Hmm, random YouTube hopping has uncovered a shitstorm because of some guy getting butthurt over one of the guys on the Angry Video Game Nerd's channel taking down a video because it got negative views.
When I saw my itemized ER bill, I was grossly overcharged on so many things. For example, $190 for a Roth net - this is a small net they stuff down your throat to grab foreign objects - costs $30 at any medical supply store.
or $100 Bayer aspirin or whatever, yeah.
Someone explained it to me a long time ago but I can't remember what the explanation was.
It has to do with the negotiation process between the hospital (or hospital network, like Sutter) and the insurance companies.
In order to get fair reimbursement from the insurance companies, they have to start by highballing their costs, knowing that the insurance companies will reimburse less than what they are asking for. Since this process has been going on for years, hospital charges have been undergoing constant inflation.
They can't legally charge different prices to different customers - that would be discrimination. What they can do is set their prices artificially high, and if somebody comes along who is uninsured and can't pay those inflated prices, they'll just quietly forgive part of the bill. Hospitals do this all the time - just call up their patient relations hotline, say you can't pay your bill, and often they will just drop 50% of it right there on the spot.
Googling around, I found a blue book for medical procedures. Not sure how legit it is but it couldn't hurt to argue that what you were charged doesn't match the value in the book.
I did not really try to jump down spool's throat I just wanted to know what he thought because it didn't make sense. In the past he's been against UHC almost universally (I think modern man is the only really big GOP guy besides spool that I can name that would be against it). I was just asking for clarification because now it seemed he wasn't really against UHC but against the way the Irish did it.
But then that turned into the Irish did it bad so no UHC can ever work, coupled with his anecdote (which I still don't know what happened and why it failed him because that doesn't make much sense other than he wasn't national born or something), and then he claimed that wasn't what he said.
I mean it's no ketchup on your spaghetti...
In my specific case, the wait time for care was, and I am seriously quoting our doctor here, "you will never get in to see the specialist you need unless you pay for it". This happened on two separate occasions, once for my daughter and once for my wife. In the wife's case it was a nerve specialist. In the daughter's case it was a routine tonsillectomy. There were other, less dramatic situations, from basic things like a total lack of medical records for our baby because they simply didn't bother to keep them, to the awful, viciously stigmatizing and barely existent mental health system, but those were the worst two of the lot.
I am definitely not against a system whereby people can get healthcare they need while paying what they can reasonably afford, even if that means some of them pay nothing.
I do not believe healthcare, or access to it, is a human right, but I do believe sensible societies should undertake providing it to those unable to do so themselves.
I think we are in a position to be pretty generous, as Americans, when defining "unable" in the above sentence.
I think there are a bunch of dangerous pitfalls involved in this and that we should tread super carefully so as not to fuck up the good things about US medicine.
I think the Federal government doesn't have the authority to force individuals to buy insurance.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
I was looking through my PDFs of old game books the other day and actually found something good that Monte Cook worked on (I know, I know it sounds crazy): Spelljammer
Operation Goliath
Citadel Allied Command is mounting a galaxy-wide operation to cripple the Reapers’ shock troops: the turian-krogan hybrids known as “brutes.” To flush out Reaper ground forces, N7 teams are deploying to engage the enemy in key theaters. Heavy reinforcements are expected anywhere fighting begins.
Community Goal: Inflict heavy casualties on Reaper “brutes” on March 16th, 17th, and 18th.
Community Unlock: If this goal is met, all N7 squads will be awarded a Victory Pack that can be unlocked the following week.
Squad Goal: Successful extraction from a Reaper-held zone at a Silver threat level or higher.
Squad Unlock: Your squad will be granted a Commendation Pack.
Your allies are counting on you. Now is not the time to let them down.
Welcome to the first N7 Challenge weekend!
Join your friends on line between 5 PM PST Friday, March 16 and 5 AM PST Monday, March 18, and take the fight to the Reapers like never before.
Any player who is part of a squad that beats the Reaper faction on Silver difficulty or better will unlock one Commendation Pack. This means that at least one member of the squad must be extracted at the end of the mission – this will earn all squad members the reward. Each player can earn a maximum of one pack, and each pack contains a random N7 Arsenal Weapon. Originally only available as single-player weapons via the N7 Collector’s Edition, these multiplayer variants will be exceptionally rare and are NOT obtainable through regular purchasable Reinforcement Packs. The Commendation Packs will contain one of the following guns at random: N7 Crusader Shotgun, N7 Eagle Pistol, N7 Hurricane SMG, and N7 Valiant Sniper Rifle.
Destroy as many brutes as possible – if the multiplayer community kills a combined 1 MILLION brutes within the hours of the challenge, ALL players will receive a Victory Pack as a reward.
oh shiiii
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LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
You lost me and any credibility when you said that healthcare wasn't a human right
WoD books are great for little off-hand comments like that.
Some of their books are written using (I can't for the life of me recall what the practice is called) female based generalized pronouns instead of the traditional male.
.. Who shot ya? Mob ties like Sinatra
Peruvians tried to do me in, I ain't paid them yet
Tryin to push 700's, they ain't made them yet
Rolex and bracelets is frostbit; rings too
N----s 'round the way call me Igloo Stix
You lost me and any credibility when you said that healthcare wasn't a human right
I support UHC and I don't think it's a human right.
