HappySqurriel on 08 May 2009
| SuperDave said: Personally, I don't even understand how someone can get sick and walk out of a hospital down there with 100k in hospital bills and be expected to pay that. I guess I just take universal health care for granted, because the alternative seems crazy. |
Suppose 1 in 5 people had a catastrophic non-preventable illness or injury that took $250,000 to "cure" once in their lifetime, people had $50,000 work in major medical expenses toward the diagnosis and cure of their illnesses over their lifetime, and people had access to $1,000 worth of doctors checkups (and whatnot) per year ... If you assume a lifespan of 50 years, this would only cost $3000 per person per year and would represent 45% of the cost associated with the healthcare system in the united states today (and under 40% of the cost it would be to cover everyone under the current cost structure of the healthcare system).
This should give a basic idea of just how out of control the costs associated with the healthcare system are ...
