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7 grand for an ambulance ride! What in good heavens etc.

French girl I work with works in Switzerland. Very, very good wedge. Lives back across the border in France so good cost of living as well. Has been on secondment in San Diego for about 18 months and had a baby over there. Reckons it's cost her about 20k all in. She has the money pretty easily but god help the average American.

You do realize that essentially no one would ever actually pay 7 grand for an ambulance ride?

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/state/cost-of-ambulance-ride-in-massachusetts-expensive-more-than-other-states-why/article_3274f0ae-ae12-11ed-8f59-6fe2ac6b7bf5.html

"Nationwide, commercially-insured patients pay an average $761 for an ambulance trip from a municipally-owned emergency medical services company, compared to a $1,578 charge in Massachusetts"

I pay $112 per pay period (2x a month) for Medical. $26 for dental, $3 for vision.

YTD:

Medical (for daughter and I): $2,464.00
Dental (daughter and I):$569.68 (includes 2 free cleanings and 1 set of X rays)
Vision (daughter and I):$67.10

I am paying for 4 (wife and 2 kids)

YTD
Medical  $6,245.65
Dental $1,316.98
Vision $277.84

There are cheaper plans but they would have bigger out of pocket costs. When I have worked for companies that share that information, the total cost (employer + employee contributions) has been over $20,000

$898 per month for Health insurance (family of 4) Low deductible and ability to go out of network at no cost

Employer pays $2,233 per month.

(And while not directly related, company 401K match comes close to about what I'm paying for Health Insurance)

A friend of mine is self employed and has a wife and 5 kids. (Due to changes brought on by Obamacare according to him) he got quoted $50K for coverage a few years back.

It was also the year after he had a brush with cancer where he got treated at Sloan Kettering

Actually it doesn't

My point was that an uninsured Irish guys life was saved with $1M + of medical care
With minimal chance of payment.

The infection is irrelevant and it would have been a miracle if he didn't get one per my link

" Intubation for longer periods is also associated with a higher risk of MRSA-associated VAP, increasing the risk of occurrence by 6 to 21-fold as opposed to patients who are not intubated [24]. The risk of developing pneumonia increases between 1% and 3% each day a patients requires intubation"

If you can point out where I said that the levels of care in American hospitals I'll take it back, you brought up a link to an Irish lad that was punched in the head and during his care he developed mrsa and pneumonia!

You took it down for some reason and I asked why?

The point I was making was that he got $1M plus of the best care in the world that saved his life (with the hospital having a slim to zero chance of being able to demand payment)


I took it down immediately because I figured why bother-you'll  believe whatever you want to believe anyway

(And then, on queue you added a snide comment about the infection, actually stating "the hospital gave it to him")

But you know what-you enjoy your crappy NHS and roll the dice if anything serious happens you or your family. I'll make do with having unfettered access to the best healthcare in the world

Where did whiteys post go? 

That footballer probably would have been better off in Ireland considering he caught a bug in hospital nearly died of it

LOL-I'm trying not to go down the rabbit hole

That guy got $1M + of care no questions asked brought directly from a Gaelic football pitch no insurance card

I'm sure the hospital wrote most of it off as they'd have no way of collecting anyway

If you think the level of care in Ireland is superior to what we get over here, you're entitled to that belief but having lived here for close to 40 years I have a completely different lived experience.

Why did your buddy Gerry Adams come over here for his cancer surgery?

No doubt wrote it off because they gave him a life threatening bug ffs! You're a gas

I m sure you're just winding me up but I assume you knew the following before making such a stupid statement

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6656405/#:~:text=Intubation%20for%20longer%20periods%20is,patients%20requires%20intubation%20%5B26%5D.

Intubation for longer periods is also associated with a higher risk of MRSA-associated VAP, increasing the risk of occurrence by 6 to 21-fold as opposed to patients who are not intubated [24]. The risk of developing pneumonia increases between 1% and 3% each day a patients requires intubation






 

Where did whiteys post go? 

That footballer probably would have been better off in Ireland considering he caught a bug in hospital nearly died of it

LOL-I'm trying not to go down the rabbit hole

That guy got $1M + of care no questions asked brought directly from a Gaelic football pitch no insurance card

I'm sure the hospital wrote most of it off as they'd have no way of collecting anyway

If you think the level of care in Ireland is superior to what we get over here, you're entitled to that belief but having lived here for close to 40 years I have a completely different lived experience.

Why did your buddy Gerry Adams come over here for his cancer surgery?

Another great thing about the States is that every Fire Dept has their own ambulances.

So if your towns ambulance happens to be out on a call, towns have a "mutual aid agreement" with the surrounding towns.

They can even call in helicopters

It's actually insane

This happened near me a couple of weeks ago

https://www.masslive.com/capecod/2024/11/5-people-injured-in-fiery-crash-on-cape-cod.html?outputType=amp

If you've good insurance, it's terrific here.  If not, you're more or less fucked.

