<story><title>Girl’s $143k bill for snakebite treatment reveals antivenin price gouging</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/04/try-not-to-get-bitten-by-a-snake-it-could-cost-you-143000/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>commandlinefan</author><text>But that&amp;#x27;s even worse - now the $143k bill is sent to the government which just shrugs its collective shoulders and pays it... until the money runs out.</text></item><item><author>estebarb</author><text>Meanwhile in Costa Rica the treatment for even more poisonous snakes would cost zero dollars with zero zero cents (including helicopter or small plane, if required). Here antiofidics are produced by the Universidad de Costa Rica, and every public health center has a reserve of it. Those serums are exported too.
I really can&amp;#x27;t understand how USA got public health so wrong. Here we pay like 9% of tax over salary and get &amp;quot;ALL the health cover you may need&amp;quot;: broken legs, cancer, HIV, transplants... You name it: each and every treatment is free: no deductible, no coverage limits, no contractual exceptions, no preexisting conditions, not even a call to the insurance company before receiving treatment or having to provide your ID.
Sometimes I had thought about applying to a cool techco at USA, then I remember the health system differences and I forget it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>plasma</author><text>As an Australia who enjoys universal healthcare, not once have I ever worried about being sick financially and how much it would cost me.&lt;p&gt;I can go to any doctors I want and easily afford the medication I may need, and may visit a doctor preemptively and without worry about cost.&lt;p&gt;It saddens me that American citizens are suffering with such an awful healthcare system, and no where in the galaxy would I ever wish a system like yours to enter Australia.&lt;p&gt;You should vote for universal, single payer healthcare.</text></comment>
<story><title>Girl’s $143k bill for snakebite treatment reveals antivenin price gouging</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/04/try-not-to-get-bitten-by-a-snake-it-could-cost-you-143000/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>commandlinefan</author><text>But that&amp;#x27;s even worse - now the $143k bill is sent to the government which just shrugs its collective shoulders and pays it... until the money runs out.</text></item><item><author>estebarb</author><text>Meanwhile in Costa Rica the treatment for even more poisonous snakes would cost zero dollars with zero zero cents (including helicopter or small plane, if required). Here antiofidics are produced by the Universidad de Costa Rica, and every public health center has a reserve of it. Those serums are exported too.
I really can&amp;#x27;t understand how USA got public health so wrong. Here we pay like 9% of tax over salary and get &amp;quot;ALL the health cover you may need&amp;quot;: broken legs, cancer, HIV, transplants... You name it: each and every treatment is free: no deductible, no coverage limits, no contractual exceptions, no preexisting conditions, not even a call to the insurance company before receiving treatment or having to provide your ID.
Sometimes I had thought about applying to a cool techco at USA, then I remember the health system differences and I forget it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>twiss</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s not what happens in practice - a government has a lot more negotiating power, and less skin in the game, than individuals who need the treatment. Governments can and do sometimes refuse to pay treatments that are too expensive. This may cause citizens who want that treatment to be upset, but for 99.99% of treatments it leads to them being a lot more affordable.</text></comment>