{"id":5036,"date":"2012-11-10T07:51:07","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T15:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=5036"},"modified":"2013-09-07T08:28:09","modified_gmt":"2013-09-07T15:28:09","slug":"us-medical-care-3000-bill-for-removing-cotton-from-boys-ear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=5036","title":{"rendered":"US Medical Care: $3000 bill for removing cotton from boy’s ear"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In order to augment the veracity of Dan’s article (Shamelessly Oxymoronic US Healthcare<\/a>), I’m posting a medical bill I got for taking my son to the ER to remove a piece of cotton from his ear. My young son got the head of a Q-tip stuck in his ear on a Friday night, and when I tried to remove it, it went in deeper. As it happened on the weekend, I was afraid it would infect his ear if it got wet and we waited until Monday to see our primary doctor, so I went to the U.C. Davis Emergency Room. I admit there was no real medical emergency at the time, but I wanted to avoid a possible one and did what, as a parent, I thought was best. I am not one to abuse emergency room services and have only used them twice in my life previously, once for my wife when I was teaching college and had no insurance, and once for myself.<\/p>\n

It took two minutes (or less) to remove the cotton from my boy’s ear , but the “Q-tip extraction specialist” needed longer hemostats, so I guess that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what cost the extra thousands\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6. A hemostat is such a complicated tool as we all know, about as complex as a pair of tweezers.<\/p>\n

In Taiwan, a very capitalist country with wonderful nationalized health care (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve used it), most likely the doctors would have said no charge and given my kid a lollipop on his way out. If they did charge, it would have been no more than $20 and probably with an apology since we had no national health care card like everyone else and had to pay out of pocket. This happened to me at\u00c2\u00a0Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou, Taiwan in 2008. I got an x-ray of my back along with a consultation and they charged me $20. The billing agent said she was sorry she had to charge me. How many of you have heard that in the US?<\/p>\n

This was WITHOUT INSURANCE!<\/p>\n

Here in the US they gave us a $3000.00 bill for a one-minute cotton ball removal from my son’s ear. Yes, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re lucky to have had health insurance, at least temporarily, so we had to co-pay $75, which I still think is too much for what the white-coated demigod that treated my son actually did. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the point. Just because I had coverage doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t excuse the travesty of a blatant overcharge like that. What if it were a real medical emergency? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how people go bankrupt in America for getting sick or hurt once without insurance. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the only \u00e2\u20ac\u0153civilized\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (the term doesn’t seem appropriate somehow) country where that happens. Shame on us. We suck because we tolerate this shameful state of affairs, and most Americans are completely duped about the nature of health care in America. These are invariably people who have never traveled outside the US to another truly<\/em> civilized country.<\/p>\n

This is the problem with US health care. Insurance or not, it costs too damn much<\/em>. So where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the money going? Doctors do well in other countries without exploiting patients. My guess is the insurance business bandits in the US are skimming off most of the loot.<\/p>\n

This is criminal, and the crooks need to go.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(click on image to increase size)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In order to augment the veracity of Dan’s article (Shamelessly Oxymoronic US Healthcare), I’m posting a medical bill I got for taking my son to the ER to remove a piece of cotton from his ear. My young son got the head of a Q-tip stuck in his ear on a Friday night, and when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1,331],"tags":[520,518,519,522,524,523,521],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tQeJ-1je","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6173,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=6173","url_meta":{"origin":5036,"position":0},"title":"Michael Moore Takes 9\/11 First Responders To Cuba For Free Healthcare","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The US Corporatocracy does not want you to see this.... https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=j7cME3lCdwE A scene from Michael Moore's Oscar-nominated 2007 film, \"SiCKO.\" After failing to receive adequate medical treatment in the U.S., Michael Moore takes 9\/11 rescue workers and other Americans to Cuba to receive humane medical treatment.","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/j7cME3lCdwE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6028,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=6028","url_meta":{"origin":5036,"position":1},"title":"List of Kratom Experts Signing letter to FDA","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Jack E. Henningfield, PhD Vice President, Research, Health Policy, and Abuse Liability, Pinney Associates And Professor, Adjunct, Behavioral Biology Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Jane Babin, Ph.D., Esq.University of San Diego School of Law, J.D. Law, Purdue University, Ph.D., Molecular Biology Edward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6405,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=6405","url_meta":{"origin":5036,"position":2},"title":"Interview with Joe Holsinger, Chief of Staff to slain US Congressman Leo Ryan","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Cited in 'Dick Gregory's Uncanny Insight' https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rDJGTF_8Vuw&feature=youtu.be Joe Holsinger, Congressman Leo J. Ryan's Chief of Staff at the time of the Jonestown murders (text transcribes video): \"... I had appeared on a public television several months ago, with a group of Black professionals, mostly psychologists and doctors. They invited me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/rDJGTF_8Vuw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7177,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=7177","url_meta":{"origin":5036,"position":3},"title":"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Senior citizens disrupting town halls are participating in a corporate lobbyist-driven campaign to prevent the rest of us from acquiring the same affordable, reliable public health care they enjoy. This is an old article but its title still resonates with irony! https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/get-your-goddamn-governme_b_252326","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1346,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=1346","url_meta":{"origin":5036,"position":4},"title":"Ten Signs that You Might be a Zombie","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Adams NaturalNews October21, 2011 If you burn your yard rather than mow it, you might be a redneck, says comedian Jeff Foxworthy. But how\u00c2\u00a0 might you realize you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a zombie? Here are the top ten signs that you just might be a zombie\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Sign #1: If you routinely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1344,"url":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?p=1344","url_meta":{"origin":5036,"position":5},"title":"While Americans shopped, the Constitution was shredded","author":"Shawn Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/www.brasschecktv.com\/videos\/the-war-on-terror-is-a-fraud\/while-americans-shopped-the-constitution-was-shredded.html President Barack Obama faced a civil liberties backlash today after he signed a law that will allow terror suspects to be held indefinitely- even raising the prospects of U.S. citizens being sent to Guantanamo Bay. The controversial move, revealed last night, effectively extends the laws of the battlefield to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5036"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theswillbucket.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}