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Comment by coreyoconnor | Hacker News Reader

IIRC prior to being treated you agree to be financially liable for the costs. Prior to even knowing that that will be or even the costs involved. Or even if you know what is involved are you going to understand what a reasonable cost is? EG: Sling is easy but what about a x-ray study? Is that 200$ or $150?

Just like a proper capitalist system! You know, like when you agreed to pay whatever for your iPhone prior to even know it'll work.

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> You know, like when you agreed to pay whatever for your iPhone prior to even know it'll work.

I can contact Apple for help with any issues I have with my iPhone. I can contact my carrier for any issues I have with my iPhone. I can return my iPhone within a grace period if I don't like it.

Try doing any of that for medical costs.

For fun I do this: I ask them how much it'll cost upfront. (they can rarely even give bounds). Ask about refund policy (?!?!?!). Tho must be done nicely as the person handling the questions is no way responsible for the absurdity.

I know these won't actually succeed in adding a bit of capitalism but it does succeed in highlighting the absurdity.

I'm not sure what your argument is. Is it that it is fine that our healthcare is like shopping at an Apple store? Or that medical costs cannot be predicted? Or that we should be happy with the system we have?

Other than pedantry, what are you trying to get across?

Given the responses I succeeded in my goal: highlighting the absurdity in the current system :)

We don’t have a capitalist system, we have the worst of all possible systems. There’s no competition, yet the state doesn’t control the prices.

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