Who's the animal in this story?
Got bitten (seven times in the space of maybe two seconds) by a cat. Arm swelled up like a balloon animal, and I had to wear sweatpants for a week cause I couldn't button anything. I had to hold my arm over my head for three days or it felt like white-hot needles being run through my hand again, and again, and again.

At the emergency room, I saw a doctor for a grand total of five minutes. He wrote me a prescription for antibiotics. Then a nurse put a wrap on my arm.

When I got the bill I looked at the total billed to my insurance company. Antibiotics? $120. Five minutes, a bandage, and a note from the doctor? $2300. Having health insurance in America? Priceless.
( madrabbit is fully prepared, Tue 29 Apr 2008, 6:00, 6 replies)

2420 dollars for a cat bite?
what would of happened if you didn't have insurance?
( willenium Fist bump for verification, Tue 29 Apr 2008, 8:39, closed)

Presumably
she'd have received a bill for $2420.

The NHS has its faults, but I'm really glad we have it.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 29 Apr 2008, 8:43, closed)

eep
Makes me thankful for the Irish health service. I broke my hand before xmas, cost me 50 euro for the doctor visit to get a referal to A&E, then the initial consultancy, the cast, going back the next day to get the cast re-done because it was too tight and my fingers went blue, going back two days later to get the cast redone AGAIN because it was too tight AGAIN and my fingers were swelling up and blue AGAIN, and finally going back two weeks later to get the thing removed? All Free.

Hospital stays are around 30 or 40 euro a day which is not really too bad.
(oeb, Tue 29 Apr 2008, 10:30, closed)

You really don't want to know.
I have no insurance at the moment, so anything I do is a rather tense experience. One broken leg and I'm in very deep shit.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 29 Apr 2008, 14:33, closed)

that's not the worst of Merkan health care
When my sister had her kid, they (insured) got the bill that showed how much they owed (around $500), how much the insurance company was billed (around $2000), and THEN-- how much they would have charged someone without insurance. It was $26,000. The insurance companies have something called "clout," so they just say, nahhh.... we think we'll just pay you $2000. People without insurance have no "clout," and therefore get a bill for $26,000. And when they don't pay it, if they're lucky, they get to go bankrupt.

Greatest country in the world, I tell ya! God bless the US of A!
( madrabbit is fully prepared, Wed 30 Apr 2008, 6:44, closed)

Socialized medicine. . . .
. . . . . means if Granny breaks her hip, you don't have to try fixing it yourself before giving up and going to the hospital.
(ring-finger is also a verb, Wed 30 Apr 2008, 21:44, closed)