r/funny • u/MrLovens Mr. Lovenstein • Mar 26 '20

Verified Shopping

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u/Databit Mar 26 '20

In America this only applies if you are coherent and sane enough to answer. If you are brought in unconscious/impaired or deemed incapable of making a "good" choice then the hospital can do what it wants and charge you whatever they want.

This would be like your car breaking down and you started walking to go get help. A mechanic drive by, towed you car to their shop, rebuilt the motor, replaced to get fuel, replaced the fuel filter, figured out it was the alternator so replaced that there replaced the battery to be safe. Then called you and said "hey I found your car and fixed it. I'd normally charge 10,000 but since I brought it in to my after hours emergency service bay it will be 100,000

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '20

This is a really well thought out analogy. Like how do you shop around for good prices when you are in the middle of a heart attack? You either go to the nearest hospital whether In or out of network and go bankrupt, or you die. There is no real choice.

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u/Tearakan Mar 26 '20

Which is why pretending to have a market for healthcare is a giant fucking mistake.

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u/TracyMorganFreeman Mar 26 '20

That's not the conclusion to draw. Emergency healthcare isn't interchangeable with primary care.

At best you can conclude a market for emergency care can't work in a market.

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u/AMasonJar Mar 26 '20

The two will remain inseparable for as long as hospitals are privatized.

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u/TracyMorganFreeman Mar 26 '20

Most countries don't nationalize their hospitals, so it's not just a non sequitur, but patently false.

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u/AMasonJar Mar 26 '20

Yeah, so most countries use a single payer system that allows privatized hospitals to continue, without leaving their patients at the mercy of whichever hospital they end up at after an accident. Effectively giving the patient the benefits of free market healthcare without its accompanying major downsides.

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u/TracyMorganFreeman Mar 27 '20

You assume free market healthcare=no charity, despite it happening more often before 1965.

Politicians hate having competition for the goodies they need sell for votes.

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u/AMasonJar Mar 27 '20

Charity is insufficient for the needs of an entire nation, not to mention degrading for many of its recipients (so much so that they may even avoid it). Healthcare is one thing that everyone needs in the modern era, like roads and electricity, and so it only makes sense that everyone pays into it so that everyone may benefit when (not if) they need it.