I shared my toddler's hospital bill on Twitter
<i>&gt; It was eye-opening to see just how low our discourse has sunk, to be forced to acknowledge that what passes for debate in the age of the internet is often nothing more than spewing venom at the other side. How are we ever supposed to find a solution that’s better than either Trumpcare or Obamacare if we can’t even shut up long enough to recognize the humanity in the people on the other side of the debate?</i><p>So people on one side of the fence are not happy about the very high medical costs required to keep a child alive. They do not understand the humanity behind the numbers.<p>On the other side of the fence are parents who are not happy that some people think their child is an excessive burden on the system. They (understandably) do not understand (or at the least, are looking away from) the numbers behind making their child viable.<p>The author correctly identifies one side&#x27;s shortcoming wrt balanced discourse, but does not see the blindness of her own implied position -- that no cost is too high to save a life. Nowhere in this piece does she broach the subject of numbers and real cost [1].<p>Finding balance is very difficult in any area, especially in areas where you only have _one shot_ (an example is your child&#x27;s education, where many parents feel that no amount of investment is enough, and more is always better). But since the system does not have infinite resources, it&#x27;s a necessary conversation to have (which the author could have brought up, but failed to do so -- understandably, since this article is a strategic opinion piece meant to further the author&#x27;s self-interest, which I completely respect).<p>A billion dollars to save a child&#x27;s life, we would likely agree, is too much. $1,000, we would likely agree, is entirely justified. Where we draw the line, why, and how we get there (of urgent need is our relationship with end of life care and treatments) is an important conversation that we are failing to have, and those of us on both sides of the fence are equally culpable for this shortcoming.<p>[1] The large 6 figure bill and post insurance $500 bill is only used qualitatively in the introduction.