Probably someone who wants to talk about the vast increase in hospital costs, especially to patients, over the past ~50+ years. You know, as opposed to what the article is about.
2) The majority of the $165 in 1950 was the 1 week hospital stay (and 6 days of nursery care) instead of a 1 day hospital stay.
3) After accounting for the 1 week hospital stay, the biggest remaining cost was for anesthesia. Which is always expensive. Epidurals instead should have driven the costs way down.
4) So that would leave $45 if they left after a modern hospital stay with an epidural.
5) This was in NYC, so it should be higher than average.
6) After adjusting for inflation, that $165 is still more than the out of pocket costs for childbirth today
Because I don't think the point you suggested is a likely explanation.
Why does the author wish to imply Julia Roberts' parents were so poor they couldn't afford $1?
Coretta Scott King paid off the bill as thanks for her parents' kindnesses towards black children in Atlanta. Is $1 - about $30 now - really that big of a thank you in 1967?
I think most Europeans would be shocked by the cost of having a baby in the US. See 'A typical American birth costs as much as delivering a (UK) royal baby' [1]
Is that right!? Wow, I'm honestly surprised it's that low. As an American, I totally would have expected it to be at least double that, but most likely more. I haven't had a kid yet, but my wife had outpatient surgery a couple of years ago to remove a cyst. I hung out in the waiting room and we were out of there before lunchtime. Our insurance was billed nearly $100,000. We (thankfully) have good insurance (tied to my employer, of course), and we hit our annual out-of-pocket max with that one operation.
As a father of two here in the UK and one birth requiring serious surgery I have no clue at all what the cost was. Why? Because our National Health Service did not send me a bill because the charge was zero.
Cost? All the medical staff were going to be paid anyway, all equipment was there and powered on, all drugs used were already budgeted for. So the 'cost' was all part of the service.
A good enough start would be someone who sees an humane act of community and brotherhood by a Christian minister, and their response is that the state should confiscate everybody's money to pay for it after laundering it through bureaucracy instead.
You should really write down a list of countries in which the government passes on the full cost of childbirth to a citizen. See what the anti-communist block looks like these days.
You’re going to hate this: Not only does Australia and New Zealand cover the full cost, all with tax payer money. They then take even MORE tax payer money and give it to the parents as a thank you for having a child.
And when you find out that a tax credit and ‘handing out tax payer money’ are the same deal, you’re going to flip.[1]
Yeah, I tend to trust doctors more than corporate executives when it comes to my health.
FYI - the article you're commenting on is literally about a family who couldn't afford healthcare and had to rely on charity. So this communist dystopia you think /will/ exist actually /does/ exist here and now, under capitalism.
Unironically, yes. That's exactly how anarcho-capitalists see it. To them, Anarchy just means "no coercion/state", it doesn't mean a lack of structure, delegation or coordination.
Agreed. I'm with you. If one is going to point the "communism" finger at universal healthcare, then you ought to point the same finger at firefighters, first-responders, police, and roads, amongst other things.
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[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 72.4 ms ] threadhttps://www.workingmomsagainstguilt.com/the-cost-of-having-a... gives an example of $86.33 in 1950.
https://www.cryo-cell.com/blog/april-2017/when-childbirth-co... shows $165 for 1950, $155 for 1957, etc.
2) The majority of the $165 in 1950 was the 1 week hospital stay (and 6 days of nursery care) instead of a 1 day hospital stay.
3) After accounting for the 1 week hospital stay, the biggest remaining cost was for anesthesia. Which is always expensive. Epidurals instead should have driven the costs way down.
4) So that would leave $45 if they left after a modern hospital stay with an epidural.
5) This was in NYC, so it should be higher than average.
6) After adjusting for inflation, that $165 is still more than the out of pocket costs for childbirth today
1950 was simply the first numbers I could find - and enough to show that $1 is off by at least a couple of orders of magnitude.
Not that it's my point. But I do recognize that medical costs have skyrocketed.
Why does the author wish to imply Julia Roberts' parents were so poor they couldn't afford $1?
Coretta Scott King paid off the bill as thanks for her parents' kindnesses towards black children in Atlanta. Is $1 - about $30 now - really that big of a thank you in 1967?
[1] https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/04/23/a-typica...
1. The actual cost
2. What is charged
As a father of two here in the UK and one birth requiring serious surgery I have no clue at all what the cost was. Why? Because our National Health Service did not send me a bill because the charge was zero.
Cost? All the medical staff were going to be paid anyway, all equipment was there and powered on, all drugs used were already budgeted for. So the 'cost' was all part of the service.
Most of us aren't communists.
You’re going to hate this: Not only does Australia and New Zealand cover the full cost, all with tax payer money. They then take even MORE tax payer money and give it to the parents as a thank you for having a child.
And when you find out that a tax credit and ‘handing out tax payer money’ are the same deal, you’re going to flip.[1]
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/child-tax...
FYI - the article you're commenting on is literally about a family who couldn't afford healthcare and had to rely on charity. So this communist dystopia you think /will/ exist actually /does/ exist here and now, under capitalism.
Universal healthcare is not communism…They have that all across capitalist countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and even Africa.