do not forget the FDA/USDA and all the ties to lobbyists. I understand there is risk in making drugs, but we need them because the chemicals in our food are killing us. There is a way to do this right, I just haven't put enough thought in to it. I am all about a Capitalist market but there has to be a balance. If bankruptcy is mainly caused due to medical bills, then the current system including businesses are being hurt. There has to be middle ground, especially for sick kids.

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

Don't get me wrong, I truly believe we have needed to fix a lot of things in our healthcare system for quite a while.... (I fully acknowledge that major problems have been in the system for decades).

I'm not for the status quo, but I'm also not wanting to jump on a "evil corporations making profits hand-over-fist" bandwagon or "everybody else does it right, our healthcare situation sucks" thought pattern either.

I just do not believe that taking the profit out of healthcare or having the government run it will make things better. We can improve it significantly through other ways, so let's not throw out the baby with the bath water.

[hounewhome1]

Antibiotic drugs used to treat many people cost significantly less in other countries. I can understand someone charging 15K for a pill that can help with cancer vs something regular like antibiotic that cost $20 in other countries but costs $500 here.

Aren't those companies that spend billions in research supposed to charge the same money in other countries? Why is selling the same drug in USA expensive then it's in other countries and the nurses who give them come from other countries too so don't tell me that the special nurse giving the drug makes it expensive.

[houstan-dan]

Maybe this should just be more of a realistic lesson of the importance of GOOD healthcare coverage. Yes, it's expensive, but now it's painfully obviously and unfortunately hounewhome1 has learned that first hand.

With a bit better medical coverage this whole thread would be a non-issue. Unfortunately a risk was taken I'm sure with the mindset of, "the chances of us really needing it are so slim we should be fine." It's just a risk you take. It's no secret that medical costs are expensive.

I have worked in quality control for several years. There's a popular saying that goes something like, "Why do we always have time to do things over, but not to do them right the first time?"

A similar statement could be made about insurance.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

Antibiotic drugs used to treat many people cost significantly less in other countries. I can understand someone charging 15K for a pill that can help with cancer vs something regular like antibiotic that cost $20 in other countries but costs $500 here.

Aren't those companies that spend billions in research supposed to charge the same money in other countries? Why is selling the same drug in USA expensive then it's in other countries and the nurses who give them come from other countries too so don't tell me that the special nurse giving the drug makes it expensive.

Price controls set in other countries by their governments mean that they pay less. We pay more to keep the profits up.

One way that I'd like to see the healthcare industry change is that we pass a law stating that drug companies can not sell drugs for more in the US than it can in other countries.

The end result of such a law would mean that either the drug companies would not sell those drugs in other countries where the governments keep the price too low and/or some drugs just wouldn't get developed and moved into the market.

Of course, there would most likely be a lot of other side effects to such a law, but I think they could be worked through.

As it stands now, we (US citizens) pay the lion's share of the cost of development and the profits (which can be over 30%), and I do have a problem with this.

[crone]

My first choice is medicare for everybody.

Second choice just go back to major medical and everyone pay their own regular doctor bills? When people got sick, we could go to the doctor and buy their medication with the grocery money. If testing was needed or hospitalization, then the insurance paid.