Martin Nowak
Martin's Snakes
KFF Health News 30 October 2024
KFF Health News publishes monthly analysis of a health care bill which is egregious, or the patient is unable to obtain fair audience with the insurance company or health care provider. Here we have venomous snakebite of a toddler in California who was treated at two hospitals. The bite occurred in spring of 2024. The child was treated with Anavip.
“The Final Bill
$297,461, which included two ambulance rides, an emergency room visit, and a couple of days in pediatric intensive care. Antivenom alone accounts for $213,278.80 of the total bill.”
“Brigland (patient) received Anavip at two hospitals that charged different prices.
Palomar, where emergency staffers treated Brigland, charged $9,574.60 per vial, for a total of $95,746 for the starting dose of 10 vials of Anavip.
Rady, the largest children’s hospital on the West Coast, charged $5,876.64 for each vial. For the 20 vials Brigland received there, the total was $117,532.80.
Neither hospital responded to requests for comment.”
kffhealthnews.org
For those interested in a more technical comparison of Anavip versus Crofab, see this report:
www.emdocs.net
A paper comparing use of Anavip versus Crofab in 279 rattlesnake envenomations in the Journal of Medical Toxicology, 28 April 2023.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
This is a case of “naturally occurring venomous snakebite” – the most common reason.
Costs for treatment will be built into the health insurance risk pool group of this family and into the next year’s premiums. In this case the family’s deductible was $7,200 and an ambulance bill of $11,300 was rejected by insurance and remains unpaid for the moment. The family health insurance paid an unknown reduced negotiated amount for the remainder of the bill.
Clearly the cost of treatment and then cost sharing via insurance premiums to the group is ample reason snake keepers should not tolerate or support those in the industry who free handle or otherwise willfully mis-handle venomous snakes. Bites from irresponsible behavior transfers costs of treatment to others in the insurance risk pool. I don’t want to pay for someone else’s stupid behavior.
KFF Health News publishes monthly analysis of a health care bill which is egregious, or the patient is unable to obtain fair audience with the insurance company or health care provider. Here we have venomous snakebite of a toddler in California who was treated at two hospitals. The bite occurred in spring of 2024. The child was treated with Anavip.
“The Final Bill
$297,461, which included two ambulance rides, an emergency room visit, and a couple of days in pediatric intensive care. Antivenom alone accounts for $213,278.80 of the total bill.”
“Brigland (patient) received Anavip at two hospitals that charged different prices.
Palomar, where emergency staffers treated Brigland, charged $9,574.60 per vial, for a total of $95,746 for the starting dose of 10 vials of Anavip.
Rady, the largest children’s hospital on the West Coast, charged $5,876.64 for each vial. For the 20 vials Brigland received there, the total was $117,532.80.
Neither hospital responded to requests for comment.”
Toddler’s Backyard Snakebite Bills Totaled More Than a Quarter Million Dollars - KFF Health News
For snakebite victims, antivenom is critical — and costly. It took more than $200,000 worth of antivenom to save one toddler’s life after he was bitten by a rattlesnake.
kffhealthnews.org
For those interested in a more technical comparison of Anavip versus Crofab, see this report:
ToxCard: Crotalid Envenomation Part 2 - CroFab vs. AnaVip: What’s the Difference?
Learn more about when and why you should consider one antivenom over the other for North American Crotalid envenomations.
www.emdocs.net
A paper comparing use of Anavip versus Crofab in 279 rattlesnake envenomations in the Journal of Medical Toxicology, 28 April 2023.
Total CroFab and Anavip Antivenom Vial Administration in US Rattlesnake Envenomations: 2019–2021 - PMC
In 2018, Anavip became available for the treatment of rattlesnake envenomations in the USA. No comparisons between the treatment characteristics of patients have been made since Anavip and CroFab have both been widely available. The objective of ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
This is a case of “naturally occurring venomous snakebite” – the most common reason.
Circumstances of Snakebite Envenomation
The research question for this presentation and Abstract (source below): ‘What were the circumstances around the snakebite envenomation?’ 'What was the victim doing?' Once again, reptile keepers must be vigilant about how data is reported, how much data is reported, how the data is analyzed...
www.faunaclassifieds.com
Costs for treatment will be built into the health insurance risk pool group of this family and into the next year’s premiums. In this case the family’s deductible was $7,200 and an ambulance bill of $11,300 was rejected by insurance and remains unpaid for the moment. The family health insurance paid an unknown reduced negotiated amount for the remainder of the bill.
Clearly the cost of treatment and then cost sharing via insurance premiums to the group is ample reason snake keepers should not tolerate or support those in the industry who free handle or otherwise willfully mis-handle venomous snakes. Bites from irresponsible behavior transfers costs of treatment to others in the insurance risk pool. I don’t want to pay for someone else’s stupid behavior.