In the US, hospitals are confident enough to print ‘39.95’ on the bill for holding your newborn
They are so sure about their system they don't mind explicitly spelling out that they charge $40 for literally handing over the baby and waiting for a few minutes
Because they don't even consider that absurd anymore
I got news for you.. it’s ABSURD!
@stux
As a nurse, I find the US healthcare system morally repugnant.
I could never work in a hospital in a country where this shit happens. Where people go bankrupt or are literally not treated if they don't have the money or correct insurance. Where machines are turned off because of money. Where they take your insurance details before treating you.
I think it's against the Hippocratic Oath.
Nothing is too absurd in the US health care system. I was charged $200 for "physical therapy" that was really 15 minutes of some guy "teaching" me how to use crutches before I left the hospital after knee surgery.
@jlapoutre @stux It is apparently real: https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/10/hospitals-charge-new-parents-for-skin-to-skin-contact.html
I too could not believe it at first blush.
EVERYTHING is absurd about the U.S. healthcare system. I've received enough hospital and doctor bills to attest to that. Meds that I already have, they wouldn't allow me to bring in even though I carry my weekly pillbox in my purse; not when they could charge me upwards of USD 1,000 for each day of the same pills... and that's just the beginning.
Triage in the ER can be a joke depending on who's doing it. I was sent to the back of the line in favor of treating a baby with diaper rash (people often use Emergency for Primary Care and I could hear them in the next cubicle) even though I had what turned out to be a potentially life-threatening condition. I'm not a cute little baby, but I needed emergency abdominal surgery, resulting in a humongous bill that I'm still paying for.
And yes, the billing manager is very often the first person you see. Show your insurance card, prove you can pay, or leave. 💰 🤬
I'm surprised they didn't give the baby an opium addiction to get them started in the USA healthcare system.
@stux At least illness isn't the #1 killer of children in the US!
(It's firearms... at least for ages 1-18. Followed by motor vehicles.)
There must be more to it.
@stux OK, I looked into it. After a C-section, the mother is still drugged, and another nurse is brought into the room to supervise the holding so that nobody gets dropped.
Of course, health care should be provided for free here, like it is in other countries.
@rjblaskiewicz @stux there's a tiny bit more to it, but still absurd https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/10/hospitals-charge-new-parents-for-skin-to-skin-contact.html
In Sweden the cost of delivery (c-section or not) and staying a few days at the hospital costs about as much as just holding the kid in 'murica. For non citizens without permanent residence it might go up to the equivalent of $2k (unless there's serious complications – then it might reach ~$10k).
My uncle was hospitalized while vacationing in... I think it was Belgium. He paid out of pocket (or possibly his insurance paid the cost) but the bill was low and the hospital provided translators. Really a good experience, I mean except for being in the hospital. :) It makes sense that someone who does not pay into the system should not receive its full benefits, but he was so impressed by how little paperwork there was compared to here.
and the tory scum in the UK want to move Britain from its current free hospital service to something resembling the utterly appalling system that is current in the USA!
@real_jamescain rhetorical questions asked in bad faith deserve and require the illumination of same provided by a legitimate answer.
Don’t mock crucial things you don’t understand and won’t ever apply to your life or wellbeing is a good rule to adopt.
@rolle @stux After C-section the mother is kept in hospital for few days. About 40€/day so it's more like 120-160€.
But that can include full upkeep (private room, three hot meals per day, snacks as much as needed, hot showers, baths to newborn, etc.) and all medical stuff needed (medications, lab tests, etc.) to the whole family: mother, newborn and father. Well, father might not get lab tests or nice drugs...
@stux For the low, low price of only $39.95, you too can hold the newborn that doctors have just surgically removed from you 🙄
Our for-profit medical system is out of control.
If anybody is wondering why right-wing governments in jurisdictions like Ontario, Alberta and the UK are trying so hard to privatise public healthcare, it's right here. ⬆️
A goldmine for their funders.
Greatest country on earth. 😏
@stux alright I hate to be a reply guy but as the father of two c-section babies I feel like I can explain this a bit.
People who have c-sections are heavily medicated through the procedure. My wife could barely stay awake through all of it, both times.
Skin-to-skin after a c-section means that the nurses have to stay with mama to basically ensure the baby isn't dropped by a mother that passes out. It also means staff has to stay in the OR longer. So it actually costs quite a lot.
There are other solutions for this. I had a c-section in Austria. The nurses did not stay with me, I was simply provided with a bassinet and told that I should NOT carry the baby myself.
Also the entire cost was... zero. Giving birth is free in Austria, even if you don't have health insurance (which is rare). If we can do it, other rich countries can do the same. Giving birth should be free, it's hard enough as it is, and it's in the public interest. It should be paid for by all tax payers.
You don't need to explain c-sections to me - as I wrote, I had one myself. Charging extra for what, some minutes at best, of skin-to-skin contact in the OP is completely and utterly absurd. There is really no excuse for this absurdity and other countries have figured it out.
@stux Apparently they need an extra nurse for safety reasons. Because they think the woman is going to be standing up after the C-section, and the anaesthetics give a good chance of dropping the baby.
At least they're transparent about that line. The bill still has a large quantity of generic levels 1 and 3.
@stux I sympathise, I really do. The US is a great country, which I lived in for years, but putting a price on holding your baby is what’s wrong with the healthcare model.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the bill for the entire process from the hospital, is £0 (that’s $0 at today’s exchange rate).
It’s also the reason why there’ll never be a British re-make of Breaking Bad!
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