[krupan]

I'm actually not sure if you are being serious. If the information on costs for emergency services were clear and available up front people could shop around ahead of time and basically write up a living will saying, if I have a heart attack, take me here.

Insurance companies are the reason the costs are not clear and up front.

[burkaman]

Are you serious? You think every American should be required to write a living will for them and their children listing every conceivable illness and injury by individually researching all the medical options in their area? And what, update it weekly as they follow the markets? Should they keep up with the latest medical research so they know what the newest drugs and treatments will cost? What about vacation, do you need to do a week of research to prepare for a weekend trip to NYC?

[krupan]

"listing every conceivable illness and injury"

No. Just the ones that are true emergencies where you won't have time to do any shopping around ahead of time. Why is this such a hard concept? Think of all the times you've seen a doctor in your life. How many of those were super time critical? Big accidents and heart attacks are. Having a cold or flu isn't. Heck, even cancer isn't super time critical, you could take a few days to shop around treatment centers. Shopping around for most medical care shouldn't be that weird of a concept.

Another option would be to only have insurance for those critical time sensitive events, then you don't have to be super price sensitive for those, and the free market could drive down prices of all the other medical care we get.

[burkaman]

Ok, here's one list, I'm sure it isn't comprehensive: http://ourmed.org/wiki/List_of_medical_emergencies

So for each item on this list you'll need to find out every possible treatment and drug and what they cost at every hospital within ~50 miles. Make sure you look up allergies and any side effects when combined with medication you regularly take, you don't want to be in a situation where you listed Hospital X for meningitis, but their cheap drug can't be combined with your asthma medication, or whatever.

And again, how often do you update this will? And what about travel?

Is there anything else in your life that you shop around for in case of emergency?

[krupan]

Your google skills are strong. How many things on that list need treatment within minutes?

"Is there anything else in your life that you shop around for in case of emergency?"

Have you never heard of Preppers? But seriously, yes, I shopped around a little for a fire extinguisher in my home, I shopped around a bit for a good first aid class so I'd have some skills. I have spare batteries around the house in case the power goes out and shopped around for a flashlight. I have practiced changing a tire for my car just in case. I have a little food stored up in my house.

Why is preparing ahead of time completely off the table for people when it comes to medical care?

[zaarn]

>How many things on that list need treatment within minutes?

Let's go down the list for things that don't need treatment in minutes:

- Malaria

- Rabies

- Salmonella

- Lyme disease

- Malnutrition and starvation (though you'd rather have this taken care of fast if possible, in severe cases minutes would count)

- Attempted suicide, non fatal (though only if you aren't up for anything else as a result of said attempted suicide, you'll be fine if you don't get immediate treatment)

- Psychotic episode (under supervision)

- Suicidal ideation (if you're under supervision)

- Smoke inhalation (in very very minor cases)

- HELPP syndrome (doesn't seem to be very dangerous in the minute range though you'll want treatment either way)

- Priapism (although it is very painful)

- Sexual assault (before you downvote consider that sexual assault is generally not fatal itself and you don't need urgent medical attention, though urgent psychological attention is, in general you'll survive if you need more than a few minutes to the hospital)

Most of these come with a few ifs, notably that no other medical emergency coincides and some depend on severity, the rest of the list is to my knowledge pretty deadly if you don't get it taken care of as quickly as possible and for half the list it is likely you'd be either in extremely severe pain, unconscious, non-responsive, dying or a combination of the previous in any order.

[burkaman]

> How many things on that list need treatment within minutes?

I don't know, I think most? I am not a medical expert, and as such am not qualified to answer that question. I think that means I'm also unqualified to draw up a living will detailing what to do if I exhibit symptoms of any of these.

> I shopped around a little for a fire extinguisher

And then bought it immediately, right? You're not gonna wait for a fire to buy one. Same with the first aid class, the batteries, the flashlight, and the food. You cannot buy medical care ahead of time, or take a class to train you to treat yourself.

In case you missed it in my other comments, how often would you update your living will in this world? How would you prepare for travel within the US?

[krupan]

"You cannot buy medical care ahead of time"

Actually, that's pretty much what our current "insurance" system tries to look like, so maybe you do have a point there :-)

[mfringel]

"Sorry, sir. Your spouse's living will restricted emergency care provider vendors such that she was unable to receive care in time. With our CareWatch(tm) package, we can give you geo-fence alerts with response times that would be outside your living will provider preference range. Press one to be connected with a sales associate."