Clickbait Uber Alles

I am often amused by the lengths to which clickbait sites will go to generate traffic. Recently, FoIB Holly R tagged me in a Facebook post with the scary tite:

"Coronavirus survival comes with a $1.1 million, 181-page price tag"

Oh noes!

Of course, the article itself eventually belies the headline (we'll circle back to that).

Regular readers may recall the 2018 story of the "the young lad, attending a wedding reception replete with expensive (and apparently fragile) art work, who (apparently accidentally) knocked over a priceless glass statue,"and whose parents were ostensibly sued for $132,000.Of course, that tuned out to be clickbait, too:

"All the city did was file an insurance claim," Overland Park communications manager Sean Reilly told CNET ... We are NOT seeking payment from the family"

And so it is with the Coronavirus patent mentioned aboive:

"The bill is technically an explanation of charges, and because Flor has insurance including Medicare, he won’t have to pay the vast majority of it."

Oh. So not a bill.

The reason I am so amused by these is the credulity demonstrated by my fellow citizens who immediately condemn these episodes as some sort of indictment of the American health care system (which, to be sure, is far from perfect). This is because we're reluctant to have the real discussion: how much should this treatment cost? And who decides whether that patient is actually worth it?

And, of course, the post generated the usual "oh, you poor Americans, the Canadian government-run model is so much better and more efficient."

The cognitive dissonance is truly a sight to behold:

The article explicitly (if belatedly) explains that this actually ocuured under a government-run system, and one which certain policitcos have expressly advocated that we should apply to every American: Medicare.

Sheesh.

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