Dillards 31: Grifting, Lying, and Allergies

[2manyKidzzz]

@Gobsmacked @MadeItOut Thanks for the info on Princess Margaret. I didn't know about the fall. Hard to be the second daughter and then not get to marry the man you want to. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

4 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

Another problem is wages, which have stagnated for a really long time. Could people really afford to pay another tax in order to provide healthcare? 

Then again, can a lot of people afford to pay for insurance now? 

Exactly, if we aren't paying $400/500 a month for insurance that yous still have to pay $6000 out of pocket expenses if you use it, that tax is a wash and in some cases a savings. For others, this is where the American value of mine mine mine  comes in. The young healthy folks with no families who use minimal health care, they are mad that they are paying for other people why should they have to pay because some junkie OD. and honestly I think a very big part of ti is racism, white people don't want to pay for black people to get anything, their is a large segment our our society who thinks if we have socialized medicine then all the minorities will just sit around having babies doing drugs and killing nice white people.  Then there are the folks like the Duggars who would say  they will not pay for the murder of unborn children and they won't pay for things they think are icky because science and not God and. yeah, TL;DR we let the inmates run the asylum here , so we can't have nice things. 

[lolo3300]

When I had to call the ambulance because I couldn't walk and have terrible family support, I got a bill for $800. When I was home from the hospital and started running a fever, my friend called the ambulance and I wasn't charged anything. I'm in the US and this was January 2016

[dpndetfarm]

Just to add to the ambulance costs issue, in many areas outside of cities ambulance services are contracted by towns. This means that when needed (through 911 call, accident, fire, etc) that ambulance company (nonprofit) sends out the vehicle and 2 medics (generally a Paramedic and an EMT). Now, the amount paid by towns is to guarantee the company staffs sufficiently to meet potential needs. It does NOT pay for the actual care. 

Add to this the fact that those paras and EMTs can give all kinds of medical care on scene, but if the patient refuses transport in that ambulance the company CANNOT charge. Anything. To the patient.

A majority of patients will refuse transport...again, and again, and again. Sometimes in the same day. So how do the ambulance services stay afloat? They have fundraisers, lower pay scales, and higher fees when they do transport.

Why do patients refuse transport? Because often, if they have insurance, it will not pay or pays Crap. Let the vicious circle begin. 

Just another reason universal healthcare is worth higher taxes. 

[HarryPotterFan]

Damn. This ambulance conversation is making me think about a relative who was freaking hit by an ambulance. I freaking hope he wasn't charged for transport!! 

[Million Children For Jesus]

21 hours ago, JillyO said:

The fucked up health care system is the main reason I am terrified of moving to the US (from Germany) in October. Seriously terrified.

I would LOVE to leave the US for Germany. Are you nuts? Why would you come here? (Edit: Feel free to find me a nice German man, so I can get German citizenship and trade places with you.)

3 hours ago, lolo3300 said:

When I had to call the ambulance because I couldn't walk and have terrible family support, I got a bill for $800. 

Bargain. Mine was $1400

[SorenaJ]

7 hours ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

The problem here in America is that we see health care like everything else. If it doesn't help me enrich me make my life easier or in anyway benefit me personally then I don't want to pay for someone else to have it, ie our taxes funding insurance,  never mind that you will need these services some day as well. To many Americans are too concerned with only them selves. There are too many people who feel if it doesn't effect me personally it isn't a problem. 

That is so weird to me. We help each other out. America is such a religious bunch. What happened to love thy neighbor?

[nastyhobbitses]

3 hours ago, SorenaJ said:

That is so weird to me. We help each other out. America is such a religious bunch. What happened to love thy neighbor?

Prosperity Gospel and Muscular Christianity.

I really believe that the Religious Right has promoted a theology that emphasizes patriarchy, individualism to the point of selfishness, and a warped "Just-World" hypothesis that teaches people that the poor deserve their lot, being bigger and stronger and more dominant than other people is good, any material success -- no matter how unearned -- is God rewarding you and the gubmint shouldn't take it away from you, and everyone else should live like you do. Love thy neighbor doesn't fit into that mindset. They are Christian Wahhabists who love money and control (of the government, of women, of racial minorities) more than anything else. And pieces of shit like Newt Gingrich let them infect our civil society.

[JillyO]

10 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

Another problem is wages, which have stagnated for a really long time. Could people really afford to pay another tax in order to provide healthcare? 

