Rubber Chicken

[Tunnelcat]

The NEW solution to your high health care costs from the simple mind of a Republican! Have fun pricing out your medical procedure of choice in CHICKENS! So easy a child could do it!

http://lowdenplan.com/

[AlphaDoG]

LOL!

[Isaac]

I remember when it was only 3 chickens for a flu shot.

[Krom]

This is a actually good way to illustrate the disconnect between medical expenses and reality in the US. How many average middle class home cooked meals could you buy in the US for the cost of a procedure or treatment?

An ER visit last fall ended up being billed at $3000, considering the average meal we have here costs around $2-4 per person that is around 1,000 meals (or nearly a years worth of meals for one person).

I know plenty of people where that is enough money to keep their entire household afloat for a month.

I have met people in Egypt and Costa Rica where that is considerably more than their entire yearly income (and they had the \"good\" jobs).

All it got us here was a couple hours in a room and 10-15 minutes of actual interaction with a doctor or nurse.

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Also, over 2000 chickens for a normal birth? ... That much considering this is something humanity has been doing without modern medicine since pretty much forever...

[Isaac]

Also, over 2000 chickens for a normal birth? ... That much considering this is something humanity has been doing without modern medicine since pretty much forever...

What about the true cost for everything else on that list? I'd love to see a graph showing the changes in price, form one hospital to the next, for each item.

[Grendel]

Also, over 2000 chickens for a normal birth? ... That much considering this is something humanity has been doing without modern medicine since pretty much forever...

Hospital stays are expensive...

[Top Gun]

Also, over 2000 chickens for a normal birth? ... That much considering this is something humanity has been doing without modern medicine since pretty much forever...

To be fair, the process entailed a much higher mortality rate for both mother and child before modern medicine came along.

(...okay, Wikipedia, you really do have a picture for everything. Yeesh.)

[Sergeant Thorne]

My sister and brother-in-law have had 4 children now without setting foot in a hospital. They have a midwife who they consult with leading up to the date of birth, and then she is on-hand for the birth itself. 4 great kids, and the last one only a week ago.

[Heretic]

So how come no one ever points out the attorneys it's always the evil insurance company and hospitals but never the attorney or the judicial system it's self. Drugs cost a lot when the makers are always being sued. Compounded with the doctors always being sued, along with the hospitals it makes for a mess.

More along with the subject of bartering. That system has been around forever. I have participated in that system less than 10 years ago. I work off a debt with a lawyer on some legal work by replacing hardwood floors in her house. Believe it or not some doctors do barter. So laugh if you want at Sue Lowden the system of bartering does work.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories ... arter.aspx

Alan Zimmerman, a spokesman for ITEX Corporation, the largest network of barter exchanges in North America, says in the past two years the demand for health care has jumped by more than 20 percent. The company has 551 physicians and 618 dentists who participate in its 100 local barter groups.

[woodchip]

So now the chickens are coming home to roost:

\"In signing the measure (health care) last month, President Obama said it would “bring down health care costs for families and businesses and governments.”

\"The report says that 34 million uninsured people will gain coverage under the law, but that 23 million people, including 5 million illegal immigrants, will still be uninsured in 2019.\"

\"But Mr. Foster said, “Overall national health expenditures under the health reform act would increase by a total of $311 billion,” or nine-tenths of 1 percent, compared with the amounts that would otherwise be spent from 2010 to 2019. \"

So, indeed....hows that hopey, changey, love is in the air working out for ya?

[TechPro]

(...okay, Wikipedia, you really do have a picture for everything. Yeesh.)

Yeesh indeed.