Agreed

And you don't necessarily need to have a high paying job to have "good" insurance

When I was starting off over here I had an entry level job (essentially making minimum wage) and one of my specialists at Beth Israel Hospital was the head of his dept at Harvard Medical School. One of the best in the world in his field

I have a cousin who lost a 3 year old to brain cancer

The kids got the best of care from the top doctors in the world all paid for by insurance (up to a point)

When it became apparent (to everyone except the parents) that it was terminal the insurance company started denying coverage for "experimental" type procedures

One procedure that was denied was a $600K stem cell transplant. She ended up getting the transplant paid by Medicaid

All toldthe battle to save her life cost well over $2M

I can absolutely see how someone could be driven to the point of insanity if a life saving procedure for a child was denied .....I know they were

What happens if you have a basic/poor insurance deal and you need an expensive but life saving op? Are you just fucked?

Not necessarily, and it often depends on the state

You'll probably get the operation, but you'll wait for it and you won't be seeing the best doctors

I have a cousin who lost a 3 year old to brain cancer

The kids got the best of care from the top doctors in the world all paid for by insurance (up to a point)

When it became apparent (to everyone except the parents) that it was terminal the insurance company started denying coverage for "experimental" type procedures

One procedure that was denied was a $600K stem cell transplant. She ended up getting the transplant paid by Medicaid

All toldthe battle to save her life cost well over $2M

I can absolutely see how someone could be driven to the point of insanity if a life saving procedure for a child was denied .....I know they were

[The overseers of the written word were (largely) aware that they had a duty in accuracy.]

Chaos emerging at a macro and micro level.

Take a wee look at some of the threads on here. Covid 19, Many Face of US Politics, conspiracy Theories.

A small but significant number of people, regardless of political affiliation, are having their minds poisoned. AND we are just here to talk GAA. Look a bit broader and you see it with people you know in real life. And they're just the ones far enough gone to talk about it.  It's a form of brainwashing, and it feels like a cult, but it's feckin everywhere.

It's all the direct result of the destruction of the written word, the worst of the many evil byproducts of the internet/information age.

The dissemination of information was never a perfect process, but not so long ago, it took time, knowledge and diligence to become published in any sphere. The overseers of the written word were (largely) aware that they had a duty in accuracy. Hence when they held someone accountable, it was trusted, and it would destroy a career. So people innately had to be more careful in their actions.

Whereas nowadays the majority of published content (including this post) is absolute nonsense. Sources cannot be trusted. Expertise is challenged by all and any. The churn is too fast for anyone to process. And a result the written word no longer matters, and nobody can ever be held accountable.

So when we look at recent elections here in the States, the most "respected" newspapers in the country put their thumb on the scale in favor of one political party

We were told that the Fake Dossier was real and that the Hunter Biden laptop was false.  They even won Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting

People are no longer relying on traditional media for their information....and they only have themselves to blame

Are you going to pollute another thread?

You need your head examined given the amount of time you spend posting on a GAA Board about American politics. In what world is that rational?  And the same goes for your sparring partners who are the opposite side of the same coin! 1,700 pages on that thread FFS.  "Rethuglicans" / "Genocide Joe" - pathetic childish rubbish!

This fanatic style political engagement is the problem and much of it is down to echo bubbles. This is not responsible citizenship - it's dumbed down nonsense.

You're right

I sit in boring meetings half the day looking for ways to entertain myself and annoying some people on here gives me great joy

I definitely need to take a break from all  social media

[The overseers of the written word were (largely) aware that they had a duty in accuracy.]

Chaos emerging at a macro and micro level.

Take a wee look at some of the threads on here. Covid 19, Many Face of US Politics, conspiracy Theories.

A small but significant number of people, regardless of political affiliation, are having their minds poisoned. AND we are just here to talk GAA. Look a bit broader and you see it with people you know in real life. And they're just the ones far enough gone to talk about it.  It's a form of brainwashing, and it feels like a cult, but it's feckin everywhere.

It's all the direct result of the destruction of the written word, the worst of the many evil byproducts of the internet/information age.

The dissemination of information was never a perfect process, but not so long ago, it took time, knowledge and diligence to become published in any sphere. The overseers of the written word were (largely) aware that they had a duty in accuracy. Hence when they held someone accountable, it was trusted, and it would destroy a career. So people innately had to be more careful in their actions.

Whereas nowadays the majority of published content (including this post) is absolute nonsense. Sources cannot be trusted. Expertise is challenged by all and any. The churn is too fast for anyone to process. And a result the written word no longer matters, and nobody can ever be held accountable.

So when we look at recent elections here in the States, the most "respected" newspapers in the country put their thumb on the scale in favor of one political party

We were told that the Fake Dossier was real and that the Hunter Biden laptop was false.  They even won Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting

People are no longer relying on traditional media for their information....and they only have themselves to blame

The two cases are quite different though, at least so far as the explanation goes in the article you linked.

No

Same principle

Both campaign finance violations

NY case was a bunch on baloney from the start and even though they got a conviction many people saw it for what it was (and it actually helped Trump)

https://cafe.com/elies-note/note-from-elie-the-trump-hush-money-case-bombshell-or-dud/

It's time to let go of Hilary.

She's long gone, but it shows the unequal application and prosecution of the law

Just so we're all clear, the issue was not that he paid off a porn star to keep her quiet. This is America, anyone can do that.   The issue is he illegally used his election campaign funds to do so.

Surely that helped the campaign? Lol

And when the Clinton campaign illegally used campaign funds to pay for the dossier......wait for it......they got a slap in the wrist

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-2022-midterm-elections-business-elections-presidential-elections-5468774d18e8c46f81b55e9260b13e93