Note: This scenario is a work of fiction! Do not use NUF for medical advice! One day you were happily living your life when you suddenly fainted and went unconscious. It happened completely without warning and you weren’t doing anything else at the time. You kind of just dropped to the floor and woke up like twenty minutes later. You don’t have any other symptoms as far as you can tell. In general, you are a relatively healthy person. You were not overly stressed or exhausted or sleep-deprived. You do not have chronic low blood pressure. You did not eat or drink or take anything strange. In fact, this happened while you were on vacation and you were already relaxing. Worried about this incident, you consult the smart watch you are wearing, which monitors your health. Your smart watch says that XXXX percentage (see poll) of people with the exact same symptoms and medical history of yours have a life-threatening illness that needs immediate medical attention. It advises you to consider going to the hospital immediately. In this world, the health insurance system is a bit unusual. Specifically, if you go to the emergency room and you genuinely have a health problem (the tests are positive), everything is free and covered by insurance. However, if it turns out to be a false alarm (the tests are negative), you pay the entire medical bill. This includes the doctors, nurses, the facility, and the costs of the tests. When you check into the emergency room, the hospital will tell you the price of each test and ask if you want it. You only pay the cost of the tests (and other health expenses) if the test is negative (false alarm). The doctor tells you the test is essential for knowing a diagnosis, and advises you to get the test for your own safety. Health care costs are expensive and one trip to the emergency room could cost $5000 (USD) — or the equivalent of three months minimum wage... if it turns out to be a false alarm. When you look at your smart watch, what percentage point chance of it being a life-threatening illness would you go to the hospital? Note: Assume the smart watch is reliable and has biometric data from millions of people. 1. Do you prefer to take risks or play it safe? 2. Are you good at taking care of your own health? 3. How much of your income (before taxes) are you willing to dedicate to health insurance? Note: if you have government health insurance, estimate how much of your tax goes to that.
I was thinking what kind of fucked up question that is till i remembered i live in a place with free health care. Greetings from Germany! So as to answer your question I just go if I feel even a little sick because i won't drown in debt.
Me: *rushes to the hospital* *gets all the tests done for full assurance* *goes into debt to pay the bills* *gets killed by loan sharks and organs sold to recover debt*
you are missing the australian option you are 100% dying and instead of hospital you go to the bar to drink till death do you apart
~\(≧▽≦)/~ Hurrah! This has been a lifelong pain in the butt! Otherwise I think this health care scheme is terrible and designed to discourage people from going to the hospital. I went to the emergency room once when a gall stone stuck in my bile duct, and was diagnosed as perfectly healthy despite the severe pain I was in. They would have made me pay even though I was actually really sick?
This is way too much like real life... what happened to the fantasy? (This is just america, if you have any discomfort or fear of being ill you just ignore it because the emergency room is to expensive and if something is wrong you will just go into medical debt, might as well just ignore it and hope it does not kill you)
First if all, i'm stupid & misunderstood the percentage thing. I thought it means how many people have the same disease & the disease is lethal. My first thought is: Tiny%: "oh cool i got a rare condition" Huge%: "hmm i guess this is normal" Not going to hospital, scared. Probably will search whether the disease/condition will be painful or nor. If not, not going. If yes, reconsider Nope. Story time! Whenni was a kid, i like veggies fruit and soup more than fried meat. This is of course praised by adults. What i learned is not "eating healthy is good" but "eating what you want is good". Now i like unhealthy food & has little self control over food cravings A few month leftover. Not a few month worth, the leftover after a few month of living. Also depend if when in treatement/therapy, do i still need to pay for daily life expenses & can i work? Gotta put aside some money for that
Yup, I think it’s an evil system that would only be championed by fiscal conservatives, and I definitely wouldn’t support it. The thought experiment is interesting though. They would refund you if your diagnosis changed later.
It’s actually slightly different from the US system. In the US, if you have a high deductible insurance, you’ll pay quite a bit for the emergency room visit regardless of whether you’re actually sick with something or not. In this scenario, everything is free if you’re truly and genuinely sick. However if it’s a false alarm and you’re not sick at all, then you pay 100% of the bill.
Pretty sure if you end up fainting for no reason, unless you are sleep deprived, that is 100% an issue. That isn't normal for humans at all. Plus 5k is not a big deal really.
One of the decision points here is whether you should go to the emergency room or wait to schedule an appointment with your primary care doctor or general practitioner.
Is there no urgent care? (much cheaper than emergency room, but pretty similar) And when you say appointment with general practitioner, what kind of wait are we talking about? For example, my doctor works every other day so I can see him either today or tomorrow. I can also go to another doctor if I'm in a hurry but not in a real hurry that I need treatment within 20 minutes.
Glad to have free health care here in Austria Anyway, in that kind of situation you could just harm yourself and claim it happened when you lost consciousness. And just like that, you have something to get treated for and get a free check up.
1. Do you prefer to take risks or play it safe? I like to play it safe. 2. Are you good at taking care of your own health? Yes, I'm perfectly healthy which means I am, right? 3. How much of your income (before taxes) are you willing to dedicate to health insurance? Note: if you have government health insurance, estimate how much of your tax goes to that. No idea. I don't have to pay a whole lot in taxes so I don't really care what they do with it. As a side note, I don't really trust that smart watch and would probably just call in to make an appointment with my family doctor, whilst drinking lots of water and avoiding driving my car.
Urgent care can be appropriate under certain circumstances. However if it is truly something they think is life-threatening, they’ll redirect you to the emergency room anyways. Depends on what kind of area you live in. For some people, it can take a month or more to schedule an appointment. If it is truly “life-threatening”, then you really shouldn’t be waiting a week.
Your general doctor will also divert you to either a specialist or a hospital if it is life threatening. Urgent care is just as good(if not better) as going to your practitioner but faster. For general doctor? Unlikely, specialist, yes.
Fainted at the morning and woke up 5 second later years ago. It was because of low blood sugar, but if it happened again i'd go to hospital as i am studying in a hospital. I'd just need to walk a few meters more and get some tests done to find out what is wrong with my body.