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I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

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Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#41

Post by [deleted] »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #20
lstamour wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who sets the numbers and why, though? How much is profit, how much should be profit, when it comes to human health and rehabilitation whether mental or physical assistance is required? Or, ignoring profit, why take away public funding to programs for poor people just to provide tax breaks to rich folks? How much is a dollar worth to each individual, relatively-speaking? There are few easy answers, except (almost) eve…

> Just to provide tax breaks to rich folks Your statement illustrates one of two competing views. The following statements are extremes of the two positions. 1) The government by default owns all your money, and any money you get to keep after taxes is just a tax break. 2) You own your money by default, and the government should not take your money except to provide things that the market is unable to (some examples…

[deleted]

Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#42

Post by b3b0p »

quantummkv wrote: post #14

Am i missing something in here or are the costs in that bill really this high? $22,526 for room boarding for 2 weeks? Over here in India my grandma's bypass surgery costed somewhat about $10,000. That included everything including the stent, medicines and boarding, that too at a renowned, premiere private hospital. Is this a special case or are healthcare costs generally this high in America?

I just had a stent. I stayed Friday night, Saturday Morning surgery, and left Sunday Morning. My bill was almost $100,000 USD (less than $2,000 short).

Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#43

Post by wyager »

nicky0 wrote: post #39
wyager wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way does wanting to keep what I earn mean I "hate others"? I feel sad when I walk by homeless people, but I don't stop and give them everything I can afford until I'm impoverished. Do you? If not, why do you hate others so much that you want to "keep them from getting housing"? Hopefully you see why your argument is disingenuous. If you're really so hard on hypocrisy, you should go out right now and give ever…

No one is suggesting anyone should give every last cent to others. The idea is that if everyone gives a small amount, then a large amount becomes available those unfortunate few that need it.

Have you looked at expected lifetime medical cost data? Please do so. It's not "a small amount". And where do we draw the line? We could spend an arbitrary amount of money pushing medicine down the diminishing returns curve until we bankrupt the entire society.

Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#44

Post by wyager »

tnzn wrote: post #34
siidooloo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you didn't read the story but people were sending her death threats.

who cares about reading the whole story w hen you're a libertarian (not you) who thinks every penny he makes is due to his own merit and he is entitled to this no matter the life of others though :/

Ah, I see you're of the much more enlightened opinion that everything you earn is due to and owned by the government, and anything they let you have is due to their own benevolence and good grace.

Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#45

Post by wyager »

siidooloo wrote: post #27
wyager wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way does wanting to keep what I earn mean I "hate others"? I feel sad when I walk by homeless people, but I don't stop and give them everything I can afford until I'm impoverished. Do you? If not, why do you hate others so much that you want to "keep them from getting housing"? Hopefully you see why your argument is disingenuous. If you're really so hard on hypocrisy, you should go out right now and give ever…

Maybe you didn't read the story but people were sending her death threats.

Maybe you didn't read the GP's comment but that's not what we're talking about.

Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#46

Post by lstamour »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #20
lstamour wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who sets the numbers and why, though? How much is profit, how much should be profit, when it comes to human health and rehabilitation whether mental or physical assistance is required? Or, ignoring profit, why take away public funding to programs for poor people just to provide tax breaks to rich folks? How much is a dollar worth to each individual, relatively-speaking? There are few easy answers, except (almost) eve…

> Just to provide tax breaks to rich folks Your statement illustrates one of two competing views. The following statements are extremes of the two positions. 1) The government by default owns all your money, and any money you get to keep after taxes is just a tax break. 2) You own your money by default, and the government should not take your money except to provide things that the market is unable to (some examples…

I’ve found most nations settle on: if you’re not making much, keep it. It means more to you. In fact, here’s a few hundred more for sales taxes you might have paid. If you’re making enough to “get by,” we’ll skim off the top and give you tax breaks as incentives. From there it’s a sliding scale up to some cut off. For example: If you’re making more than 3-5x the “getting by,” rate mentioned above, we’ll split it – you keep half, we’ll take half. And again, that’s only on top of other tax breaks, so 50% is an asymptotic upper bound for most people.

I may not like it come tax time, but it makes sense to me. I consider the half I don’t keep another sort of contribution to society. And of course look for ways to minimize it–money doesn’t save itself. But I don’t fight over the concept– I rely on services paid directly from taxpayer money each day. The one thing I would hope for is efficiency– but I don’t think starving and cutting systems inherently improves them. It’s just a shell game.

Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#47

Post by BrandoElFollito »

This is one of the reasons I love my country (France) : because I do not even have a bill to tweet. Literally : there is no obvious financial trace of serious medical items.

Sure, when I go to the emergency with my child and his swollen ankle, I get charged 28€ (IIRC), which later get reinbursed. This is the highest medical bill I can think of (except dental and optical). A 100,000€ bill would not appear anywhere.

Re: I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter

#49

Post by nicky0 »

wyager wrote: post #43
nicky0 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is suggesting anyone should give every last cent to others. The idea is that if everyone gives a small amount, then a large amount becomes available those unfortunate few that need it.

Have you looked at expected lifetime medical cost data? Please do so. It's not "a small amount". And where do we draw the line? We could spend an arbitrary amount of money pushing medicine down the diminishing returns curve until we bankrupt the entire society.

You could if your were stupid, yes. Or you could put on your big boy pants as a country and put together an effective and humane healthcare system. Yes, compromises have to be made, you can't cover absolutely everything.

Socialised medicine works successfully in other countries to the US, including my own. That's the only data point I need.

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