uneverno
Active Member
How would this have played out had it been you or me?
http://livestrongblog.org/2009/10/02...global-agenda/
http://livestrongblog.org/2009/10/02...global-agenda/
Not all the uninsured are so by choice
- Thread starter uneverno
- Start date
reefraff
Active Member
Originally Posted by uneverno
http:///forum/post/3148630
How would this have played out had it been you or me?
http://livestrongblog.org/2009/10/02...global-agenda/
You would think he would have taken advantage of COBRA, isn't like he didn't have the money. That is my issue with all this feel good, La La lets help the disadvantaged crap. He had the opportunity to continue his health coverage from his previous employer and didn't do it. Self inflected wound as far as I am concerned. He should have had to spend his fortune to pay his bills.
http:///forum/post/3148630
How would this have played out had it been you or me?
http://livestrongblog.org/2009/10/02...global-agenda/
You would think he would have taken advantage of COBRA, isn't like he didn't have the money. That is my issue with all this feel good, La La lets help the disadvantaged crap. He had the opportunity to continue his health coverage from his previous employer and didn't do it. Self inflected wound as far as I am concerned. He should have had to spend his fortune to pay his bills.
tluamen
New Member
i don't i normally post on here but since i know a few things about lance and professional racing.
when lance was 25 he wasn't a big shot he hadn't won and tours yet and know one knew his name. This is right when they found his cancer. basically what i am trying to say is that unless your winning the big races in road riding your not making any money. your lucky to be making 10 grand a year.
when lance was 25 he wasn't a big shot he hadn't won and tours yet and know one knew his name. This is right when they found his cancer. basically what i am trying to say is that unless your winning the big races in road riding your not making any money. your lucky to be making 10 grand a year.
reefraff
Active Member
I have no idea what his financial situation was in 96 or whenever it was but he was big enough I had heard of him and I am not into biking. I would assume that if he had a deal with Oakley he was doing better than I was when I COBRAed my insurance when I was fixing office machines. Maybe not
uneverno
Active Member
I don't know anything about biking either, but I do know a couple things about Testicular-Cancer, hence my membership in the Lance Armstrong foundation.
The most insidious thing about it is there are almost no symptoms 'til it gets fairly advanced. I got lucky - I had some. Like most cancers, it doesn't always follow the rules, however. W/ TC, if you haven't gotten it by the time you're 35, you won't. I got unlucky, I was diagnosed at 48.
I got laid off 1 year to the day after my surgery and 1 month before the stock market implosion. (The two year survival mark is the one to reach w/ this particular cancer before you're generally out of the woods.)
Now, I could've Cobra'd for $568 per month. Unemployment pays 1800, my rent is 1200, not including utilites and other luxuries. So, essentially, my choices were to risk the cancer coming back, starvation, or living in a van down by the river. I am also ineligible for any other cheaper, crappier insurance plan due to a now, pre-existing condition.
Is my wound self inflicted as well?
The most insidious thing about it is there are almost no symptoms 'til it gets fairly advanced. I got lucky - I had some. Like most cancers, it doesn't always follow the rules, however. W/ TC, if you haven't gotten it by the time you're 35, you won't. I got unlucky, I was diagnosed at 48.
I got laid off 1 year to the day after my surgery and 1 month before the stock market implosion. (The two year survival mark is the one to reach w/ this particular cancer before you're generally out of the woods.)
Now, I could've Cobra'd for $568 per month. Unemployment pays 1800, my rent is 1200, not including utilites and other luxuries. So, essentially, my choices were to risk the cancer coming back, starvation, or living in a van down by the river. I am also ineligible for any other cheaper, crappier insurance plan due to a now, pre-existing condition.
Is my wound self inflicted as well?
reefraff
Active Member
Originally Posted by uneverno
http:///forum/post/3148689
I don't know anything about biking either, but I do know a couple things about Testicular-Cancer, hence my membership in the Lance Armstrong foundation.
The most insidious thing about it is there are almost no symptoms 'til it gets fairly advanced. I got lucky - I had some. Like most cancers, it doesn't always follow the rules, however. W/ TC, if you haven't gotten it by the time you're 35, you won't. I got unlucky, I was diagnosed at 48.
