"Earnest says estimates of the people who use ER services but cannot afford to pay runs between 30 and 70 percent". I would say its more like 70% of the people going to ER do not have insurance. They will be carrying their free cell phones to call the ER and call their family and friends also!! The other 30% will be paying for the rest of the country. Thanks to Obamacare

I was told the same thing decades ago.

This is attributable to the requirement that our ERs treat everyone - including illegals - regardless of whether they can pay.

Earnest says estimates of the people who use ER services but cannot afford to pay runs between 30 and 70 percent.

In our area I´d say it leans toward the 70 percent.

That anti venin serum is like 30 grand I think. Hard to find folks who like to milk these snakes to make the serum.

PS. This guy will have a heart attack if he ever gets bills for chemo and cancer treatment. Friends passed their $2 million limit mark within little more than a year.

His son is alive and I´ll bet he paid very little of the cost.

´´His son received six vials of the crotalidae anti-venom and was billed $34,025.88 for that portion of his treatment, or nearly $6,000 per vial. But the same anti-venom can be found selling wholesale for about $1,000 to $2,000.´´

hospital rep says ER prices are high in part because they have access to all the diagnostic facilities at a hospital.

Walk-in clinics with nurse practitioners are going to be our future. betcha...

I guess the only way to afford medical care is to be broke.

No doo-doo, Sherlock...yes, you are paying for all the deadbeats. And you weren´t paying by the hour...you were paying for that antivenin and the expertise to treat your son.

Saved his life/limb and all they have left is to complain.

An insurance company often (usually) negotiates those bills way down. Under Obamacare, when young people all drop insurance policies because they do not wish to pay for the bells and whistles of an unaffordable government-approved policy will have to negotiate on their own.

Hey isn´t the park. "an attractive nuisance"? I think the city is at fault here. Don´t they have the responsibility of providing a safe place to walk? The city´s insurance should pay. If this were your property, you would be held accountable. I wonder if there were signs stating "Watch out for Rattlesnakes"? I´m not big on lawsuits, but the city should step up and pay the hospital bills.

Last time I was in an ER, they were serving dinner ... seriously. Looked like the coach section of an airliner.

America needs a heavy does of reality, and we ain´t got none.

Ever hear of medical insurance which definitely covers emergency care. Otherwise, who else is to pay for his son? Me?, You?

Costs are so high because non-insured people, legal and illegal, use the E-room as their primary care provider for coughs, bruises and sniffles.

Easy solution...allow all those with insurance to the head of the line. The uninsured with not life-threatening injuries will just have to wait. If there is a two-day wait, they may just leave or stop coming.

Furthermore, in my experience, if one has a personal physician and the injury occurs during their working hours, the doc will see a patient pronto.

Sounds like a lot of people either do not have insurance and/or a primary physician. That is their fault not the rest of us who take responsibility for their own health care.

Like they say, if you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is ´´free´´.

Under obamacare, those that pay nothing will still pay nothing. People who pull their own weight will pay what they did before, plus all the overhead that goes to satisfying the obama rules, plus pay for S. Fluke´s contraception.

If you want free medical care you need to pretend to be an illegal immigrant.

Most people would pay anything for the healthy return of their son--that is, until they get the bill. Then, they would pay nothing.

I have insurance just for emergencies and still get slammed. $2,500 deductible for doctors out of network. Like I am going to stop treatment during an emergency and check that the doctor is on my plan. Next you are asked to sign papers while still in a panic. The ones that say you will pay the difference between hospital´s price and insurance´s negotiated price. I have medical personal in family that told me true cost is only 10%. Saying they charge more to cover uninsured is lie. They charge $1000, real cost $100. Insurance pays $800, you pay $200. $900 profit.

I dont have a primary care doctor, When Im sick (like I was 2 weeks ago with 102 fever) I drove to the 24 clinic with my insurance card and left in 30 minutes with scripts) I PAY for my insurance!

