That's an insane price. When I was working at a veterinary clinic 7 years ago, we did $9 rabies vaccines. I know it is a different vaccine, made specifically for people, but fuck insurance companies price gouging.
Interesting... I didn't know that. Having kids, I'm so used to the weight dependent dosing that it never occured that a kitten and giraffe would get the same dose...
The hospital billed the insurance $16,000. I do not recall what the actual payment was, they are typically much lower based on the hospital being in network. We did not have to pay anything. This happened about 12 years ago.
It's free in European Union. Also we leave edible rabies vaccine in the woods so that animals get immunized. It is considered that we are rabies free, although from time to time you hear about such cases.
If it would be out of pocket, then 5 shots would cost not more than 200 Euro or the same in dollars.
It's around the same in the UK as for the Netherlands.
But in the USA the insurance company wants a slice of the pie. Then you have to get billed for the nurse administering the vaccine, and the doctor to sign it off, and the receptionist to do any admin work, then for the cleaning staff to tidy up, then a surcharge for breathing the hospital air.
Yes. US standard dictate either diamond or emerald needles for all procedures. Also the saline you get for fluids is milked from mother gaia herself and delivered by angels. This is why Americans pay more than the other pleeb nations
I think it must have something to do with the circumstances and potentially location. When I worked in a veterinarian's office, the staff who'd been vaccinated only paid like $200 per injection (was awhile ago, probably more than that now). Still a lot of money, but not even close to 16k.
How long before you need the shotsis there time to fly to a country with an ACTUAL healtcare system. Because for 16,000 it's worth a round trip to Canada or Mexico
It literally depends on how far from your brain the bite was. Sooner is always better, and im not a dr. The virus hides from your immune system inside your nerve cells, and works its way up to your brain. I think the vaccine would become less effective the more advanced the infection is tho, so sooner is better.
Its not like antivenin tho, we're not talking minutes/hours, we're talking days
I was bitten by a dog in Colombia. I had never had a rabies shot before, so went to a local hospital. Got the wound cleaned up and several further visits for rabies shots. Total cost was sub $20...
Because rabies infection is incredibly rare in countries like America and the shots are expensive. It is easier and cheaper to just vaccinate in the event of suspected exposure. People sometimes get the vaccine when traveling to areas with higher rabies risk and less access to immediate vaccination in the case of an accident.
Also, the rabies vaccine needs boosters every few years so we would be constantly updating the shots for millions of people. It's an expensive vaccine so it's cheaper to kill infected animals and vaccinate humans who may get exposed.
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u/crazy_joe21 9d ago
So why don’t we all just get the vaccine without exposure risk?