Florida woman bitten by stray kitten billed by hospital for $48G:
 

Freaking hospital charges ten times their cost. Most people would have ignored it as a small bite, then infection sets in and they lose body parts.

Florida woman bitten by stray kitten billed by hospital for $48G: 'My funeral would have been cheaper'

A wildlife biologist in Florida was slammed with a nearly $50,000 medical bill after she was bitten by a stray kitten.

Jeannette Parker, 44, told NPR she noticed an emaciated black kitten on a road just outside Florida's Everglades National Park in September. Feeling sorry for the sickly-looking feline, Parker offered it some tuna she had in her car.
But the kitten didn't take kindly to Parker, literally biting the hand that fed it.

"It broke my skin with his teeth," she said.

Worried the cat may have infected her with rabies, she drove to the health department near her home in the Florida Keys, but it was closed. So, the biologist decided to go to Mariners Hospital, where she was treated in the emergency room and received two types of injections and an antibiotic for the bite.

All was well — until Parker was billed by the hospital for $48,512.

The majority of the cost — $46,422 — was for one preventative medication known as rabies immune globulin, which, according to NPR, is " an antibody that kick-starts the immune system to provide protection from the virus until the vaccine kicks in." Parker was administered 12 milliliters of rabies immune globulin.

Shocked, Parker began researching the typical cost of the medication.

"I saw that immune globulin was expensive, but it wasn't that expensive," she said. "I sat on it for a while because I was upset. Finally, I went by the hospital to confirm, and they said, 'Yes, that is right.'"

The average cost of rabies immune globulin, according to NPR, is $361.26 per milliliter. Parker received a 12-millimeter dose, so the cost of the medication would presumably have been $4,335.

But at the time Parker was treated, the $46,422 she was charged "reflected list prices the hospital had in place on Sept. 22, 2018," which is when she received treatment, Dori Robau Alvarez, a spokesperson for Baptist Health, which Mariners Hospital is a part of, told NPR.

The news outlet estimated that the hospital was billing $7,737 per 2-milliliter dose at the time Parker was treated.

The hospital, roughly a month later, lowered the price for rabies immune globulin to $1,650 per 2 milliliters. The price was reflected on the hospital's "chargemaster" or list of items that are billable to the patient.

"Statements for patients who received treatment prior to the change would reflect the previous charge," Alvarez said, but would not disclose why the price was so high when Parker was treated and why it was later lowered.
Luckily for Parker, who is reportedly insured through the American Postal Workers Union because her husband is a federal government employee, she didn't have to pay the full amount — owing $4,191 of the total cost. That included $344 of her remaining deductible for 2018 and 10 percent of the charges.

Still, it wasn't cheap — and the Mariners Hospital, which is in-network for Parker, reportedly did not offer to lower her bill to reflect the current price of the immune globulin.

Moving forward, Parker plans to have the hospital re-submit the bill to see if the 10 percent could be covered. She claims she was told by her insurance company that a cat bite should have been considered an "accidental injury" and thus eligible for 100 percent coverage under her plan, minus her remaining deductible.

But as the cost remains as-is, "my funeral would have been cheaper," Parker joked.

meanwhile Australia throws close to a billion at a new Children's Cancer Hospital

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/...01-p5113n.html

Understand.. this will be FREE treatment

This is the scam. Many think they don't operate like Dental insurance does but thats exactly how it works x5.. They bill you 10x if you have insurance.. If you copay you pay 20% or whatever and whatever they get from the insurance co is gravy.. If you don't have insurance they bill you at 10-20% which is actual cost

I know someone very close who spent 4 days in a hospital for an e-coli infection.... $98,000

Another girl who went in for stomach pain in the beginning of a pregnancy... 6 hours... $40,000

Neither had insurance

The bennies of living in an all white country.

That’s awesome. They have a hospital for free cancer treatment for children down south, founded by actor Danny Thomas. I don’t know what they raise or spend but telethons help them. They house the family for free, too.

