My FIL just got a bill for his 6 week ICU stay. It was $165K and included a pacemaker surgery, among many other things. His portion? Only $1,200.

That's amazing to me.

It's like my medical care in reverse. I get about $100/year of services and pay like $10K.

I wouldn't trade places with him though.

Does the insurance company exclude certain conditions at the next annual renewal if they think that they have already paid out enough?

Presumably they put some sort of cash limit on various conditions from the start of cover?

Insurance is a complete waste of money...

...til you need it that first time.

They used to do stuff like that all the time. Obamacare put a stop to most of that crap.

Amen, g-friend. :)

I've been mulling that over during the course of the day and can arrive at no other conclusion than you've been mugged.
That is an extraordinary sum of money. I know nothing of your personal circumstances and I've no wish to pry but, in general terms, would a premium of that magnitude also cover immediate family?

There is no compulsion to make use of the National Health Service in the UK and anyone can make their own arrangements with a medical insurer should they wish.
Out of curiosity I'll have a look to see how much typical premiums would be. Probably even more expensive than yours. :eek:

I wasn't being fair. The 10k I quoted was the cost of insurance premiums for my wife and I and our kids, and about a third of it is paid by my employer, and I was rounding off anyway. And the $100 I quoted was also a ballpark figure for just my doctor visits. If you counted the four of us, it would be more like $1k.

So I'm getting about a tenth back, not a hundredth.

Not to worry, glatt's real last name is Wayne... or was it Stark.

Anyway, even though his part time job doesn't pay anything, he's loaded. :haha:

I think you may be thinking about the $100 in added-up copays you pay. One 15 minute visit to a GP with no followup will cost you $120 if you are paying for it out of pocket. A specialist will usually run in the $300 range for a new patient intake. The highest we ever got charged for an office appointment was $500 for the pediatric neurologist.

It does sound like a lot when we see it coming out of our pay. But - when I worked in Ontario during the 1980s, with 'free' single-payer healthcare, my husband and I calculated that we were paying about $17,000/year in health premiums (directed taxes). You pay one way or another. When taxes pay for healthcare, you may be sure that you're not really getting any major savings. It's just a different way to pay.

Thanks for your replies one and all; I'm grateful to you.

I have an old Tom Lehrer CD. It's a recording of one of his live shows and the chat in between the songs is pretty amusing.

He recalled his days at university and listed some of his fellow students, one of whom was studying medicine.

Lehrer observed that he went on to 'specialise in diseases of the rich'.:)

The county fair is over. I worked Fri, Mon, tues, wed, and today. I made a little bit of cash, and had so much fun. scheduling, money, customer service, chatting up the company, seeing friends, and helping out with the girls (and my nieces are wonderful girls and have really great and funny friends...nice kids.)

It's been a while since I have got to use my skills, and a really long time in such a fun way. Plus I got some sun and enjoyed the fair. My bro and sis-in-law said they couldn't have done it all w/o me. So, I needed that. Next week will be house and dog sitting at other brother's house. It'll suck 'cause it's the cutest sweetest dog ever and they have a beautiful home and an inground pool. ;)

Then maybe I will find an actual real job. I've been trying, but it's been tough.

So, it felt good to feel good.

Cools

I'm still alive.

Excellent Monkey.

And Buster, I'm glad you're still alive.

good news from im and good news from buster, excellent, excellent.

Geez, sounds awful.

:D

Yeah. I can see that'll be a major sacrifice on your part inf :P

Without going into a lot of detail, my birth father and I have not had a relationship in almost 20 years. When my uncle (his brother) died 2 years ago, my father sent me a ring of his that I had admired as a kid. I meant to thank him a long time ago, but hadn't...not due to any animosity...just...busy.

While on my "summer vacation," I finally sat down and wrote my father a letter, thanking him for the ring and just giving a little detail about my current life. I received a reply this week that was also cordial.

My stepdad was my dad...he's been gone 4 years now. When he passed, my attitude was, "If I wind up having a relationship with my father again, that would be a bonus." Maybe that bonus is happening. We shall see.

I hope you and he both get your bonus. Tha's a nice story, syc.

