<story><title>How a Medical Catastrophe Can Bankrupt a Life</title><url>https://longreads.com/2018/02/01/how-a-medical-catastrophe-can-bankrupt-a-life/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>radoslawc</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve heard multiple times that medical care in USA is pretty expansive if you don&amp;#x27;t have insurance. But I had no idea to what extent, until someone posted comments section form amazon&amp;#x27;s page for fish antibiotics. People are buying those for them self (well, still it&amp;#x27;s amoxycycline), just check any comment, most of them have something like: my &amp;#x27;fish&amp;#x27; is better, $300 saved.
That&amp;#x27;s just inhumane.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>owenversteeg</author><text>I am not a doctor and don&amp;#x27;t play one on TV, but it&amp;#x27;s worth noting that the pills should actually be safe for consumption by humans (I do not encourage this.) A couple of things:&lt;p&gt;- Many fish antibiotic producers just purchase pills intended for humans, because the cost is so low. Generic amoxicillin for humans can cost less than two cents a pill. The cheapest fish antibiotics I found were $20 for 100 pills at Walmart, so the actual pills could be less than 10% of the cost of the product.&lt;p&gt;- There aren&amp;#x27;t any currently USP-certified fish antibiotics, however. As a result, there are no regulations on how they are stored. This could mean they are exposed to heat and&amp;#x2F;or moisture, which antibiotics are sensitive to. That said, given that they&amp;#x27;re stored in sealed plastic containers, they should be fine.&lt;p&gt;- The differences in the actual pills should be limited to fillers and things that do not affect the potency, in the USA. None of these should be harmful however, although they could affect taste.&lt;p&gt;Again, I don&amp;#x27;t recommend consuming fish antibiotics, and amoxicillin is actually available cheaper (with a prescription) from online pharmacies.</text></comment>
<story><title>How a Medical Catastrophe Can Bankrupt a Life</title><url>https://longreads.com/2018/02/01/how-a-medical-catastrophe-can-bankrupt-a-life/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>radoslawc</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve heard multiple times that medical care in USA is pretty expansive if you don&amp;#x27;t have insurance. But I had no idea to what extent, until someone posted comments section form amazon&amp;#x27;s page for fish antibiotics. People are buying those for them self (well, still it&amp;#x27;s amoxycycline), just check any comment, most of them have something like: my &amp;#x27;fish&amp;#x27; is better, $300 saved.
That&amp;#x27;s just inhumane.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tptacek</author><text>People also buy fish antibiotics because their doctor won&amp;#x27;t prescribe antibiotics for common colds.</text></comment>