I got laid off 1 year to the day after my surgery and 1 month before the stock market implosion. (The two year survival mark is the one to reach w/ this particular cancer before you're generally out of the woods.)
Now, I could've Cobra'd for $568 per month. Unemployment pays 1800, my rent is 1200, not including utilites and other luxuries. So, essentially, my choices were to risk the cancer coming back, starvation, or living in a van down by the river. I am also ineligible for any other cheaper, crappier insurance plan due to a now, pre-existing condition.
Is my wound self inflicted as well?
You mean you want water and power? Elitist snob.
Your situation was different but I would have moved to a cheaper house and paid the insurance. It's harder to come up with a plan when you don't see the job change coming and don't know how long you will be unemployed but that's a chance I wouldn't have taken if there was any possible out. Only time I ever got laid off (during my career years) I was lucky, the wife had insurance and I had signed up for her insurance while I was doing the Cobra thing because her insurance was a better deal then the new company I went to work for (for a whole 3 months!). Got laid off the month her insurance kicked in for me. Would have been hard paying the Cobra on unemployment.
Not to change the subject but what was the deal with your cancer, do they think you had had it since you were younger and just had no symptoms?
http:///forum/post/3148689
I don't know anything about biking either, but I do know a couple things about Testicular-Cancer, hence my membership in the Lance Armstrong foundation.
The most insidious thing about it is there are almost no symptoms 'til it gets fairly advanced. I got lucky - I had some. Like most cancers, it doesn't always follow the rules, however. W/ TC, if you haven't gotten it by the time you're 35, you won't. I got unlucky, I was diagnosed at 48.
I got laid off 1 year to the day after my surgery and 1 month before the stock market implosion. (The two year survival mark is the one to reach w/ this particular cancer before you're generally out of the woods.)
Now, I could've Cobra'd for $568 per month. Unemployment pays 1800, my rent is 1200, not including utilites and other luxuries. So, essentially, my choices were to risk the cancer coming back, starvation, or living in a van down by the river. I am also ineligible for any other cheaper, crappier insurance plan due to a now, pre-existing condition.
Is my wound self inflicted as well?
You mean you want water and power? Elitist snob.
Your situation was different but I would have moved to a cheaper house and paid the insurance. It's harder to come up with a plan when you don't see the job change coming and don't know how long you will be unemployed but that's a chance I wouldn't have taken if there was any possible out. Only time I ever got laid off (during my career years) I was lucky, the wife had insurance and I had signed up for her insurance while I was doing the Cobra thing because her insurance was a better deal then the new company I went to work for (for a whole 3 months!). Got laid off the month her insurance kicked in for me. Would have been hard paying the Cobra on unemployment.
Not to change the subject but what was the deal with your cancer, do they think you had had it since you were younger and just had no symptoms?
uneverno
Active Member
Originally Posted by reefraff
http:///forum/post/3148743
You mean you want water and power? Elitist snob.
Your situation was different but I would have moved to a cheaper house and paid the insurance.
Fair enough, my situation was different. It's not at all uncommon, however.
My housing costs are about as cheap as it gets here. Yes, I could go a little cheaper, but that wouldn't save near enough in rent to make up the difference in other expenses - believe me - I've run the numbers. (OTOH - for what I make on unemployment per month, I could buy a house in Detroit. God forbid the Lions win another game tho - my house would prolly get burned down
)
Anyweigh, in addition, Cobra is only good for 18 months. What if one has been unemployed for longer than that? I'm very close, but a lot of people already have been, and the end is not nearly in sight yet...
It's harder to come up with a plan when you don't see the job change coming and don't know how long you will be unemployed but that's a chance I wouldn't have taken if there was any possible out.
Had I seen it coming, I wouldn't have taken the chance either.
Only time I ever got laid off (during my career years) I was lucky, the wife had insurance and I had signed up for her insurance while I was doing the Cobra thing because her insurance was a better deal then the new company I went to work for (for a whole 3 months!). Got laid off the month her insurance kicked in for me. Would have been hard paying the Cobra on unemployment.
Count yourself lucky. There, but for the grace of whomever, go we all...
Not to change the subject but what was the deal with your cancer, do they think you had had it since you were younger and just had no symptoms?
