Anecdotes, not Data

I am the first to concede that the plural of "anecdote" is not "data." However, often times anecdotal evidence is more powerful as it puts a "human face" on the reams of data at issue in an argument. 

There is a lot of discussion, here and elsewhere, about the cost of healthcare. I feel as though those in the healthcare industry believe that when someone such as myself mentions frustration with the high cost of healthcare, the reflexive response is to either (a) claim that American healthcare is the greatest in the world; (b) argue that everyone gets healthcare in America, regardless of whether they can pay for it; (c) argue that the cost is so high because of uniquely American problems; or (d) deflect on the high cost and argue that because their healthcare costs are covered by good employer-provided insurance, anyone complaining must be a loser, or lazy, or not want to work, or something.

I make no response to any of those arguments here. I believe I have addressed them before and will likely address them again. However, I just want to share this anecdote about the crushing burden of high healthcare costs:

Last October, Bradley Sroka took his 1-year-old daughter, Margot, to the local emergency room. The little girl had managed to tie a piece of her own blonde hair around her toe, causing it to swell and turn purple.

The hair had left a clean circular cut around Margot’s toe, which spurted blood each time her parents tried to inspect it.

“We had no idea how deep the cut was, whether we could just wrap a Band-Aid around it,” Sroka says. “It was like nothing we’d ever encountered.”

Margot turned out to be fine — a physician assistant inspected her toe, made sure the hair was gone, and applied an antibacterial ointment.

A month later, the Sroka family got the bill: $937.25 for the 29-minute visit. They are responsible for the entire bill, which was within their deductible.

Now, I don't know about either reader of this blog, but I can tell you that $937.25 for 29 minutes would destroy my family's monthly budget. Imagine if this was a "real" problem that required more than a PA inspecting an extremity and applying an antibacterial ointment. 

These cases fit what experts describe as one of the defining features of the American health care system: exceptionally high prices for routine medical services

USA! USA! USA!