Then again, can a lot of people afford to pay for insurance now? 

That's the thing. I pay about €240 in health insurance taxes each month. My employer pays round about the same amount for me. Has to, they're not doing it because they love me so much. This is a fixed percentage of your income, not a fixed amount. So if you make more money than me, you'll pay more, and if you make less money, you'll pay less. If you make under a certain threshhold, the state pays it for you.

Then I pay about €10 anually in prescription fees for my beta blockers.

That's it. That's all the health care costs I usually have. Even as a fairly healthy, young woman, I'm sure I will end up paying much, much more in the US. So, yeah. People can afford to pay another tax because it saves a lot elsewhere. 

[JillyO]

5 hours ago, Million Children For Jesus said:

I would LOVE to leave the US for Germany. Are you nuts? Why would you come here? (Edit: Feel free to find me a nice German man, so I can get German citizenship and trade places with you.)

If by "nuts," you mean "love my husband enough to go with him so he can get his PhD at one of the best universities in the world," then yes, I'm nuts. There's also lots of things I love about the US. But some things terrify me to no end. Like the shitty state of health care and the lack of employee rights provisions (paid vacation time? paid sick leave? paid maternity leave? I'll miss you so much, Germany!)

If you're young enough to consider going (back) to school here in Germany, it's nice and free. Yes, it's free for you too! And it will allow you to find work here. We also have some nice men though, you're right.

[MadeItOut]

8 hours ago, HarryPotterFan said:

Damn. This ambulance conversation is making me think about a relative who was freaking hit by an ambulance. I freaking hope he wasn't charged for transport!! 

Should be okay. It's 20yrs since I was in the ambulance brigade, but even back then we trained for such an eventuality. - If an ambulance hits someone, there's two courses of action: either way you call a different vehicle to transport the casualty, then if you have no patient on board you provide minimum care to preserve life until colleagues arrive (as little contact as possible for legal stuff) then turn over care to the other team; if you have a patient on board though, your primary duty is to them.

 

Hope your  relative is doing okay now @HarryPotterFan

[Million Children For Jesus]

1 minute ago, JillyO said:

If by "nuts," you mean "love my husband enough to go with him so he can get his PhD at one of the best universities in the world," then yes, I'm nuts.

 

If you're young enough to consider going (back) to school here in Germany, it's nice and free. Yes, it's free for you too! And it will allow you to find work here. We also have some nice men though, you're right.

Awwwww, that's romantic!

I'm probably not young enough according to most people's standards, but I would love to go back to school. My dad qualifies for a German citizenship through a heritage Visa, but won't apply because he thinks he's too old, and he's settled here. My sons have taken two years of German language and at least one plans to permanently relocate. Possibly two of them. As much as I love Germany, truly, deeply, in my heart, love Germany, I would probably be more likely to end up in Croatia or Malta. As a young girl in Germany, I thought it felt like home. I should have never left. 

[MadeItOut]

4 hours ago, SorenaJ said:

That is so weird to me. We help each other out. America is such a religious bunch. What happened to love thy neighbor?

...for a given value of 'neighbour'. The issue with extreme doctrines (of any faith in fairness, but especially CP IMHO), is that unless a person is on the inside, they don't count as neighbours - in some cases not even as people. They're very lucky there's no room for cognitive dissonance in their lifestyle.

[Lurky]

It's probably not visible from the USA, but Charles already has a long history of trying to use his influence to dictate Government policies on his pet issues, which is absolutely non-democratic, and rightly banned.

These are often described as if they have no consequence, but things like architecture, farming, "alternative" therapies that have been proven to have no more help than placebos being used instead of evidence-based medicine etc, are all big deals.   But even if you agree on all his issues, the way he does it, putting pressure on ministers, and then fighting tooth and nail to keep his interventions secret, are not good.  There's no evidence he'd stop doing this if he became king, only that he'd try to use his power to get what he wants

He's also a huge hypocrite around his "green" issues, with one rule for us, the proletariat, and another for him.  There are hundreds of examples, but here's one:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prince-charles-branded-a-serial-hypocrite-after-flying-less-than-70-miles-to-attend-polo-match-10428617.html

 

[MadeItOut]

No more or less than most of our leading power holders then. Perhaps a little more honest.

I do think it would be better to tie governance to a 'for life' position. Raises the stakes for doing a good job of it.

