Hospital Bills Man $150K After Attempted Rattlesnake Selfie Results in Bite

[ThatOneDude]

Back to the topic. Can the DR make the call that "this fucking person deserved to be bitten and will in all likelyhood die anyway and recieve a Darwin award in the future. Save the precious and valuable anti venom for a kid, or someone who isnt at fault for being bitten."

Well its to damn bad then.

Interesting question, that would be like playing 'god'. I know emt's who would do stuff kind of like what you are suggesting.

 

[BeardOfKnowledge]

You never know, but I agree, I also assume it's pre tax

I can honestly say, I have no idea what health care costs me individually. When I get my pay every 2 weeks it's simply amongst the deductions that all under the heading "taxes" I pay about 30-40% of my income in taxes and very rarely use the services that money goes towards (like health care) My mom, though, she's needed to have both knees replaced, and one of my co-workers at the ripe old age of 30 basically had to have a complete heart rebuild through absolutely no fault of his own, other than bad luck of course. Will I ever get my money back out that goes into our health care? Probably not, but I'm really happy that it's there for those around me and that hospital bills aren't something my family has had to worry about when going through a medical crisis.

Please understand, I'm not at all trying to start a debate, because there are a lot of flaws in our medical system, I'm just voicing my personal experience.

 

[ThatOneDude]

I can honestly say, I have no idea what health care costs me individually. When I get my pay every 2 weeks it's simply amongst the deductions that all under the heading "taxes" I pay about 30-40% of my income in taxes and very rarely use the services that money goes towards (like health care) My mom, though, she's needed to have both knees replaced, and one of my co-workers at the ripe old age of 30 basically had to have a complete heart rebuild through absolutely no fault of his own, other than bad luck of course. Will I ever get my money back out that goes into our health care? Probably not, but I'm really happy that it's there for those around me and that hospital bills aren't something my family has had to worry about when going through a medical crisis.

Please understand, I'm not at all trying to start a debate, because there are a lot of flaws in our medical system, I'm just voicing my personal experience.

I appreciate your pov. I'd like to eventually see a single payer system.

 

[BJTT-Rizzo]

If I didn't have insurance my medical bills would be covered(free) anyways being 1/4 Ojibwe(Mn USA). I've played that card several times when I was younger with zero guilt of it being a hand out. Just thought some of you might find this interesting. No debate intended with this info either. Its just fyi.

 

[Splinty]

If I didn't have insurance my medical bills would be covered(free) anyways being 1/4 Ojibwe(Mn USA). I've played that card several times when I was younger with zero guilt of it being a hand out. Just thought some of you might find this interesting. No debate intended with this info either. Its just fyi.

That is interesting. What's the mechanism to getting that care? Reservation or access to something like medicaid?

 

[Leigh]

*vial

 

[Team Bisping]

Growing up in the UK, i've had the NHS on tap my whole life, the medical system in america not only baffles me but it actually disgusts me that any child or adult can be withheld equal treatment or be invoiced at a price which could financial ruin them.

I stand my this quote wholeheartedly:

 

[Team Bisping]

Here's an interesting article I read earlier this year in regards to the issues UK migrants to the USA have in dealing with the US medical system etc.

 

[Splinty]

Here's an interesting article I read earlier this year in regards to the issues UK migrants to the USA have in dealing with the US medical system etc.

This our healthcare system in a nutshell:

Gray, on his employer-provided health insurance, needed a US doctor for a checkup. A colleague recommended a doctor’s office housed in “a really grand building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Full floor, incredible views – it looked like a movie version of a New York doctor’s,” he says. “It was just about the friendliest, fanciest place I’d ever been.”

A chatty, relaxed doctor and a glamorous receptionist greeted him on that visit. Though the office was devoted to plastic surgery – the shelves replete with cosmetics, glossy leaflets about Botox treatments and dermal fillers – they treated Gray.

A year later, the reception he received was quite literally chilly. Gray, suffering from a chest infection, cold, exhausted and weak, headed out in a snowstorm and stumbled along to the same doctor’s office.

When he handed over his insurance card, the receptionist’s dazzling smile faded. His employer had changed healthcare providers without Gray’s knowing it. “Sliding the new card back across the desk, she said ‘this is not insurance we accept.’ She turned away. Sixty seconds later I was back out in the snow, bent over double coughing,” Gray says.

