"I'm so scared. I have such crappy health insurance" An all too common anecdote .....

[Stinky The Clown]

Sparkly has several performances today. It was a show they were staging for the first time, hence a final run-through this morning. During the run-through one of the dancers missed a step and injured her calf. At first it was thought to be a sprain or minor pull or some such, but it just got worse and worse. She started to cry.

"Is it from the pain?"

"Not really. It hurts bad and I'm worried about dancing again, but mostly I really scared to go to the doctor. The last time I went for a minor injury it cost me $3,000. I'm so scared. I have such crappy health insurance."

Her SO came and got her. Last word is she's at home, hoping for the best and thinking the worst.

It still hurts pretty bad.

[paulsby]

1. i think this is totally valid

i am a pretty healthy guy. i'm also a competitive athlete.

in a fraction of a second this year, i devastated my shoulder in a competition. between the costs of MRI, surgery, anesthesia, drugs, physical therapy, massage, etc. i WOULD be out over 40k.

i also had to be off work for 4 months.

my disability insurnace through my work covered my salary (i actually got paid MORE on disability) for the time off, and my medical insurance covered everything. the only costs were about $5 per drug refill

w/o insurance, it would have been a major hardship 40k PLUS about 30k in lost income

all for a split second.

[Quantess]

9. You would be S.O.L. if you had no insurance.

One minute I was snowboarding, and in a split second, I suddenly broke a bone in my arm that needed $22,000 of surgery to set properly.

[paulsby]

12. exactly

i would HOPE that if i didn't have insurance, i would have the discipline NOT to compete.

but who knows?

we have one guy who was quite good, probably could have been in the top 20 nationwide, but decided to stop competing because of lack of insurance.

that's sad

[Quantess]

14. It is really sad. The ramifications of inequality seem to compound.

And worse, think of children and adolescents who are missing out on athletic participation because of lack of insurance. That could translate into lost scholarships, and more inequality.

Edit to add: I hope you've recovered from your injury. I have recovered from mine.

[paulsby]

15. i have, thank you

i'm at 80% of full strength (where i was before the injury is "full")

my ortho was actually pretty stoked, because he said no way i would be back to work in less than 6 months

i did it in 4. but that was partly attributable to the therapeutic modalities i had available BECAUSE i had insurance. paying $60 cash per massage and $100 per physical therapy, three times a week would have added up quick

i also because a firm believer in epsom salt baths

old skool, but they work

in regards to the MRI of my injury, my dr. said "that's the most dramatic MRI i've ever seen"

[CTyankee]

16. Sounds great. Are you in a union? nt

[paulsby]

17. yes. that's why imo my plan is so bitchen

we fought hard for it. it truly has "cadillac" type benefits. i never fear going to a dr. because i know my MAX outlay in copays per year can't be over $400

[CTyankee]

19. I thought so. My husband's union has same. He's laid off now but we get benefits until

next November. I'm really afraid what we'll get for our adjunct to Medicare -- hoping AARP has a good Medigap deal, I sure as hell won't go into Medicare Advantage.

[paulsby]

21. i wish you the best

i readily accept that no universal plan could offer the bennies mine does w/o bankrupting the country, but as france, etc. prove, a govt. plan can offer solid benefits to EVERYBODY and do it more efficiently than for profit (the reason why our insurer can profit off our plan is that our membership is healthier than the average bear and is a statistical "low utilizer" of most services. for example, my plan offers 60 massages a year. for my spouse and i that;s 120. that's a 10k benefit. they can offer that, because probably at least 98% of the membership doesn't take advantage of it).

people simply should have health care. everybody. i would also opine that WORRYING about not having health care probably significantly degrades health (how ironic).

[CTyankee]

22. You and I are socialists, I guess...who woulda thunk it?...nt

[paulsby]

23. many people here would call me a

capitalist tool imperialist oppressor.

i am for many aspects of social democracy.

you are right, in the eyes of many wingers, that makes me a "socialist:

[CTyankee]

24. What does this tell you, Paulsby?

[paulsby]

25. it tells me that many on the left

are just as bigoted and illogical as many on the right.

moreso, a statist leftist has a lot in common with a statist rightist.

see: mackinnonism for example
see: WA state (a very blue state) criminalizing ONLINE gambling to a C felony, when there are legal casinos all over the place in this state.
see: our ordinances that prohibit smoking in private bars, etc.

i have never claimed to be a progressive, and god knows i'm not

i support vouchers. i am against racial preferences. i support capitalism. i support choice. i support RKBA. i support marriae equality. i support universal healthcare.

i have no problem not fitting into those tight little molds people often fit themselves into. i take issues on their merit, not because i want to choose a "side"

[CTyankee]

26. If you support capitalism, I am sure you did not support TARP.

The socializing of risk while privatizing profits. Right?

[paulsby]

27. i don't know enough about TARP

to have a position on it.

i am loathe to take positions on issues i don't feel i understand well.

[CTyankee]

28. Well, I think "socialize risk and privatize profits" pretty much sums it up!

If you can think of a better way I'd like to know about it, but on its face it is what it is, doncha think?

