[chadaustin]

Last Christmas, we got a tree from a local farm in the mountains. We had the tree trimmed and decorated before we discovered a sleeping (hibernating?) bat on the inside.

We got it moved outside, but it took about 24 hours before I realized that I should call County Health. By that point, the bat was gone, and county health suggested I receive rabies treatment, but call my doctor. The bat could have bit or scratched without us realizing it.

The doctor concurred. Rabies treatment must be done at the ER. They strongly recommended everyone in the house receive treatment if we could not 100% rule out physical contact. (We couldn't.)

Me, my wife, my kids, EACH receiving the immunoglobulin and four rounds of vaccines at the ER. We ran the first ER out of the treatment so the kids had to go somewhere else. Also, those are big needles.

The treatment ended up billing insurance over $100,000. (Almost all of that is the immunoglobulin.) We also had to return to both ERs, three times each, with the last time being on Christmas morning.

There is research that says immunoglobulin is _likely_ not necessary if you have no visible bites, but it's current health policy in the USA, and no doctor wants to be the first to undertreat.

Most expensive Christmas tree ever.

[justinclift]

> The treatment ended up billing insurance over $100,000.

Yep, that definitely confirms you're in the US. ;)

[unsupp0rted]

I had the same treatment in South Korea a few years ago, including immunoglobulin. It cost about $4,000 or so

[PartiallyTyped]

US absurdities aside, I find it ridiculous that people need to pay for something that will save their life.

[southernplaces7]

Really? That's your only criteria for thinking it's absurd? People need food to live, water too, and also clothing. Is it absolutely insane that all of these cost money?

I'm not defending the insane billing system of the U.S, because it truly is designed to be or at least accidentally off the wall with absurdities, but it's not ridiculous to charge people reasonably for many complex, expensive things that also require hiring specialist assistance. Somewhere down the line, somebody in any case needs to pay for it via money and time.

[PartiallyTyped]

I don’t mind sharing the bill in procuring medicine if it means i won’t have to pay when it ends up being my turn.

A person’s capacity to live shouldn’t be a function of how much money they make.

It’s such a core and fundamental principle that I can’t reconcile it.

You may disagree with me, and you are free to, but this is merely an opinion.

The word “reasonably” does a lot of work in your comment. I can accept 20 eur for a rabies shot, not 4k.

[jiwidi]

I think is the unreasonable ammounts that people end up paying in US that make it crazy to understand for non US.

For me as an European, i see anything related to healthcare as core to our society. You mention food, if i dont like an apple from a vendor i can just have another fruit that is cheaper this season. I wouldn't have that choice to change meds for my current ilnesses.

Yeah sure someone has to pay for it, but do meds need a 10000x markup compared to the 2x markup on food? US is such an advanced country in terms of science and tech that is scary to think people still die due to not being able to pay their cancer treatment.

[arethuza]

As Aneurin Bevan said:

"Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune the cost of which should be shared by the community."

[MichaelZuo]

How does this make sense when some people intentionally do things that cause illness?

And it’s not just Americans either, for example some Japanese like to intentionally eat fugu, meat from super poisonous puffer fish prepared in a very specific way.

Surely there’s no expectation for society to pay millions to treat someone who ate the 99.99th percentile fugu slice…

[rdedev]

The main issue is that if you get bit you definitely need a rabies vaccine to live. Medicine it not the same as food or clothing. It is inelastic in nature. If I'm hungry I can eat a steak or an apple. When it comes to medicine we rarely have that opportunity.

[serjester]

Even in South Korea it doesn’t exactly sound cheap - I really wonder what makes a 150 year old, mass produced vaccine so expensive. Haven’t we figured out how to produce it cheaply.

[unsupp0rted]

I assume the bulk of the cost is the immunoglobulin, but no idea

[not_a_bot_4sho]

Omg that's an expensive Christmas. Glad to hear everyone was alright, but that cost is insane.

[testfoobar]

I'm sorry for you and your family. This is a catastrophic thinker's literal nightmare.

[plagiarist]

Hopefully your insurance covered a lot of that $100,000. That's astronomical.

[edm0nd]

How much did your insurance cover and how much did you have to pay out of pocket?

[zabzonk]

> Most expensive Christmas tree ever

Would have been even more expensive if the USA had UK laws- in the UK disturbing bats is an offence.

Also, unless you really think you need it (just finding a bat is not enough), you don't want to take rabies vaccine. But IANAMD.

[mynameishere]

I've walked through swarms of bats without a care in the world. You came within ten feet of a sleeping bat and put your family through a medical grinder. Different strokes.

[nfinished]

Weird flex in the comments on an article about someone who interacted with a bat, didn't get treated, then died.