Anyone Going To See "Sicko"?

Becoming 100% self-reliant is a definite goal. I would love nothing more to own a piece of land, grow my own vegetables, fish, own water supply, and provide my own energy source. That would be so fantastic.

 

we weren't exactly poor. and i don't really agree with half the liberal agenda. and for the last time, i mentioned that we paid the expenses and we're paying the cost of reeducating him in a field he can handle with his injury. people here offered to help us when things hit rock bottom, actually, and we turned them down, saying we had to do it on our own. does that sound like someone looking for a handout to you? i didn't think so.

i study the naive signaling system- no thc involved. but your comments are funny, i assure you. my coworkers study a similar phenomenon with cocaine, does that make them coke heads? oh, and we've got meth and ghb projects if you need more material.

and for the people who have health insurance, supposedly to protect themselves against such disaster, and still get hosed?

i was referring to your constant denigration of my field of study. it's the typical "huh huh huh, you study pot" that gets more and more irritating each time i hear it.

thank you. and good luck with that getting rich and becoming independent from the rest of the world thing.

we need something in place for those of us who did all we could to protect ourselves. the abject poor have medicare, which as we were told, would cover the $15,000 procedure that is the only way to rid DH of his discogenic back pain that our insurance won't. the rich can afford to pay out of pocket for that kind of thing if they like. it's us suckers in the middle who try and try to support ourselves get a foot up into a comfortable life- and get slapped back down by bad luck, an accident, whatever- that take the biggest beating.

we'd be better taken care of if we both gave up working, what kind of system is that?

 

galaxee, it definitely doesn't sound like you're asking for any hand-outs. My point is that the universal healthcare being pushed by the liberals is like the ultimate handout. Michael Moore is such a goon, and his liberal American bashing is so freaking transparent.

As for studying pot.. I just think it's funny. Sorry. Not sure what else we need to know about it other than it isn't good for you and it makes good rope!

As for people with insurance that are getting hosed, it is terrible - but aren't all the terms there in your contract that you have w/ the insurance company? I dislike insurance companies as much as the next person. Like I said before, I really think they need to get their asses handed to them. Insurance reform, not Socialized medicine. That's what I'm preachin!

Per your statement about getting better care if you both gave up working, etc.. Exactly! Broken! Crap! Garbage! We need reform. We need to cut out this "hand-outs" crap! People like you and I that work for a living shouldn't have to sit back and watch poor, lazy, bums get free stuff! I totally agree! STOP THE LIBERAL HAND OUT BULLCRAP!

 

BigBlockGasGuzzlerPrius,

Prepare for bannination. Nice troll.

We were having a meaningful conversation.. can you let the grown-ups talk, please?

 

To:BigBlockGasGuzzlerPrius




Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln

 

if you're really interested i can detail some of the interesting things that we can do with cannabinoid receptors if we can eliminate the unwanted psychoactive effects.

we couldn't afford to seek out our own insurance policy, so we had to take what our respective employers offered us. after all the insurance benefits we've taken in the past 2 years, there's no way in hell we could get private insurance now. so there was no choice involved, and there will not be for a long time.

insurance reform would be great, but i see it as really unrealistic, given how everyone's in bed with one another in the insurance industry and politicians are not looking out for our best interests.

the most basic issue here is that hospitals are charging insane amounts because they can't be sure they're going to receive payment. those who do pay make up for those who don't pay. insurance negotiates a lower rate in part because they do make payment on their portion of the cost.

ie:
Amount of bill: $2614.00
Contracted Amount: $1541.74
that's almost $1100 different!

i've been able to negotiate as much as 25% off our cost of the bill at the hospital we use by telling them i will pay RIGHT NOW using our credit card. i'm about to try again on monday with the $800 we have outstanding with them. that savings is a huge help.

with everyone coming in guaranteeing payment, the hospitals can't so easily justify charging such high rates. you eliminate a substantial amount of hospital's cost by eliminating the overwhelming size of the billing and collections departments. you speed up patient care without having to sweep someone for insurance info.

how do we go about guaranteeing payment from everybody so that hospitals can reasonably accept downsizing these departments? wherever it comes from, something needs to make this happen and it'll get the ball rolling.

 

"Bannination" is from StrongBad.. not World of Warcraft, which I have never played.

My Prius is awesome. So is my 74' Nova. So is my Ducati 999. So is my BMW M3.

I don't really care a whole lot about how much of an environmental impact any of my cars or motorcycles have. I'm more into saving gas on my commute to work. Prius = Commuter Car.

You're a funny troll, bubba.

 

another victim of the health insurance profit machines:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221..._transplant;_ylt=ArEBnF0BKco_KpvMzBEY2eKs0NUE

 

"The Philadelphia-based health insurance company denied payment for the transplant, saying the procedure was experimental and outside the scope of coverage."


Wow. Just wow. That really sickens me. I'm no doctor, maybe berman can comment.. but how exactly is a liver transplant "experimental and outside the scope of coverage"?

Also, why wouldn't the doctors perform the surgery anyway? I'd tell them to BILL ME. Start up a charity organization and try my best to pay it off.

Anyways, yeah galaxee.. like I said, insurance companies need to have their asses handed to them.

 

Don't be so surprised. We're both educated inviduals... and I'm pretty damn compassionate, when it comes to certain things.

I agree with you 100%, the insurance company needs to get SUED into oblivion to set a prescedent.

There is definitely something the story isn't telling - but that doesn't matter. What matters is that this girl needed a transplant and was denied one because we need insurance company reform.

 

Considering that the hospital in question is the UCLA medical center, I don't understand why they did not do the transplant when a liver was available and then fight the insurance company for reimbursement.

Today's LA Times article had additional details including this very disturbing one: