A study by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health found that avoidable mortality rose across all U.S. states from 2009 to 2021, while it declined in most other high-income countries.
A bad cold or flu you probably wouldn’t go to a doctor, just an urgent care clinic for some antibiotics or whatever. Probably run $100-$150 + cost of meds (hopefully generic).
If urgent care can’t help, an out of pocket visit to primary care provider will be closer to $300 just to step in the door. Hospitals will put you on a payment plan if you can’t front it.
Ah, yes I’ve heard that about stateside hospitals. Apparently there’s an entire department alongside accounting that deals with remediation of accounts payable. Less than ideal, but it sounds as though it costs a lot less that I’d been assuming this whole time.
I’ll stress that’s just to get in the door. Usually if you’re going to the doctor they’ll want to run xrays, CT scans, MRIs, blood tests, whatever diagnostics and it starts escalating fast.
But this is stuff people can plan for. Emergency visits are much worse in my experience, suffering from appendicitis would have put us $40k in the hole overnight without insurance.
"Rogozov had intended to use a mirror to help him operate but he found its inverted view too much of a hindrance so he ended up working by touch, without gloves.
As he reached the final and hardest part of the operation, he almost lost consciousness. He began to fear he would fail at the final hurdle.
‘The bleeding is quite heavy, but I take my time… Opening the peritoneum, I injured the blind gut and had to sew it up,’ Rogozov wrote. ‘I grow weaker and weaker, my head starts to spin. Every four to five minutes I rest for 20 - 25 seconds.’
‘Finally here it is, the cursed appendage! With horror I notice the dark stain at its base. That means just a day longer and it would have burst… My heart seized up and noticeably slowed, my hands felt like rubber. Well, I thought, it’s going to end badly and all that was left was removing the appendix.’
But he didn’t fail. After nearly two hours he had completed the operation, down to the final stitch."
That story about Dr. Rogozov always struck me as something superhuman. I’ve only ever managed to perform very minor surgeries on myself, I just can’t imagine a major operation on internal organs - with or without the mirror for extra complication.
"That story about Dr. Rogozov always struck me as something superhuman. "
It actually says near the end of the article that Rogozov and Gagarin (who flew 16 days later) both served as models for the Soviet superhumans mentioned in propoganda. It’s also probably why some countries now make appendectomies compulsory prior to visiting Antarctica.
Huh, I never knew that. I suppose that someone who could operate on themselves with an assistant holding a mirror definitely qualifies as superhuman, but the propaganda is news to me.
A bad cold or flu you probably wouldn’t go to a doctor, just an urgent care clinic for some antibiotics or whatever. Probably run $100-$150 + cost of meds (hopefully generic).
If urgent care can’t help, an out of pocket visit to primary care provider will be closer to $300 just to step in the door. Hospitals will put you on a payment plan if you can’t front it.
My experience is that urgent care is significantly more expensive than primary care.
Ah, yes I’ve heard that about stateside hospitals. Apparently there’s an entire department alongside accounting that deals with remediation of accounts payable. Less than ideal, but it sounds as though it costs a lot less that I’d been assuming this whole time.
I’ll stress that’s just to get in the door. Usually if you’re going to the doctor they’ll want to run xrays, CT scans, MRIs, blood tests, whatever diagnostics and it starts escalating fast.
But this is stuff people can plan for. Emergency visits are much worse in my experience, suffering from appendicitis would have put us $40k in the hole overnight without insurance.
Holy shit, that’s daunting. I think that I might try cutting it out myself rather than go bankrupt.
You can do it!!!
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32481442
"Rogozov had intended to use a mirror to help him operate but he found its inverted view too much of a hindrance so he ended up working by touch, without gloves.
As he reached the final and hardest part of the operation, he almost lost consciousness. He began to fear he would fail at the final hurdle.
‘The bleeding is quite heavy, but I take my time… Opening the peritoneum, I injured the blind gut and had to sew it up,’ Rogozov wrote. ‘I grow weaker and weaker, my head starts to spin. Every four to five minutes I rest for 20 - 25 seconds.’
‘Finally here it is, the cursed appendage! With horror I notice the dark stain at its base. That means just a day longer and it would have burst… My heart seized up and noticeably slowed, my hands felt like rubber. Well, I thought, it’s going to end badly and all that was left was removing the appendix.’
But he didn’t fail. After nearly two hours he had completed the operation, down to the final stitch."
That story about Dr. Rogozov always struck me as something superhuman. I’ve only ever managed to perform very minor surgeries on myself, I just can’t imagine a major operation on internal organs - with or without the mirror for extra complication.
It actually says near the end of the article that Rogozov and Gagarin (who flew 16 days later) both served as models for the Soviet superhumans mentioned in propoganda. It’s also probably why some countries now make appendectomies compulsory prior to visiting Antarctica.
Huh, I never knew that. I suppose that someone who could operate on themselves with an assistant holding a mirror definitely qualifies as superhuman, but the propaganda is news to me.
Oh, I quite agree. Reading through it (again) I had many mental pauses saying to myself, “That’s where I’d die.” An incredible feat for sure.