No worries - I have no problem talking about it. If in doing so I can help someone else, so much the better.
In answer to your question, I don't know. I discussed it with my urologist and oncologist both and they didn't know either. It is possible, but highly unlikely, that it was hanging around for that long without having metastasized. It is also one of the ones with no known cause.
At some level or another, there is no real positivity when it comes to cancer. That's part of the trouble with treating it.
What can be said about it is that it is abnormal cell reproduction, except that the cellular abnormality is not significant enough that the body recognizes it as a threat. In essence, that's what a tumor is.
What we do "know" is not a surety, because
A) it varies from individual to individual
B) it varies from cancer to cancer
What I can say with positivity is that mine is one of the few that responds very well to chemotherapy. It does not respond to radiation therapy. (Actually, that's a lie. It does, but not at levels of radiation that won't also kill the patient.) The survival rate w/ chemo however, is +92%. On the downside, chemo takes four sessions of three weeks each, with a month off in between because one is too debilitated to work during, and recovery time is needed between sessions to prevent kidney failure. That and it costs 60-80k per session.
During that 8-12 month period, your employer is required to keep your position open for you, but not required to pay their share of your insurance (which, like Social Security, is a weird concept itself, intended to hide from the people the true cost of employing them.)
Not only are people not told what the actual cost for their health insurance is, they're also not taught how to prepare for it should it disappear.
That's how people go bankrupt. Or die.
http:///forum/post/3148743
You mean you want water and power? Elitist snob.
Your situation was different but I would have moved to a cheaper house and paid the insurance.
Fair enough, my situation was different. It's not at all uncommon, however.
My housing costs are about as cheap as it gets here. Yes, I could go a little cheaper, but that wouldn't save near enough in rent to make up the difference in other expenses - believe me - I've run the numbers. (OTOH - for what I make on unemployment per month, I could buy a house in Detroit. God forbid the Lions win another game tho - my house would prolly get burned down
Anyweigh, in addition, Cobra is only good for 18 months. What if one has been unemployed for longer than that? I'm very close, but a lot of people already have been, and the end is not nearly in sight yet...
It's harder to come up with a plan when you don't see the job change coming and don't know how long you will be unemployed but that's a chance I wouldn't have taken if there was any possible out.
Had I seen it coming, I wouldn't have taken the chance either.
Only time I ever got laid off (during my career years) I was lucky, the wife had insurance and I had signed up for her insurance while I was doing the Cobra thing because her insurance was a better deal then the new company I went to work for (for a whole 3 months!). Got laid off the month her insurance kicked in for me. Would have been hard paying the Cobra on unemployment.
Count yourself lucky. There, but for the grace of whomever, go we all...
Not to change the subject but what was the deal with your cancer, do they think you had had it since you were younger and just had no symptoms?
No worries - I have no problem talking about it. If in doing so I can help someone else, so much the better.
In answer to your question, I don't know. I discussed it with my urologist and oncologist both and they didn't know either. It is possible, but highly unlikely, that it was hanging around for that long without having metastasized. It is also one of the ones with no known cause.
At some level or another, there is no real positivity when it comes to cancer. That's part of the trouble with treating it.
What can be said about it is that it is abnormal cell reproduction, except that the cellular abnormality is not significant enough that the body recognizes it as a threat. In essence, that's what a tumor is.
What we do "know" is not a surety, because
A) it varies from individual to individual
B) it varies from cancer to cancer
What I can say with positivity is that mine is one of the few that responds very well to chemotherapy. It does not respond to radiation therapy. (Actually, that's a lie. It does, but not at levels of radiation that won't also kill the patient.) The survival rate w/ chemo however, is +92%. On the downside, chemo takes four sessions of three weeks each, with a month off in between because one is too debilitated to work during, and recovery time is needed between sessions to prevent kidney failure. That and it costs 60-80k per session.
During that 8-12 month period, your employer is required to keep your position open for you, but not required to pay their share of your insurance (which, like Social Security, is a weird concept itself, intended to hide from the people the true cost of employing them.)
Not only are people not told what the actual cost for their health insurance is, they're also not taught how to prepare for it should it disappear.
That's how people go bankrupt. Or die.
reefraff
Active Member
It's weird with cancer right now. The survival rates are increasing yet cancer is taking more lives. I think it all the electrical appliances we are exposed to constantly.
