Can't afford life-saving surgery? Go to jail to have it done!

[derspiess]

I warned ye. 

Worst case, they'll be my backups.  And like I said, I primarily wear contacts.

Anyway, if a certain something comes my way later this year I may have the cash to drop on laser surgery and be done with all the contacts/glasses silliness.

[Caliga]

I talked to my eye doctor about laser surgery last fall.  My vision is so poor that even after I got it, I'd still need glasses.

[The Brain]

My lasers are fine.

[derspiess]

I talked to my eye doctor about laser surgery last fall.  My vision is so poor that even after I got it, I'd still need glasses.

I've been told mine is just good enough to where I wouldn't need them.  I've just about convinced myself to do it.

As an aside, a couple years ago I was out for dinner/drinks with a couple co-workers adamantly trying to talk me into laser surgery.  I told them their otherwise solid arguments were undermined by the fact that they both were wearing glasses at the time, despite having had the surgery.

[garbon]

Again, you're missing my point.

A sore tooth hurts. An ulcer hurts. A broken bone hurts.

You can fix the tooth for a couple of hundred dollars so it doesn't hurt anymore. You cannot do that for an ulcer (which first has to be diagnosed so that you even know that it's an ulcer and not cancer) or a broken bone. So while yes, you could live with it, the point is that in order to live pain-free you have to spend a considerable amount more money for medical work than you do for dental.

Which is why people aren't harping about free dental or vision care. One can get by without. One cannot, really, get by without medical without going bankrupt, living in pain, or dying.

I thought we were talking life threatening which an infected tooth and ulcer both can be (though presumably an infected tooth has little recourse beyond medicine/extraction).  I didn't realize we were just discussing a system to keep people free from pain - which doesn't even in happen in a system where everything is covered.

I'll agree about your final statement (though not sure all can afford dental care as you suggest).

[Grey Fox]

I talked to my eye doctor about laser surgery last fall.  My vision is so poor that even after I got it, I'd still need glasses.

I've been told mine is just good enough to where I wouldn't need them.  I've just about convinced myself to do it.

As an aside, a couple years ago I was out for dinner/drinks with a couple co-workers adamantly trying to talk me into laser surgery.  I told them their otherwise solid arguments were undermined by the fact that they both were wearing glasses at the time, despite having had the surgery.

Shit!

I've been thinking about getting it but I still feel a little too young for the risk it represents.

[Fate]

I'm unconvinced this 41-year old man would have gone to see a doctor initially even if he could afford it.

No one is going to show up at the doctor's office to get their hepatic artery aneurysm diagnosed. They are asymptomatic until they rupture. As the story describes, it's usually an incidental finding on abdominal CT done for a different indication. Whether he could afford a regular office visit  or not is beside the point. If it were diagnosed he'd have no way to pay for the surgery. But we as a society still have to pay for his expensive emergency room and ICU stay when the thing ruptures thanks to EMTALA. Our system doesn't work well. We need a single payer. It's fiscally and morally retarded to socialize the treatment cost only when it's at the most expensive point possible in the disease course.

Conservatives either need to push for repeal of EMTALA and let these people die after we turn them away from the waiting rooms due to lack of insurance, or they need to grow the fuck up and accept Medicare for all.

[garbon]

I'm unconvinced this 41-year old man would have gone to see a doctor initially even if he could afford it.

No one is going to show up at the doctor's office to get their hepatic artery aneurysm diagnosed. They are asymptomatic until they rupture. As the story describes, it's usually an incidental finding on abdominal CT done for a different indication. Whether he could afford a regular office visit  or not is beside the point. If it were diagnosed he'd have no way to pay for the surgery. But we as a society still have to pay for his expensive emergency room and ICU stay when the thing ruptures thanks to EMTALA. Our system doesn't work well. We need a single payer. It's fiscally and morally retarded to socialize the treatment cost only when it's at the most expensive point possible in the disease course.

I see and can agree with your last bit - which not coincidentally is the only relevant part to my post.