91–100 of 162 posts
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In the US the cost must have been in the millions. I know people who ran up several million dollar bills during cancer treatment.
do they deny you treatment if you don't have that kind of money?
> and I would be fully present for all the moments that mattered. This quote stood out, because as a promise to your family, it really sucks. We never know what the moments that matter to other people are going to be. Big events are nice. But when you think back on your life, how many important moments were from small events? Just having a nice talk, doing a chore with your dad, telling your mom about your day? How m…
I'm fine with people sacrificing for their work, but don't try to sell the "I'm doing it all" crap.
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Pay for it with taxes, pay for it with premiums and bills. You’re paying for it. No one works for free, the medicine costs money. The money comes from somewhere.
The doctors’ and hospital administrators’ sports cars aren’t cheap either.
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Don't want to spark a healthcare debate, but want to mention that I bet NONE of the non-US readers on HN would have given a single thought about the costs involved if this was happening in their countries. It's wild to me that the potential financial impact of this was part of the picture for many of the US people reading it (especially the startup founders who are probably without insurance right now, and this would…
Universal Healthcare is generally only a thing in Canada and the EU. It's great if you need to wait a few months to see a doctor, but I know plenty of Canadians and Europeans who come to the US for medical care so they don't have to wait.
Additionally, when I lived in the US, we got a special Dutch health insurance plan for temporary expats. They sent us a letter that if one of us ever had to go to the hospital, they'd fly them over to the Netherlands unless the situation required immediate attention.
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You really don't want people to have ready to use antibiotics at home. It's already very difficult to contain bacteria resistance to antibiotics. Very soon people would not only die from rare bacteria related decease but any kind of random bacteria infection.
Your points are valid, people are irresponsible with antibiotics, however consider that e.g. 1 hour drive to emergency would cost you an arm, literally, whereas quickly eating 5 pills of wide-spectrum antibiotics would keep the infection at bay and give you time to drive to ER without any adversarial effects on your future life. What would be your choice?
Of course I'd do whatever it took to save myself or my loved ones. Anyone would. That's not a good basis for government policy.
(Also, being honest, the number of situations where powerful antibiotics now vs. at the hospital would make a difference and the people involve realize that and administer them has got to be tiny. We can't make policy based on low-probability hypotheticals.)
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Universal Healthcare is generally only a thing in Canada and the EU. It's great if you need to wait a few months to see a doctor, but I know plenty of Canadians and Europeans who come to the US for medical care so they don't have to wait.
Not Europeans — while you might have to wait for non-emergency things (depending on the country), emergencies are treated immediately. And I've never heard of anyone from the EU going to the US for medical care, that actually sounds rather amusing :-)
It definitely happens, especially for things like plastic and reconstructive surgery.
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The dichotomy is wrong. If you allow people to have antibiotics at home, enough of them are gonna chew them like vitamins to spread antibiotics resistance even faster. Then when you have your emergency, sure you can eat your pills, but it's not gonna do shit. The only remotely viable solution is improving access to ERs.
What about an alternative where any usages have to be reported and measured and incorrect usage has an increasing penalty. It starts small and only ramps up with repeated abuse. If you don't consent to the rules, that is fine, you aren't allowed the drugs at home (same as today).
Like the parent said, lots of people will pop those things like candy. In very short order they won’t work at all.
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Don't want to spark a healthcare debate, but want to mention that I bet NONE of the non-US readers on HN would have given a single thought about the costs involved if this was happening in their countries. It's wild to me that the potential financial impact of this was part of the picture for many of the US people reading it (especially the startup founders who are probably without insurance right now, and this would…
Universal Healthcare is generally only a thing in Canada and the EU. It's great if you need to wait a few months to see a doctor, but I know plenty of Canadians and Europeans who come to the US for medical care so they don't have to wait.
> and I would be fully present for all the moments that mattered. This quote stood out, because as a promise to your family, it really sucks. We never know what the moments that matter to other people are going to be. Big events are nice. But when you think back on your life, how many important moments were from small events? Just having a nice talk, doing a chore with your dad, telling your mom about your day? How m…
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Spoken like somebody who has money. Do you have any idea how much pain and suffering a person can endure due to having no money? I don't think it's your place to say that person's life is worth living.
Growing up in total poverty, raised by a single mother who fought cancers and died twice on operating tables let me tell you one thing. Money is nothing. Poverty won't make you unhappy. Humans are good at finding new baselines. Poverty will simply become your new normal and the little things of life will still bring you joy. Seeing a loved one will still make you a smile. Life is worth living even without any ressour…
I'm glad you and your family managed to beat the odds, but this is demonstrably false on a statistical level.