I think they missed an opportunity with the bankruptcy law change they did. They should make it easier to charge off medical expenses so if someone does get a serious illness if they don't have the ability to pay the bills then the government steps in and covers it rather than have the people default on their car loans, house payment etc.
I think they missed an opportunity with the bankruptcy law change they did. They should make it easier to charge off medical expenses so if someone does get a serious illness if they don't have the ability to pay the bills then the government steps in and covers it rather than have the people default on their car loans, house payment etc.
uneverno
Active Member
Originally Posted by reefraff
http:///forum/post/3148801
It's weird with cancer right now. The survival rates are increasing yet cancer is taking more lives. I think it all the electrical appliances we are exposed to constantly.
I think it likelier to be the 2000+ new chemicals introduced into the environment on an annual basis. Don't get me started on the FDA...
I think they missed an opportunity with the bankruptcy law change they did. They should make it easier to charge off medical expenses so if someone does get a serious illness if they don't have the ability to pay the bills then the government steps in and covers it rather than have the people default on their car loans, house payment etc.
I agree. That should be part of health care reform. It is the case in every other 1st world nation.
As things are currently going, to paraphrase the band name: Capitalism (Pop) Will Eat Itself.
Cancer is poised to become the leading global cause of death by 2012. In the 60's it was ranked 6th. That's a pretty rapid increase, IMO.
Cancer is not contagious, so what has changed that it is now so prolific?
http:///forum/post/3148801
It's weird with cancer right now. The survival rates are increasing yet cancer is taking more lives. I think it all the electrical appliances we are exposed to constantly.
I think it likelier to be the 2000+ new chemicals introduced into the environment on an annual basis. Don't get me started on the FDA...
I think they missed an opportunity with the bankruptcy law change they did. They should make it easier to charge off medical expenses so if someone does get a serious illness if they don't have the ability to pay the bills then the government steps in and covers it rather than have the people default on their car loans, house payment etc.
I agree. That should be part of health care reform. It is the case in every other 1st world nation.
As things are currently going, to paraphrase the band name: Capitalism (Pop) Will Eat Itself.
Cancer is poised to become the leading global cause of death by 2012. In the 60's it was ranked 6th. That's a pretty rapid increase, IMO.
Cancer is not contagious, so what has changed that it is now so prolific?
oscardeuce
Active Member
Originally Posted by uneverno
http:///forum/post/3152821
I think it likelier to be the 2000+ new chemicals introduced into the environment on an annual basis. Don't get me started on the FDA...
I agree. That should be part of health care reform. It is the case in every other 1st world nation.
As things are currently going, to paraphrase the band name: Capitalism (Pop) Will Eat Itself.
Cancer is poised to become the leading global cause of death by 2012. In the 60's it was ranked 6th. That's a pretty rapid increase, IMO.
Cancer is not contagious, so what has changed that it is now so prolific?
One of the reforms I'm pushing. Get all these able bodied folks off of welfare and use it for the saftey net to bridge those falling through the cracks for a couple of years.
It seems impossible for those who need a bridge to get on the system, yet those who use the system for a carreer seem to have no problems. They also drive newer cars from some of my experiences.
I have no problem lending someone a helping hand in their time of need, I have a BIG problem with the generational welfare system we have.
http:///forum/post/3152821
I think it likelier to be the 2000+ new chemicals introduced into the environment on an annual basis. Don't get me started on the FDA...
I agree. That should be part of health care reform. It is the case in every other 1st world nation.
As things are currently going, to paraphrase the band name: Capitalism (Pop) Will Eat Itself.
Cancer is poised to become the leading global cause of death by 2012. In the 60's it was ranked 6th. That's a pretty rapid increase, IMO.
Cancer is not contagious, so what has changed that it is now so prolific?
One of the reforms I'm pushing. Get all these able bodied folks off of welfare and use it for the saftey net to bridge those falling through the cracks for a couple of years.
It seems impossible for those who need a bridge to get on the system, yet those who use the system for a carreer seem to have no problems. They also drive newer cars from some of my experiences.
I have no problem lending someone a helping hand in their time of need, I have a BIG problem with the generational welfare system we have.