My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost $145,000

Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ... by powera on Thursday February 09, 2023 @10:07AM (#34725050)

It doesn't cost $145k to die, it costs $145k to have 24-7 in-house medical support for a year.

And somebody has to pay the medical support staff.

The sense that "this is necessary so it should be free" is not unique to the parent comment, but it is incorrect.

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Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ... by eh9 on Thursday February 09, 2023 @10:44AM (#34725608)

That “somebody” is the government in most developed places in the world. Except the United States which ties your healthcare to capitalism.

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Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ... by em500 on Thursday February 09, 2023 @11:21AM (#34726362)

Nonsense, no government in the world pays for 24-7 in-house end of life care for a year, that would be crazy.

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Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ... by eh9 on Thursday February 09, 2023 @11:41AM (#34726729)

Canada does.

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Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ... by pjlegato on Thursday February 09, 2023 @10:57AM (#34725871)

"The government" has no money of its own. Everything "the government" does is paid for by private citizens in the form of taxes, without exception.

These taxes are harvested from capitalist economic activity.

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Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ... by amanaplanacanal on Thursday February 09, 2023 @11:40AM (#34726723)

I’m pretty sure everybody understands that.

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Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ... by vlovich123 on Thursday February 09, 2023 @11:46AM (#34726824)

Ummm… doesn’t the government literally print money? Sure you can’t just print infinite money as it devalues the currency, but I don’t think stating whether or not the government has money is a helpful framing. The government has an entirely different relationship to money. I could be wrong but taxes are more a way to keep value of the currency by creating some artificial scarcity. Sure, the government tries to keep a balance between taxation and expenditure to avoid devaluing the currency too much, but that’s not the same thing. In fact, governments regularly run deficits (spending money they don’t have) without collapsing. The only real risk is of a major currency devaluation because you managed the inflation incorrectly.

Consider the “out” for the US debt ceiling being bandied about is minting a trillion dollar coin.

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