Hospitals charges are crazy. My hospital stays cost seven figures at one point seven million dollars. I was in shock when they told me that. If I’d had insurance, they’d have cut me off at a point and insisted I go to a cheaper hospital and less treatment. If they heard critical condition, they’d probably refuse to pay for any treatment and let me die. That’s according to my primary care doctor. He said many people can’t afford prolonged care and the hospital gets some government funding (can’t think of the name of the program) and changes meds, treatment and releases people to nursing homes.

I’m suing a hospital for negligence as they didn’t treat certain things that happened due to neglect. A friend’s mother died at this rehab hospital due to neglect. She was thirteen so couldn’t do anything about it.

The horror stories I hear of neglect and high bills is unbelievable. You can’t afford to get sick in the USA. A bite from a kitten was fifty grand. My mom was in the hospital for seven days last summer. Colon cancer surgery was over a hundred grand for insurance. Her chemotherapy for six months was $3k/week and the scans and tests for the next year are roughly $60k. Medicare costs her $600/month and before this she was on no medications. It irked her to pay so much but wisely she had coverage.

Our health care system needs serious overhauling but doctors charging twenty grand for surgery is a big problem. Young kids put parents in debt. Older people use Medicare and rates go up. We in the middle have insurance at a high cost or Medicaid. Or, self treatment and ignoring the problem.

There is no solution here or in other countries. Kids get free treatment for certain illnesses here and down under but we suffer in debt or die from no treatment.

To quote a CNA from an hour ago: “it just ain’t fair for us fucking working people.”

Last year I got elbow bursitis and it ended up getting infected. I spent 3 days in the hospital and they tried to bill me over $30k..


Yet Republicans think this is fine and nothing needs to be done..

All necessary medical treatment in Australia is free.

Medical treatment is a basic service that should be provided by government paid for with taxes.

drunk and touching crazy cats! bet that sobered her up fast! LOL

uh do a population difference! plus you have a tiny... military! you don't fight fucking wars!!!

1. Population is irrelevant because it's all relative. 20 million people can go to a hospital for free, taxpayers pay a medicare levy to fund that. If we had 300 million, then 300 million could go to hospital for free because taxpayers would pay a medicare levy to fund that.

2. We do fight wars, along with New Zealand, we have stood side by side with the US and UK in every major conflict since WWI. We even fought in the Boer war. We have a very capable military and one of the best special forces units in the world, acknowledged by the US defence establishment as such.

3412.0 - Migration, Australia, 2015-16

Over the last 10 years, the proportion of the Australian population who were born in the United Kingdom decreased from 5.5% in 2006 to 5.0% in 2016. Conversely, the proportions increased for people born in New Zealand (from 2.1% to 2.5%), China (from 1.2% to 2.2%) and India (from 0.8% to 1.9%).

In terms of Australia's population growth, for the top 50 countries of birth (excluding Australia) at 30 June 2016, persons born in Nepal had the highest rate of increase between 2006 and 2016 with an average annual growth rate of 27.8%. The second fastest increase over this period was in the number of persons born in Pakistan (13.2% per year on average), followed by those born in Brazil (12.1%), India (10.7%) and Bangladesh (8.9%). Of the top 50 countries of birth, the fastest decline was for persons born in Malta, with an average annual decrease of 1.5%, followed by persons born in Poland (1.3%).

Its not that at all, we certainly have a military that gets the biggest slice of the budget pie. Its just that you've been conned in America and they're still conning you.

Everytime someone says.. "Look At Venezuela" your being conned.

Maybe start looking at what's happening in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada, Israel, Singapore, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland and many other countries.

America should have the best free healthcare in the world, take the best from the countries above, and drop the mistakes few have made, and put a stamp on something you call your own.

But no republicans make it clear the only place they want to draw ideas from is.. Venezuela

So fuck them vote them out of power because that's certainly the last place you'd want to replicate a system from.

Even Trump said Australia has a great healthcare system. 60% of people here still have insurance, not cos the system is bad, just we like our private rooms, tv and wifi. Same doctors, same hospitals, same operating theatres.. fancy room. And I'd presume Americans would be the same.