:)

Very cool.

I did 30 pushups today during my training session.

THIRTY! PUSHUPS!!!

I haven't done a pushup since my surgery in 2012. Too injured, too fatigued, and most of all, too afraid of bringing on lymphedema in my right arm.

I owe it to my awesome trainer here in smallville, who trained me for my cowgirl ride in 2012 right before my diagnosis, and who is bringing me back to fitness now.

The heroes in this world don't necessarily make the news, but they should.

Shoutout and kudos and all hail to JOHN SUTTON SR, who has not only had my back through my illness and gotten me back on the road to fitness and health post-chemo, but who has done it all gratis.

Now I get to pay it forward.

**applause**

WTG!

You're absolutely right but there's too many of them. They're out there heroing every day, often with little recognition, no less thanks.

30 pushups is something. Seriously. That's no small feat. I bet over 95% of the US population can't do 30 pushups.

It's raining. As much as it's been nice lolling about in the pool (it's been hot and humid for really the first time this summer) I have been missing my rainy days. Please please please keep raining. Throw in some thunder and lightning if you can swing it. kthxbai

I cant even do one. Haha

it helps to do them with a partner

Ah-ah-aahh...you're confusing 'up' with 'in'.

:p:

I got almost 11 hours of sleep last night. Only woke up once in the middle, and fell right back to sleep.

And then this morning, I took my car with its new engine mount and bolt to the inspector, and got the satisfaction of telling him, after he asked, that I changed the mount myself for 20 bucks. (Didn't tell him about the broken bolt.) He said I saved $150 by doing it myself, and I paid him a buck for the re-inspection. He went on to brag about how most inspectors miss those cracks in the rubber bushing of the engine mount, and I made silent note of that. We'll never go back to him.

:thumb:

Had a nice chat with Sundae on the phone just now. She's a wee cracker, so she is!


Sent by thought transference

I made a mini croquembuche today, to practice for the big one in a couple of weeks. It turned out well and tasted so good i have made myself feel ill from eating it. Haha. I guess thats ok. :). Feeling much less stressed about it all now.

I got my admission date.
Report for detox 09.00-09.30 Tuesday 16 September.
Rehab/ inpatient stay starts 22 Sept, seamlessly, same location.
Expected date of release 19 December.

That light at the end of the tunnel?
It really was a ventilation shaft and not an oncoming train.

OMG so much to try to sort out between now and then. But feeling so much stronger.
I even managed to go and ask for a diagnosis on my poor broken laptop, something I have felt incapable of previously.

I was hoping to emotionally blackmail Dana into helping me to the unit, but the early start genuinely precludes this. I'll have to leave before 08.00 even from Otley, let alone asking someone else to travel.

Good things - lists to make, packing to organise, brain and stomach and heart can stop acting like clenched fists.
Bad things - well, most of the paperwork, bills, money can be sorted by the Unit. But I have to be 100% sure I clear the flat of perishables. That's no mean feet in the current chaos. And sort the boy out with a charity foster home. OMG,talking to strangers. Even in my current ebullient mood that's so hard.

Anyway, I will take my noise off to my little me, me, me thread.
Just wanted to share this HUGE news with you.

FANTASTIC NEWS!

Fucking hell that's awesome!

Pleased to hear that everything has fallen into place quicker than any of us dared hope!

Wow! That's a lot sooner than I was expecting. Great news!

Hooray! I'm glad things are looking up, Sundae.

Can't wait to meet the Sundae on the other side.

Hector asked a girl to homecoming dance (she said yes) ...he stickered up his water polo ball with the question, apparently (I haven't seen it) and presented it during some class today -she's also a polo player, but right now it's women's swim season and I found out because the team were abuzz with how cute that was :lol: (there was a swim meet tonight and he was timing)

Way to go, Romeo!

Smart kid. Well played.

I was clueless at that age. Never would have done anything that cute asking a girl out. But then again, I only had my friends as role models of how to ask someone out, and they we high school losers too. I think the internet makes kids today smarter.

Edit: "how to ask a girl out" has about 5 million Google results.

A great deal more information is much, much more widely distributed. It was put to good use in this case. Bravo!

