(February 18, 2014 at 6:16 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: In NI, I had a fairly bad motorbike crash when I was in my late 20s. Nothing horrific - a few minor fractures, road rash, that sort of thing. I was in hospital for 6 days, had 4 weeks of physical therapy, and was on pain meds for about 3 months.
Total billing: £11 500.
My costs: £200 (cab fare to and from PT).
A socialist nightmare, that was.
Boru
(February 18, 2014 at 8:33 am)xpastor Wrote: About 13 years ago tests detected a small but aggressive cancer in my prostate. I was referred for 9 weeks of radiation treatment 5 days a week at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, which is among the top five cancer clinics in the world. In the years after the treatment there was regular follow up with the radiation specialist.
Eventually the cancer recurred, and in 2010 I was offered a prostatectomy as an option. My radiation oncologist referred me to a surgeon who is regarded as the top man in Canada for this specialty. Three years later it appears the cancer is completely gone.
I was not billed one cent for all this treatment.
Contrast that with me having to go to the hospital for an emergency MRI (as in, this can't wait or she might die) because my heart rate would plummet just standing up and I would get light-headed and feel faint laying down and because my doctor couldn't get preapproval from my insurance company (who wanted to review my case and would get back to my doctor in a week) the MRI cost me $2500.
I could pay $2500 out of pocket or risk my life waiting a week for preapproval and die of a pulmonary embolism or something in the meantime.
American health insurance is a scam.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