I just think it's an industry that benefits greatly from heavy regulation and partial socialization - much like, say, law enforcement, or fire control, or transportation.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
i think george clooney made a deal with a supernatural entity, stating that as long as he remains an awesome dude, he will maintain his implausible good looks
i think george clooney made a deal with a supernatural entity, stating that as long as he remains an awesome dude, he will maintain his implausible good looks
best inverted faustian deal ever, pretty much
Funny thing about this post is that George Clooney has bell's palsy.
He's careful to stay in private when he's having an attack.
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
seriously though re: coffee, there was that TED talk with Malcolm Gladwell where he talked about how most people actually do prefer their coffee kind of weaker, cooler and sweeter but claim they don't because there is societal pressure to be a bad-ass who drinks black coffee.
I started drinking my coffee black for health reasons. Now whenever I taste the other stuff the amount of sugar, milk, and whatever the hell else tastes awful to me.
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LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
You lost me and any credibility when you said that healthcare wasn't a human right
I support UHC and I don't think it's a human right.
I just think it's an industry that benefits greatly from heavy regulation and partial socialization - much like, say, law enforcement, or fire control, or transportation.
i think george clooney made a deal with a supernatural entity, stating that as long as he remains an awesome dude, he will maintain his implausible good looks
insofar as human rights exist, i think i would come down on saying that universal healthcare is a human right
as in, there is no reason or justification for a person not to receive healthcare, and that person not receiving healthcare when they need it is a travesty.
You lost me and any credibility when you said that healthcare wasn't a human right
I support UHC and I don't think it's a human right.
I just think it's an industry that benefits greatly from heavy regulation and partial socialization - much like, say, law enforcement, or fire control, or transportation.
i think george clooney made a deal with a supernatural entity, stating that as long as he remains an awesome dude, he will maintain his implausible good looks
best inverted faustian deal ever, pretty much
Funny thing about this post is that George Clooney has bell's palsy.
He's careful to stay in private when he's having an attack.
wait wait. Bell's palsy isn't, as far as I know, somethign that comes and goes.
Is it? Because I had it (while I was in Ireland!) and never heard anything about the possibility of it recurring.
Posts
in a famous incident in the Philippines, he debunked a faith healer and then showed the man "the right way" to do it
thirty tumors were lasered out of cancer sufferers by Clooney's micron-precise heat vision
The internet is serious business.
I love that movie. There's a brilliant scene where he and the gorgeous Natasha McElhone flirt wordlessly in a lift.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
nice
Googling around, I found a blue book for medical procedures. Not sure how legit it is but it couldn't hurt to argue that what you were charged doesn't match the value in the book.
a wise editor
This is just making me want to play in an RPG campaign as George Clooney.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
the best part of any game's rulebook is the sprinkling of humour
Would you try Fifth Edition D&D if there was a pro-Clooney statement in the rules?
at least i get a free dinner out of it
In my specific case, the wait time for care was, and I am seriously quoting our doctor here, "you will never get in to see the specialist you need unless you pay for it". This happened on two separate occasions, once for my daughter and once for my wife. In the wife's case it was a nerve specialist. In the daughter's case it was a routine tonsillectomy. There were other, less dramatic situations, from basic things like a total lack of medical records for our baby because they simply didn't bother to keep them, to the awful, viciously stigmatizing and barely existent mental health system, but those were the worst two of the lot.
I am definitely not against a system whereby people can get healthcare they need while paying what they can reasonably afford, even if that means some of them pay nothing.
I do not believe healthcare, or access to it, is a human right, but I do believe sensible societies should undertake providing it to those unable to do so themselves.
I think we are in a position to be pretty generous, as Americans, when defining "unable" in the above sentence.
I think there are a bunch of dangerous pitfalls involved in this and that we should tread super carefully so as not to fuck up the good things about US medicine.
I think the Federal government doesn't have the authority to force individuals to buy insurance.
I will probably try 5e D&D regardless but some humor in the writing couldn't hurt.
That's telling me my calculations are wrong. Maybe the poverty line has gone up?
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
He did some of the modules (not the core box).
Some of their books are written using (I can't for the life of me recall what the practice is called) female based generalized pronouns instead of the traditional male.
hmmm interesting, thanks.
Peruvians tried to do me in, I ain't paid them yet
Tryin to push 700's, they ain't made them yet
Rolex and bracelets is frostbit; rings too
N----s 'round the way call me Igloo Stix
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I support UHC and I don't think it's a human right.
I just think it's an industry that benefits greatly from heavy regulation and partial socialization - much like, say, law enforcement, or fire control, or transportation.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
best inverted faustian deal ever, pretty much
WE CAN DO THIS.
Though I think Cook did do some stuff for Birthright (2nd ed. AD&D setting where the players are rulers of small kingdoms)
Funny thing about this post is that George Clooney has bell's palsy.
He's careful to stay in private when he's having an attack.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
I started drinking my coffee black for health reasons. Now whenever I taste the other stuff the amount of sugar, milk, and whatever the hell else tastes awful to me.
Great, glad you support it
But it is also a human right
it's the same genie that Paul Newman found
as in, there is no reason or justification for a person not to receive healthcare, and that person not receiving healthcare when they need it is a travesty.
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE A MYTH
/popcorn
If you don't load it up with sugar and milk and crap then it has almost no calories.
Yes well, some people aren't interested in learning things about other people.
--LeVar Burton
wait wait. Bell's palsy isn't, as far as I know, somethign that comes and goes.
Is it? Because I had it (while I was in Ireland!) and never heard anything about the possibility of it recurring.