Got access? It's like nothing you've ever seen. Take a guess who has access and votes?
Don't have access, its bad. Real bad. Take a guess who doesn't have access and doesn't vote?

As a doc, I will tell you that our insurance system is a pain and it prevents me from making easy choices to treat my patients.
I am not a subspecialist, so the system does not enrich me either. I hate it at a professional level. I have enough money that the system is accessible for me. I get great care, fast care, amazing care. This does not work a population level.

In my world, I'd give everyone medicare (government insurance plan currently free for those 65 and up). Medicare is the base insurance that private insurance pegs there reimbursement against. Then for anything additional or fancy, you can buy supplemental coverage (ie cheaper access to name brand prescriptions). This is how everyone in our country over the age of 65 already does healthcare. Safety net for all. Buy some extra coverage if you want to. Nobody goes without.
Medicare has a lower administrative costs than private insurance too.

We looked at several options for insurance as a country during the "obamacare" debates.

• medicare for all -- roundly rejected as being too far left. It was a non started.
• non-profit insurance entities that would be subsidized by the government. Not free. But cheaper. Think post office and private insurance is Fedex. Republicans said this would be bad because the private companies couldn't compete against this unfair advantage (personal note: who gives a fuck, we are talking healthcare outcomes as the goal)
• Subsidies for middle class and would be administered via private insurance companies. This is what got passed.

So now we have this new law that does a few major things. It says everyone has to buy insurance. It says insurance companies can and can't do certain things. It creates flat premade tiers of healthcare plans so that you can shop apples to apples online and no the fine print isn't hiding anything. It gives subsidies to help lower the cost of your insurance. It gives incentives via taxes and penalties to REMOVE insurance from being linked to your job. It gives incentives for hospital systems to buy up all the surrounding clinics and then eventually start their own insurance company creating horizontal and vertical monopolies of geographic area. This last one is where I, as a physician, am very unhappy. Its all a corporate and insurance handout that will stifle patient choice and will get walmart and CVS into the insurance game. Hospitals will quit bankrupting people, but clinic access will be more "retail" based in that the costs won't be covered by the insurance in a lot of cases. This forces the patient to make some consumer type choices. The idea is somehow that will "lower cost and make it transparent" (indeed, cost in our system is rather random and all fucked up", but what will probably happen is that patients won't go to the doctor more than they MUST and you will lose the benefit of preventative care.

So the current grand experiment is going on. But we didn't pass universal coverage. We passed an insurance regulation bill.

 

[Wild]

Fuck handling a rattler...or any venomous snake for that matter.

 

[Splinty]

Fuck handling a rattler...or any venomous snake for that matter.

Ever looked at who dies from snakes??

List of fatal snake bites in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A huge number are people voluntarily handling snakes or those that just don't seek treatment.
You can die right away for sure, but you can also limit your risk. One guy in there saw a snake in his tent. So he did whatever he was doing and was bit on the hand. How did your hand get that close to a tiny copperhead?!? GET A LONG STICK!, FLIP THE TENT. Don't go in after it!

 

[jason73]

Fuck handling a rattler...or any venomous snake for that matter.

i usually handle them by chopping their head off with a shovel

 

[BJTT-Rizzo]

That is interesting. What's the mechanism to getting that care? Reservation or access to something like medicaid?

I was registered at a local tribal clinic(government employees), when I was a tad with proof of lineage. Once on record health,dental, and vision services are provided at zero cost. Incase of emergency I can be seen anywhere. I would notify my clinics billing department(within 72hours) tell them where,when,why I was seen and they took over and bill was paid. I have needed surgery's, have had several broken bones, and needed ambulance services and never seen the bill. I am truly fortunate when it comes to health/dental coverage security.

My children, who are not enrolled members of the tribe qualify for this service too being descendants.

 

[jason73]

Ever looked at who dies from snakes??

List of fatal snake bites in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A huge number are people voluntarily handling snakes or those that just don't seek treatment.
You can die right away for sure, but you can also limit your risk. One guy in there saw a snake in his tent. So he did whatever he was doing and was bit on the hand. How did your hand get that close to a tiny copperhead?!? GET A LONG STICK!, FLIP THE TENT. Don't go in after it!

be smarter than the snake

 

[Splinty]

I was registered at a local tribal clinic(government employees), when I was a tad with proof of lineage. Once on record health,dental, and vision services are provided at zero cost. Incase of emergency I can be seen anywhere. I would notify my clinics billing department(within 72hours) tell them where,when,why I was seen and they took over and bill was paid. I have needed surgery's, have had several broken bones, and needed ambulance services and never seen the bill. I am truly fortunate when it comes to health/dental coverage security.

My children, who are not enrolled members of the tribe qualify for this service too being descendants.

Why carry insurance then? Sounds pretty good!

 

[dacofty]

I killed 3 snakes in my yard last summer.my old ass neighbor killed 2.he got venom on his hand and it swelled up huge.your not supposed to kill them but fuck letting them live where my kid plays.

We kill on average 3 to 5 a year easy. They are becoming a problem in the southern states

 

[BJTT_Pella]

i usually handle them by chopping their head off with a shovel

This reminds me of a situation back in 2004. I didnt know the family personally but followed the stories in the base and local papers. Yeah, remember news papers? Lol anyway.


I was stationed and living on Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton. Everything on that base is federally protected. Ive heard it was part of the lease stipulation for the property Vandergrift (i think) left. He gave the property to the gov as long as certain criteria is met. Like all species of everything is protected by law. There has to be a pre determined amount of acres of agriculture to be maintained by migrant workers. There is a list of things that have to be abided to or they run the risk of losing the base, technically.

One day i got home from work and my wife told me about a little girl in Wire Mountain housing who was bitten in the face by a rattle snake in her back yard. She was rushed to the ER and they were able to save her life. In the pictures they showed in the paper, half of her face wasnt moving. It was like she had a stroke, a half smile. It was really sad to see. Well she had only been out of the hospital a few days when she was in the back yard again, with another rattle snake and the dad picked up a shovel and separated the neck from the body. Just like any father would. He should have buried it and never ever told anyone. He knew it was illegal to kill a snake but his wife talked him into calling fish and game to come pick up what was left. Fish and game showed up with PMO and they arrested his ass on spot. After public outcry he was released a little while later and no charges were filed

 

[Punch]

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Gen 3:15

Enmity sums it up nicely, imo.

 

[Leigh]

Growing up in the UK, i've had the NHS on tap my whole life, the medical system in america not only baffles me but it actually disgusts me that any child or adult can be withheld equal treatment or be invoiced at a price which could financial ruin them.

I stand my this quote wholeheartedly:

As I understand it, a hospital cannot turn away sick patients in the US. You will be treated but you will be billed and unpaid bills can result in court.

Obviously @Splinty knows better than I do

 

[Punch]

As I understand it, a hospital cannot turn away sick patients in the US. You will be treated but you will be billed and unpaid bills can result in court.

Obviously @Splinty knows better than I do

Privately-owned hospitals may turn away patients in a non-emergency, but public hospitals cannot refuse care. Public hospitals, funded by taxpayer dollars, are held to a different standard than privately owned for-profit hospitals.
Can Hospitals Turn Away Patients? - Free Legal Advice
law.freeadvice.com/malpractice_law/hospital.../hospital-patients.htm

 

[Leigh]

Privately-owned hospitals may turn away patients in a non-emergency, but public hospitals cannot refuse care. Public hospitals, funded by taxpayer dollars, are held to a different standard than privately owned for-profit hospitals.
Can Hospitals Turn Away Patients? - Free Legal Advice
law.freeadvice.com/malpractice_law/hospital.../hospital-patients.htm

Thanks. It's the same in the UK (except without the billing)

 

[Splinty]

As I understand it, a hospital cannot turn away sick patients in the US. You will be treated but you will be billed and unpaid bills can result in court.

Obviously @Splinty knows better than I do

You are only required to have an emergency, including child delivery Addressed and stabilized.

That prenatal care for that delivery in 9 months is not in that. The cholesterol control to stop that eventual emergent heart attack? Not in it.
Large breast mass? Not an emergency.

 

[Punch]

A little off track here, but i really hate our greed driven society sometimes...

 

[BJTT_Pella]

A little off track here, but i really hate our greed driven society sometimes...

Its sickening. Having succesfully sued One of the largest for profit hospitals on my sons behalf and dealing with lawyers. Its clearly a buisness. They are playing the "cost averaging" game with peoples lives and it should be criminal

 

[Fiend]

Damn, that bites......