audio

Watch where you tread.
Man racks up huge medical bill after taking a selfie with a rattlesnake

scrubbedexpat091

I imagine its not cheap to treat snake bite, and based on the top bit that can be partially seen, he has applied for state medical assistance via medi-cal so the hospital won't see nearly that much money.

According to this article here in BC, the anti-venom runs 1,000 per vial and a bite could easily cost 30,000 in anti-venom alone.

Granted BC residents would not have to pay it, but if a visitor got bit here they would be on the hook for the bill or their insurance company would be.

Young girl latest to come too close to Okanagan rattler - InfoNews.ca

This article says 800 per vial with total treatment cost being 60,000

http://www.kelownacapnews.com/opinion/161134865.html

80,000 seems a bit extreme just for anti-venom, but being the US where everything costs more, not too surprising.

ellio

You can get that anti-venom for peanuts in Mexico. But in any case let the twat pay. 95% of snake bites are on the front legs/arms of men and only 5% are one the back legs of women.

scrubbedexpat091

You can a lot of things cheaper in Mexico, but that doesn't help you if your bitten in the US or Canada....lol

This guy won't likely pay much if anything, my guess is the state will pay most of it considering the bill mentions medi-cal and it's the state funded medical plan for low income folks.

Nutek

So, it's safer to only use your back legs then.

audio

Why is the US so bloody expensive for this sort of thing? Even for pets the cost is outrageous. One anti-venom shot for my dog (he would possibly need several)will cost from $900-$1,400 VetMed. UFL tell me.

MsElui

am i the only person who came into this thread thinking it was a dam expensive drink?

audio

Well?? Perhaps you better have another one, your bill BTW

kimilseung

Me too. They wouldnt serve Bill Clinton a snakebite in Harrogate once.

scrubbedexpat091

Same here for vets, but to be fair they have an incredibly high overhead to operate, and if one gets pet insurance you can recover up to 100% of the cost depending on the plan one has.

A good vet office is a mini-hospital for animals, and overhead is high, insurance for them is high, lawsuits are common in North America so they have to work the cost of that into their pricing.

kimilseung

Vets seem to expect that animals will have all the health care given to humans. I think one of our cats is only alive due to the peer pressure put upon my wife to spend a mini fortune on it rather than have it put down. The daft cat has no idea how lucky it was that it was my wife and not me who took it to the vet, after being hit by a car.

Clrsth

Nope, I did too!

Clare

Nutek

One of those would go down well about now.

scot47

Q. "Why is the US so bloody expensive for this sort of thing?"

A Capitalism, red in tooth and claw !

ellio

And your recommended political system is?

I can definately do you a snakebite for less