Brits are too tight to take out insurance, and that's the failing there with cost blow outs. Australia is the most likely system the USA could replicate, unfortunately the one short coming is dental is not covered for those over 18.

.. I called to get a rabies shot in USA once, to fullfill my 3 injection preventative treatment

I needed 3 injections total, was travelling and:

costed $3 in 1st country
costed $5 in 2nd country
they quoted me $10,000 in USA (for 1 injection of rabies vaccine)

:disgust

America :thumbsup

My wife has also been bitten by a stray kitten about a year ago (she's a vegan and an animal rights activist). So was sent to a "dirty" Russian municipal hospital where she stayed for two days to get some standard anti-rabies therapy (one shot in hospital and two ones outpatient during some times periods), immune therapy (Gamma globulin) etc. Also she did all the blood tests that are always taken when somebody arrives to a hospital (a range of various tests including general blood analysis, HIV/HBV/HCV tests etc). You know how much she has paid for that? Nothing! She hasn't paid a single ruble at all. Even for the food she ate in that clinic during two days.

P.S. We don't pay anything for obamacare or shit like that here.

Another example of this Russian alt-right hate fake nic troll failing at pretending he's American. This nutjob said before that in America you have to show ID every time you use your credit card :1orglaugh Only in Russia Boris not in America :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Only in America my friend. Only in America. Here in Russia you don't need any id's to use plastic cards. I tell you more, you can pay with cash for everything, even for cars, houses etc and nobody will ask you about the origin of that money.

Now about America and plastic cards. I had some empty (zero bucks aboard) VISA card which I have used only once in IAD (Washington). I have used it to confirm that I'm is I'm to get my prepaid e-ticket printed. And you know what? A few months later someone has tried to cash that VISA card (course not the real card but its copy) somewhere in Chicago.

So you say America? Yes babe, it is :thumbsup

Does the Soviet Union Require “Shopper ID” Cards for Buying Groceries? | Snopes

"....shoppers are required to present either a passport or a “buyer’s card” issued by the Mossovet [Moscow’s local government] when purchasing items in city-operated stores. This last measure proved particularly ill-conceived, as it caused widespread resentment among residents of surrounding counties accustomed to coming to Moscow in search of goods that could not be found in provincial stores."

ok.. take a look
https://www.nationmaster.com/country...tates/Military

... and now you understand why so many of us here in the US are pissed off at Trump and his lobbyist goons.

America was on a path to single payer healthcare, but Republicans are hell bent on keeping our healthcare in the hands of corporate entities who put profit before lives..

The actions of Trump and Republicans has killed people and will kill tens of thousands more in the US because they couldn't afford healthcare..


I deal with psoriasis and because Republicans would not do the expanded medicare deal here in FL I can not get insurance because they price me out of the game due to both my income & having a pre-existing condition.

Meaning because of Republicans I have to move to a different state to get affordable health insurance or become a leech of the state.

This is what Republicans do to American citizens and tax payers..


Ask all these hardcore Trump nutters if they have health insurance.. Baddog has already stated previously he didn't have any.. (although my bet is he uses medicare) I'd be willing to be the grapesoda doesn't have any, that Robbie probably doesn't have any.. onewebcame is probably on Medicaid..

My guess is probably not many of the pro- Trump nutter has health insurance.. yet they support politicians to fight to stop them from getting it..

face the facts you don't have military might!

You are dumber than you look. You know there are natives in Australia dont you?

What if trump built a Hospital for kids with Cancer

Australian Aborigines carry the DNA of an Unknown “Human” Species

https://www.ancient-code.com/austral...human-species/

Oh hey there OneHungLo fake nic. Have you shaved your tiny balls of their gray hairs yet?

I have no idea about Soviet Union, because I live in Russia.

Think about it, the same country that has institutionalized a bee sting to cost $46.000 also has a foreign policy! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

What a fucking joke! LOL!

You lived in Soviet Russia why are you playing stupid Boris?

Hallucination now? Welcome to the next level, babe. Have I told you that your rotten faggy brain is semi-dead because of AIDS?

The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States: The Basics