Not really true, #18. I spent over 40 years in the insurance business and two years on a hospital foundation board. The reason you pay ten bucks for an aspirin is that the three illegals in front of you used the facilities and never paid the hospital a dime. The last year I served, the hospital had over 50 million dollars in uncompensated care. Admittadly, they count the difference in what insurance company allows them and what they charge as uncompensated but the big part is those who pay nothing. Half of our maternity births that year were to hispanic parents and a majority paid nothing. They use fake credentials and you can´t even find them to garnish their wages. They think it should be free anyway just like the deadbeat Democrats they vote for.

The Hill-Burton Act states that they must be treated. If hospitals were making a bundle on their ER´s they would not be closing them all over the country.

There are many reasons our health care is so expensive. Here are some of them:

1) Those who pay have to cover the cost of those who do not.
2) We all have to pay for the unlimited liability health care providers have if they make a mistake or if a patient can convince a jury they have made a mistake.
3) We have to pay for unneeded or marginally needed procedures, tests, and equipment doctors order as a CYA for number 2 above.
4) We have to pay for the research and development costs of both successful and unsuccessful drugs and equipment.
5) We have to pay for the huge waste associated with all medical procedures. Much expensive equipment is thrown away unused to prevent contamination or even the risk of the perception of contamination.
6) The AMA is a union and all health care professionals are effectively union workers. We pay for the medical equivalent of having union electricians change lightbulbs when we need to see a doctor for problems a nurse would be more than skilled enough to handle. There is no reason a nurse can´t give your kid antibiotics for an ear infection other than that the AMA has enough pull to prevent that.
7) We have to pay for the entire health insurance bureaucracy.
8) We have to pay for the entire liability insurance bureaucracy.
9) We have to pay salaries and benefits for highly trained and skilled medical professionals at all levels.

And more. It all adds up.

Well, call me a darn leech if you want...but sometimes people are between jobs and don´t have insurance because they didn´t have enough money to afford COBRA. I happened to get sick a couple of those times between jobs (which incidentally were not high paying jobs) and one time I had to have surgery. I thank the Lord and my county for having such a wonderful hospital system and for taking care of me when I was sick. I don´t want Obamacare, but I certainly am not for completely leaving all uninsured people without any help either. The problem is not necessarily being uninsured...but rather that most of those uninsured that go to the ER are here illegally. They should be in their home country getting healthcare there. Also, most of the illegals who go to the ER are no there with emergencies...that also creates a strain on the system, the costs and long waiting times. They go to the ER for every little thing. That is what small neighborhood clinics are supposed to be for. Still, illegals shouldn´t be using our services if they are uninsured in the first place...they should go home.

#21, only about 30% of doctors belong to the AMA. People don´t seem to realize this, and tend to believe anything they put out.

One more thing...what I do not understand is why is it that hospitals will not take partial payments or allow someone to make payments over time? You see, I offered to pay what I could (last time I was sick) and even offered to make payements. But they wanted $93,000 in TEN days!!! I didn´t have that kind of money. I had just started a new temp job. They suggested a friend or family member...No, I don´t know anyone with that kind of money. But can I make payments? No. That is just plain silly.

If Daniel is white, that´s the problem.

Lots of good comments above.

#6 touches on an important point - much of a medical bill reflects accounting methods and social choices. A minor portion is for the care and materials the patient required.

It is not an evil conspiracy, that accounting has to be done.

At the end of the day the hospital probably had spent about $2000 for the purchased anti-toxin and other materials.

In a Wonderland we could say the doctors and nurses ad cost nothing because they were there at the ER anyway. The lights were on whether any patients arrived so there was no electricity cost. etc, etc, etc.... without end.

In fact almost all that bill was about having medical care ready 24/7.

#20 and #21 add insights. The enormous costs are a social disease. But not an affliction of the venereal type which the medical profession can control.

No cure or control will be found at the clinic or hospital or drug manufacturer. Don´t blame them.

The ER probably sees one or two snake bites a year, but has to keep stocked with every type of antivenin. It is highly perishable. It costs the hospitals $millions so that the lights are on and the ER is staffed and they have unexpired medication on hand to save someone who stepped on a snake that carries a warning rattle.