Hope the wife doesn't see that search...:lol2:

Yeah, I wouldn't leave any of your kids in a hot car any time soon.

(Yeah, I know I'm going straight to hell. But anyway, glatt's kids are older and smart. So there's that...) :blush:

Oh, yeah. I got my car back! About 3 hours ago. Whew. 2 weeks and 2 days. FREEDOM!

Mini-road trip? Just you and the radio?

Yay!

They should pay you for keeping it so long.

Excellent news!

I hope it's back in tip-top shape. You certainly sound happy. :)

Yay, beetle! Now drive a couple states East and come trade it in for a nice reliable Nissan with a 100,000 mile Warranty

So radio has always been a bit of a hobby of mine...I used to have a wireless mic that transmitted over an AM station, and I would pretend I was a DJ and play music and such. And I used to make a lot of mixtapes...still make them on occasion.

We have two radio stations at KU...the big NPR/classical/jazz station and the small student freeform station. Both are great stations that I listened to before I started working at KU.

So I want to volunteer at the freeform station...but you have to be a student. You only need to be a part-timer...one class will do it. So...guess who's going to take a fuck-off class so that he can fulfill his dream of being a DJ? :)

and who knows, maybe basket weaving is your true talent? ;)

Honest to God, the most difficult thing in all this is...what class should I take?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When one of the Auntiesdigr needed a another class for some weird reason, she took...

Billiards!

Sort of. In fact, my friends who were kind enough to call and see what I might need, and who took me to the store, wanted to know how many miles I put on it since I got it back. Well, not a ton, but every single one of them was perfect. :)

There was a lot of cost. Mostly labor...BUT there were no labor charges on some of the things they did. The labor came from having to pull half the underhood crap out to get to the problem.

I hope I get to drive it another 100,000 miles. Just realized it's at 99 something. Good car. That's a good girl, yes she is! (that's me talking to Daisy Head Maysie, aka Daisy Mae, aka Daisy. And yes, I actually talked to my car when I got it back, for being so tough.)

I was a Nissan SUV forerunner. I had an 88 Pathfinder. Loved it. Then ex started driving it as I got the CRX because I had a huge commute at that time. I love me some Nissans. My car is paid off. What'cha gonna offer me? ;) You know the particulars.

Sorry to hijack the latest happy stuff. :driving:

That can be risky, Radar Love, Surfing with the Alien, And Speed On, to name a few, were very expensive. :blush:

Really pleased for you Infi. I know it was a crummy time.

I'm spreading this across threads, but I've had the call from the Dr re my beta-blocker prescription. Yay! And he was great and supportive and not patronising (I was unhappy with my previous appointment with that particular Dr)

AND he's issuing me a medical certificate to cover the period where my previous certificate expired and the new one started, which meant I've had no benefits from 22 August until today. All admin errors and nitpicking, but the lack of money has been really really real, only helped by people who had faith in me and my ability to make it through.

Right, so I'm off to collect and fill the prescription and send off the sick note.
I won't see a penny as it goes towards funding my inpatient stay, and that's fine. It's just another thing not to stress about.
Notching my arrow and taking these problems down one by one, made brave bythe bright future I can now see at the end of the tunnel. Even if it makes me sneeze.

Good on yer, chuck! Lovely to talk with you this evening. xxx

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago I worked second shift in the next town over, about 25 mi commute, and got off work at midnight. Almost without fail, the radio station I was keen on at the time would play 'Radar Love' by 12:20.

When that song started I always reached over, grabbed the shifter and pulled it down into second gear and mashed the go pedal. Man, I loved getting pressed back into my seat, with authority, I might add. That big Pontiac 400, bored .060 over, big lumpy cam, 7M5 heads shaved .020, Quadrajet that came off a 427 grain truck motor, and (after 5, yes, 5 failures) a very-well-built TH350 transmission (I had a $900 trans when all the other fast kids had a $300 trans), it was just brutal in the acceleration dept. Goddamn, I miss that car. '76 Pontiac LeMans Sport Coupe, named The Mighty Ack, btw.

Attachment 49075

Thanks for stirring up that memory, Bruce!