You're out of your freakin' mind! I'm only willing to give you 7 grand. Do you think because oil is up that you can inflate the metal prices? The total bill was 11k? Man oh man. I can say I won't be growing old and if I was it wouldn't be in the US.
The total bill was insane. Mt doctor / surgeon billed around $23K. Total bill alone from the day I fell to the followup post surgery visit a week later was about $110K. Bills to date are around $135K. The sad thing is that my insurance company paid my doctor only $758 to pull the metal, about an hour.
With all the BS on here and the political debates I must ask: Are you a ****ing liar? Do you dream **** up then post it on the net!? No way the bill is that much. It seems like a lot of damage by looking at the material for your foot but no way in Christ land did you pay $110,000.00 US dollars in a week for foot damage. Bloody hell man I crushed my own ankle with a damn forklift and I didn't pay a dime, not even for the physiotherapy afterwards, they would have even reimbursed me for the $25 crutches I bought along with cab fare or parking. And when I'm 45 and have to put up with the arthritis for a decade I won't pay then either. I bit through my tongue as a child, broke my nose, cut my eyeball, broke my back, broke my legs, pretty much had cancer, had organs bleed, torn muscles, ligaments and tendons clean apart, I've been carted to the hospital unconscious so many times that waking up in a hospital is familiar and somewhat pleasant. What the hell would that bill be in the US? I have to tell you if I was ever hurt in the US in the past or in the future, I would rent a helicopter, fly to the nearest Canadian hospital and get repaired for free. That or skip out on the US bill. How much is it to take a crap in a hospital $150.00? Do they charge you on the same bill? What if you #1 a little too? Is that extra? Do they weigh it and charge by different categories of weight? I've heard the stories from friends and neighbors but damn it, I never get used to it. If I got sick as a child in the US my father would have drowned me. Shock, awe, amazement, dizziness and increasing amounts of nausea at those numbers. What the hell do poor people do? Sell their house? Go in debt for the rest of their lives?
So you mean that on that day, for that work, he was paid $758. Your insurance company did foot the whole bill, you just commented on the cheap part of the bill for taking the metal out, right?
I'm sorry, I wish you the best. When comparing health next to money, it's just matter of paper. Glad you were able to pay it. It's interesting how the metals don't produce infection.
People can afford Ferraris and Lamborghinis in USA because they don't have to pay for someone else's health issues. Each person is liable for his/her issues. We don't pay 50% in taxes. Any country can pull off what you guys in Canada have. It's not really hard tripling tax and having almost free health insurance. Having decent insurance in a country and allowing its people to live a luxury life because of its economics, now that's something the world wants to learn how to do. God Bless USA
I dunno, that does sound excessive to the point of being unbeleivable. I had a compound fracture of my lower leg (bone sticking out), dislocated ankle, ankle socket cracked, pretty good road rash on my hands, elbows and knees, and a pair of broken wrists. I didnt have insurance so I paid the whole bill. Orthopedic surgery to clean the bones, screw the socket together and put the bones back in was around $20k, which included the orthopedists time, the rental of the OR, the helper staff. I paid the anasthesiologist seperately to the tune of $2,500 or so. About 10 days in hospital at $1k a day. follow-up care totalled a few grand including multiple cast changes and removal of hardware, physical therapy and all that. I was into it all for less than $40k. How could this be triple that? There's no way... LOL!
I see your side but that price for a foot? I should start a foot farm. With all of the issues people are going to have because of the polluted environment we live in expect more people being rushed to the hospital for the smallest things like breathing and swallowing and seeing etc. I won't vote for or against anything but damn, falling has never hurt so much. In '99 I made just under $50,000 and I think I paid just over 17%, it was under 20% anyway. I assume that's close to the average Canadian household and I don't know anyone who pays 50%, can I ask where you got your 50% number from? Someone needs a better accountant. lol
By the way all of my posts are serious except for the first one, I re-read my long post and it sounds mean, I was just shocked, that's all. I think I will buy a helicopter and patrol 50 miles inside the US boarder, I'll find skaters doing headplants, fly them home, pick up their parents and for $50,000 they get to come to Canada for a week. I'll have more money than God.
A friend of mine told me she was charged on her bill for cotton balls and cups and other piddily things. I think it was 15 cents for the cotton balls, or was that the little plastic cup the pills come in? How much does air cost? What's the cost per visitor? Do family members get discounts?
I hope he sells it, the poor guy needs the cash and may not be able to afford to use the ladder again. At least there's no ice to slip on for 4 1/2 months out of the year. Yay!
How many poor people are in the US? How many own luxury type cars and homes that can actually pay the bills? This isn't a debate but man, there are a lot of Americans struggling day to day and a much higher percentage than the people crusin' with the top down. You make it sound like Monaco on the F1 weekend.
Back in 1991 I had major reconstructive shoulder surgery (and as I like to add to embelish the story, "ending my chances of pitching for the Dodgers"). Three days in the hospital, followed by a good three months of physical therapy sessions a couple days a week. The entire bill was about $12k. In Santa Barbara, California. What would it run nowdays? $100k?
His bill is excessive but not out of the world so. My broken pinky bone (Spiral Fracture) cost my Ins $25k and is still not fixed totally. So his bill looks legit to me. And remember, we down here could likely fix our health care if we quit paying $500+ billon to defend the continent.
Gebus, war talk? If enemies aren't made they don't have to be defended against. P&R is a few floors up. A broken toe cost you $25,000? WTF? No wonder Steven Colbert had his doc come on the show to cut his cast off. He probably saved a few grand in a trade for the spotlight.
I'm afraid you're mistaken. In Canada it still costs a lot. It might even cost *the system* $100,000. However, EVERYONE pays for it through their income taxes in Canada, so some oil family in Alberta probably paid for all of your healthcare (and everyone in Nova Scotia!). In the States, the poor are also covered by the gov't. The lower middle class are in the most precarious spot when they make too much for gov't coverage but can't scrape together full insurance. I suppose the overall difference is that in Canada, I'd pay another 15% income tax (on top of the much higher sales taxes) and we'd all be paying for Pete's foot. In the US, Pete pays for his foot.
I was not trying ot be contentious. Likely we agree that we (the US ) spends to much on the wrong things. But yea, $25k on a bone the length of a paperclip.
I knew if I scrolled down, I would see a post from you stating that you probably over reacted (I hate waking up and getting called out on the first FChat thread I read!). I'll have to find my binder marked 'HEEL' that has every bill in it and take a couple of pic's of hospital invoices. You'll fall off your moose reading it! Health care in the US is VERY high with so much of the profits lining the pockets of the CEO's of the big insurance companies. Though it's crazy, I rather of fractured my heel in the US than in Canada. After my fall and at the hospital, I was in the emergency room in 10 minutes and out of pain. From what I hear of Canadian health care, if you need a bypass, you better be healthy enough to wait six or eight months for the proceedure Vs about three days in the US.
