| patronmacabre said: While I don't think anything can justify America's healthcare system, there is definitely some information left out... |
You do not want to get bitten by a rattlesnake. Excruciating pain aside, rattlesnake venom can cause extensive tissue damage, as the flesh is basically being disolved, nerve damage, heart failure, uncontrolled internal bleeding and hemorrhaging, and organ failure. Hemotoxin is bad, bad stuff. It kills a lot slower than neurotoxin, if at all, but it can mess you up badly even with antivenin. Sometimes amputation is necessary.
Besides potentially requiring a dozen or more doses of expensive antivenin, surgical procedures and an extended hospital stay are often required, not to mention all the pain killers and antibiotics.
As far as the total cost being so high, I actually spoke with a doctor about this last week. He said it's because so many people don't have insurance, and thus do not visit the doctor until too late. What could have been provented with a simple procedure to remove a growth instead becomes an expensive battle against full-blown cancer. That leaves astronomical medical bills which are usually never paid, which in turn drives up the total cost across the board. That's basically health care in the United States.