[Coy Koi]

15 hours ago, OreoMidnight said:

A few years ago my partner had a medical emergency at work -was unconscious. Ambulance cost $1200- needed advanced life support. Insurance covered about $300. They said it was an ambulance not in our network so we had to pay most of it. There is only one ambulence service in our city. 

That kind of reminds me of when I was discharged from the ER at night and given a prescription for pain medicine. I said okay but I can't get this filled for like 12 hours when the pharmacies open, so what am I supposed to do in the meantime (I was in, by far, the most pain I've ever been in, and I've given birth). The nurse said they used to send you home with enough medication until you could get your prescription filled, but now there was a 24 hour pharmacy, so they no longer do that. I said but I can't use that pharmacy with my insurance, and the nurse said that's not their problem (his exact words). This was the ONLY 24 hour pharmacy in the entire metro area, and tons of people had no access to it (it would also take hours to get there on public transportation if you didn't have a car, which isn't necessarily doable for someone having a medical emergency), yet its existence dictated hospital policy! That was a long fucking night, I'll tell you that.

[Million Children For Jesus]

@JillyO You've probably given this consideration, but I feel it's important enough to bring up just in case. If you have a child here, that child is a U.S. citizen and for the entirety of his/her life will owe U.S. taxes, even if he/she leaves the day after birth and never returns, and never works a day in the USA. Unless he/she renounces U.S. Citizenship. People used to get away with not paying, but now we have FATCA, so if you don't pay, you may end up with IRS tax liens or tax evasion charges. 

[Flossie]

My step father was in an ambulance being transported for a back injury when the ambulance got in an accident and overturned.  He'd been bucked off a horse during a barrel racing competition.  The event was in a small town out in the sticks, and the local ambulance crew was excited to have a real emergency to handle, so they were driving like maniacs with lights and sirens, according to my mom who was following in another vehicle.  They took a corner too fast and tipped over. 

This was about 1973, vehicles weren't as safe as they are now, and this one was at least 30 years old at the time.  The driver wasn't wearing a seat belt so he had some injuries, but he was mobile.  My step dad was flung from the stretcher to the floor, then the attendant and the stretcher landed on him, almost certainly exacerbating the original injury.  It was a right mess.  Bystanders gathered to help unload the crew, but at least there weren't a dozen able-bodied people standing around taking pictures with their cell phones.  They all had to wait an hour for an ambulance from another town come to get Dad.  I don't know how the other two got transported; Mom never said, because they caused the accident and she didn't care a whit about them.

Anyway, they got Dad to the tiny local hospital where he shared a room with a scared, screaming three year old boy who had measles or mumps, or something.  Finally he was transferred to our hospital, which was much larger and better appointed.  His doctors weren't happy with his medical records when they saw them; they felt the tiny hospital wasn't prepared to handle a spinal injury and should have transferred Dad the same day he was injured.

FWIW, Dad had two spinal injuries on the same day, but he wasn't paralyzed, so that was good.  The bad part was his lower vertebra had to be fused so he lost some flexibility and had intermittent back pain from then on, eventually developed arthritis, and was off work for a year.  I was pretty young, so it took years to start to understand how devastating something like that can be to a family.  I don't know how my parents were able to keep the house and feed all of us kids, but they did it.

[melon]

14 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

Another problem is wages, which have stagnated for a really long time. Could people really afford to pay another tax in order to provide healthcare? 

Then again, can a lot of people afford to pay for insurance now? 

Mr.Melon and I both have medical conditions.I have spinal stenosis.I had a flare up,last August,had surgery,a spinal fusion.I have not worked since  August.My employer terminated me ,after 6 months.Mr Melon is a diabetic and has had a heart attack.He goes to the doctor ,regularly to monitor his diabetes and sees his cardiologist ,yearly.He takes several prescriptions.Insulin,cholesterol medication,etc.etc.I do receive disability,but the entire amount goes toward paying COBRA.Insurance is so expensive,but for us,a necessity.

[Jinder Roles]

Also remember that when people say "universal health care" a lot of Americans start screaming bloody murder about socialism and communism. It's so silly. Socialized healthcare does not equal communism; and most European (and even Caribbean/Latin American) countries have this system and are considered democracies. Bernie Saunders is a regular ol' democratic socialist per European standards and yet here he was viewed as radical. 

The country is uber-capitalistic. Worships the Almighty Dollar and white supremacy and their Christianity reflects it. 

