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If this were to happen in the United States, the insurance companies would, at a certain point, stop paying for the life support. What would then happen is the parents would either have to allow the child to die (which is inevitable, by the way) or choose to pay for it out of pocket.
Life insurance, according to the Washington Post, usually costs around $2,000-$4,000 per day. 60 Minutes found that the price can skyrocket to $10,000, but let's be unrealistically optimistic and just say it would cost $2,000 a day. By the end of the week, they've spend $14,000, and by the end of the month, $56,000. The median household income is about $54,000.
Assuming they make around the median household income, they've spent more than their yearly income in a month. And hell, even if they make a good amount more than the median household income, the cost of life support after a real would be $672,000. And this based on the low estimate of life support cost.
The family has now gone into extreme debt in a matter of months. Their child will soon die and they will never pay that money off. It may sound horrifying on paper, particularly when you word it like "the state orders you dead," but in that scenario, the state is stepping in and preventing a significant amount of suffering. The child's pain will end and the grieving process for the parents can begin. Horrifying as it may seem, I'd take the state being a voice of reason in a case of an incurable travesty over being able to go into absurd debt in a matter of weeks.
This relates to the need for no annual or lifetime cap on benefits. Rarely used but needed. We already ran across this this year after our head on crash 1/1.
That being said, the carriers negotiate major discounts. So they might pay 10-20% for a prolonged stay. As has so far happened with my wife's inpatient billings.
It's all part of it. You didn't see my post ? I'm not partial to either way at the moment.
"I posted this for a reason. We just can't have it both ways. If we go the socialized route for the majority of people it will probably work out and there will be cases like these. If we continue on the way we are, only people like my wife and I that pay our $800 a month in premium will get coverage while those of us less fortunate will suffer.
The common denominator of all this though, and it is one that our politicians aren't focusing on , like Craigiri said, although I'll add "crony" capitalist health care is a big fail. I'm all for capitalism but what we are seeing from the insurance companies and big pharma is more like extortion.
How do we get a handle on it ? Our politicians fighting about it in DC aren't ... it certainly doesn't seem like it."
In your opinion should the child, in your example, be kept on or taken off of life support? What should happen if the parents could not pay in to the socialized medicine program?
She was in a vegitarias state and her husband pursued removal of her feeding tube. Her parents however, disagreed. This eventually landed in Federal court that eventually concluded the tube be removed.
While this was a very sensationalized case, there is no shortage of instances where US courts have decided to pull the plug.
George and Jeb Bush sure politicized that poor girl. BTW, her autopsy showed her upper brain was severly and irreversibly damaged from prolonged lack of oxygen. Schiavo Autopsy Released
In your opinion should the child, in your example, be kept on or taken off of life support? What should happen if the parents could not pay in to the socialized medicine program?
To be honest, it is a tough call on either of your questions. I know and my wife knows this, if I end up in that situation, I don't want to be on life support for an extended amount of time. As a parent, looking at their child... not sure I could feel the same way.
As far as not being able to pay... I think unless we are all wealthy not too many of us could afford to pay that hospital bill. My question is why does it cost millions of dollars to begin with ? Why does a night in ICU cost $10k ?
Some numbers to ponder. The US spends 17.1% of its GDP on health care, the UK 9.1%, Germany 11.3%, France 11.5%, Canada 10.4%. All of those countries have longer life expectancies than we do. If we could get our health care spending down to their rate it would be a massive financial windfall to both businesses and individuals - equal in size to the largest tax cut in modern history. It is likely that we could do single payer universal coverage without raising taxes because we already spend more on medicade and medicare per citizen than other developed countries do to provide quality universal health care to all of their citizens. The problem is that the lobbying efforts of insurance companies, drug companies and doctors have distorted our system beyond all sense.
I don't care what you call it. It's far better than to pay an absurd amount to an insurance company every month, sometimes as much as your house payment or more and then have to go to a doctor of their choice and they approve of and has a 3 week waiting list to get in and see. If you're lucky enough to see a doctor and don't get sicker and die first, you have to pay a huge deductible and co-pay.
How did our health care system turn into this horrible mess?
You need to go back to pre WW2.
In those times past, Cancer, Heart Disease, Stroke, Polio were for the most part, untreatable and unsurvivable. People died from a simple absessed tooth.
To be honest, it is a tough call on either of your questions. I know and my wife knows this, if I end up in that situation, I don't want to be on life support for an extended amount of time. As a parent, looking at their child... not sure I could feel the same way.
As far as not being able to pay... I think unless we are all wealthy not too many of us could afford to pay that hospital bill. My question is why does it cost millions of dollars to begin with ? Why does a night in ICU cost $10k ?
It can easily depending on severity, complexity and what needs to be done.
That being said, the 3rd parties will negotiate way cheaper prices. 10-20% of charges might be paid.
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