[paulsby]

29. like i said

i don't know enough about it to know whether your analysis is correct.

i would simply need to read up on it more.

[CTyankee]

31. It is about time that you did that Paulsby. Looking the other way will not serve you well. nt

[paulsby]

32. fair enough

there are areas i consider myself expert on (and i have even been found to be such in a court of law), areas i consider myself well informed, and areas - like TARP- where i aint.

i will endeavour to look into it.

[CTyankee]

33. Start by paying attention to Elizabeth Warren. You will learn a lot. nt

[eridani]

34. That's true, but universal benefits would be so much cheaper--

--that you could either buy the extra bells ans whistles yourself, or your union could negotiate some for you. All single payer bills, national or state level, explicitly state that nothing in the legislation implies that people can't negotiate for extras.

[Kali]

2. ...

:cry:

[cap]

3. Guys, It's time to start fighting back

otherwise all we can do is just wring our hands....

You can't wish this away...Or, just accept it as the New Norm.

People pay taxes that support the $180 billion subsidy already given to the health care industry and still sit in physical pain or pray for an early death.

[Edweird]

4. Yep. This bait-and-switch toying with people's lives will not end well.

The plan being foisted on us now was clearly and articulately repudiated during the campaign. The vaunted and assured public option was jettisoned. This isn't 'chess', it's a crime.

[Quantess]

5. Sometimes I wonder what it's like for students who want to play sports but lack insurance.

ACL surgery, for example, costs between $30,000 to $50,000

I was thinking to myself that I would not play team sports (not to mention skiing or snowboarding) unless I had insurance. Sports injuries can be so expensive!

[Cleita]

7. I once worked for an insurance agency back in the sixties that

specialized in student insurance. Whomever was staging athletic events had to buy insurance to cover anything that might happen including injuries even if it was only for a day. We usually had to go through Lloyd's of London for insurance coverage for those types of events. Any way, by law, they are supposed to be covered.

[Cleita]

6. Aren't the show's producers supposed to have some kind of worker's

comp for that kind of thing?

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Such is the life of the artist.

While considered a "professional company" the dancers have to assume all their own liabilities. That's the way of minor league art. No support money from anywhere. Basically working for the gate.

[WhiteTara]

8. I hurt my knees in a recent fall

and I certainly understand her fears. I have NO insurance and can't go to the doc because then it will be a pre existing condition. This is really sooooo fucked up.

[Warpy]

10. Sometimes I think no insurance

is better than shit insurance. At least I don't have to jump through hoops to get care. I just live in poverty trying to save enough money to pay for it when I need it.

Just tell her to get checked out ASAP if there's swelling, discoloration, point tenderness, or she can't bear weight on it at all.

Urgent care can save her a few bucks over an ER.

I don't think Congress has quite realized how angry the public is at the abandonment of real insurance reform via a public option. Now the conservative fucks are talking about leaving those of us with pre existing conditions (read: everybody over 45) out in the cold.

The bloodbath in November will be a repeat of 1994.

[CTyankee]

18. you are so right, warpy!

People are wondering what happened to single payer, Medicare expansion toyounger workers, public option. They were in favor of ALL of these options. ALL were whisked off the table before a single hearing on any of them!

Congress just looks worse and worse. If I were in a seat in Congress I would resign before the next election, too, to avoid having my head chopped off...

[Taitertots]

11. That should be the title of the health insurance reform bill

The "billions for the rich and I still can't afford to get hurt" health bill of 2010.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

20. And this is where the public option, as it was passed in the House wouldn't help.

Being for only people with no health insurance, it wouldn't be available for the millions of people presently insured with high deductibles, high co-pays etc. aka crappy insurance.

[Tom Rinaldo]

30. A huge problem with poor insurance is that it still bleeds you dry paying for the premiums

That's before you lay out a single dime toward the deductible and later the co-pays. So money that might have been available to at least pay for some preventive health care and some doctors visits is sucked up by an insurance plan that many can't afford to use when they actually need it. It might save your house in a real emergency. Maybe, maybe not.

A Public Option at least gives us an opening toward another more affordable type of health care system, one closer to what virtually the entire civilized world except for America uses, that we can build on.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[spinbaby]

36. Even if you have "good" health insurance, you can be screwed

I work for a company that has "good" health insurance. It covers nearly everything with low co-payments and probably falls into the Cadillac category. But when a guy who works here broke his neck, his physical-therapy coverage ran out long before his need for therapy and now they're holding spaghetti dinners to raise money.

[leftyladyfrommo]

38. I might have crappy insurance but I have a 23 million cap.

That doesn't even begin to make sense.

[spinbaby]

39. That's not the problem

It's not the cap, it's the limit on the number of PT visits.

[leftyladyfrommo]

37. I do the same thing. I can't afford to go to the doctor.

I have insurance that I pay $500 a month for. $1500 deductible. I pay so much a month in premiums i can't afford to go for anything. It really is just a kind of catastrophic insurance and it is costing me $6,000 a year.

I am just praying I make it to 65 and can get signed up for medicare.