Hardly, if they're coming after $280,000 when the "real costs" are likely a fraction of that.
The issue is whether the state should recover debts owed not whether the debts are inflated.
What makes you think the "real costs" are a fraction of $288,000? Nursing home care for seriously disabled and/or demented patients involves paying a large staff for 24/7 coverage, lots of medical equipment including single-use supplies, maintaining a building, liability insurance, and on and on. And whenever a problem requiring hospital treatement arises, the patient is transported to the hospital and the tab get an extra bundle tacked on. It doesn't say how many years this woman spent in a nursing home, but many patients spend 5-10 years or even more.
>>Hardly [a different issue] if they're coming after $280,000 when the "real costs" are likely a fraction of that.
Exactly! If you could extrapolate from the state charging $40 for a pair of one dollar slippers, the free market might have that $280,000 bill trimmed to around $7,000.
Plus fewer people would be endorsing euthanasia. (A different issue? Not when you're the one in the bed!)