[JillyO]

3 hours ago, Million Children For Jesus said:

@JillyO You've probably given this consideration, but I feel it's important enough to bring up just in case. If you have a child here, that child is a U.S. citizen and for the entirety of his/her life will owe U.S. taxes, even if he/she leaves the day after birth and never returns, and never works a day in the USA. Unless he/she renounces U.S. Citizenship. People used to get away with not paying, but now we have FATCA, so if you don't pay, you may end up with IRS tax liens or tax evasion charges. 

Thanks. We're not really considering having kids in the next few years, so we haven't actually researched stuff like this. But this is good to know for if and when we finally decide to have kids!

[SapphireSlytherin]

3 hours ago, Million Children For Jesus said:

@JillyO You've probably given this consideration, but I feel it's important enough to bring up just in case. If you have a child here, that child is a U.S. citizen and for the entirety of his/her life will owe U.S. taxes, even if he/she leaves the day after birth and never returns, and never works a day in the USA. Unless he/she renounces U.S. Citizenship. People used to get away with not paying, but now we have FATCA, so if you don't pay, you may end up with IRS tax liens or tax evasion charges. 

Precisely the reason my Brit hubby will not apply for US citizenship.

[mpheels]

Out of pocket costs for emergency transport in the US vary quite a bit from one jurisdiction to another. Some communities fund their EMS service entirely with taxes and do not bill individual patients. Others will file insurance claims whenever possible, and fund the entire system from insurance payments, without billing individual patients. Some companies bill patients/insurance, and leave it to the patient to cover any costs not covered by insurance.

IMHO, one feasible approach to improving the state of health insurance in the US is to start incrementally increasing Medicare enrollment. Start by adding Medicare to the ACA exchange - this was the original public option that Obama and the Dems wanted. People buying insurance on the exchange benefit from the economy of scale, and Medicare benefits from a younger/healthier pool of beneficiaries. Then transition people from other public health benefits (Medicaid, Veterans benefits, Tri-Care, Federal employees) to Medicare - consolidating programs will reduce administrative costs, and also address a lot of problems with quality and access. Let states buy into Medicare for state employees - states would save enormously if they don't have to pay insurance companies to administer claims (same for couty and city governments). Finally, let private companies buy into Medicare for their employees instead of paying private insurance companies. Once we have everyone enrolled in Medicare, start transitioning payment from individual premiums (paid directly or by employers) to a more traditional tax structure.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

17 hours ago, MadeItOut said:

No worries, it happens.

Brit born, don't identify easily with it though. ...and likely won't go back unless somehow we get our absolute monarchy back. ...I'll take her maj any day.

Not long before the end of her life she had a slip in/getting out of the bath and had an awful lot of trouble with damage and pain as a result. 

My understanding of Princess Margaret's bath incident is that she ran her own bath in her vacation home on Mustique instead of having her maid run it for her. Through inexperience, drunkenness, or both, she ran a boiling hot bath. Because of nerve damage, drunkenness, or both, she stepped in and didn't notice, scalding her feet to the point that she used a wheelchair for the remainder of her life. She died not long afterwards, a few weeks before her mother.

[Snarkle Motion]

16 hours ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

Exactly, if we aren't paying $400/500 a month for insurance that yous still have to pay $6000 out of pocket expenses if you use it, that tax is a wash and in some cases a savings. For others, this is where the American value of mine mine mine  comes in. The young healthy folks with no families who use minimal health care, they are mad that they are paying for other people why should they have to pay because some junkie OD. and honestly I think a very big part of ti is racism, white people don't want to pay for black people to get anything, their is a large segment our our society who thinks if we have socialized medicine then all the minorities will just sit around having babies doing drugs and killing nice white people.  Then there are the folks like the Duggars who would say  they will not pay for the murder of unborn children and they won't pay for things they think are icky because science and not God and. yeah, TL;DR we let the inmates run the asylum here , so we can't have nice things. 

So much is wrong with this - not your comment, but the thinking behind it. White people are actually the majority of drug addicts currently due to the opiate epidemic. Like its rampant in rural Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest. 

And poor white people are dying because they can't get actual treatment for their addictions. And many of the jobs have left areas and created more poverty in rural areas and like you said stagnating wages. Poverty also adds to drug use. But it's so much easier to blame "black and brown people" for the problems one is facing. So instead of getting actual solutions or help we have people fueling hate and dulling pain with drugs.