NEWS: Twunts Guide To Universal Health Care and Terrorism

fountainofdreams said:
Seniority counts for brains. Seriously.

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

>.>

Damn kids get off my lawn!!

There are a number of very powerful scenes in Sicko. One of them involves a man who has just had all of his fingers reattached. He had been involved in an accident involving a table saw that had severed all four fingers of one of his hands. Moore is chatting with him on camera and asks him if all of his fingers are now working. The man, looking a little confused, says that they are. Moore then goes on to explain how an American man, featured in the film, had to choose one of the two fingers he could afford to have reattached that he had had severed in a similar accident. "So, you didn't have to decided which fingers you could afford to get reattched." And then the camera zooms in on the face of this man with all of his working fingers. The look is priceless. It is a look of confusion mixed with "what the fuck is wrong with you people", to make a man choose which fingers to reattach.

Anyone who would choose to be part of a system which would make a person choose between their limbs is a psycho rightwing nutjob or an idiot.

To engage in either didactic or polemic does not make one a liar. To pretend that it does is disingenuous.

That's personally very interesting. I haven't gone to see the film yet but I had a very similar accident a little over ten years ago.
I was in Vermont at the time, near the boarder of New Hampshire and although there were other hospitals closer the took me to the best in the area because there was a trauma surgeon hand specialist at Dartmouth Hitchcock. I was immediately attended to, brought in to surgery and humpty dumptied for 8 straight hours. Then was admitted to the hospital for two weeks of in patient recovery. My physical therapy lasted over a year.
I was very poor at the time, had no insurance and obviously couldn't really work. The bill was nearly 40 thousand dollars. Not including the therapy. The hospital reviewed my case and comped 100% of the bill. And treated me with bucket loads of kindness courtesy and respect.

I do of course understand that this is the exception and not the rule. But it wasn't the first time I was poor and had fingers reattached and no one has EVER ask me which ones I can afford to put back on.
That sounds a bit farcical. Does he actually talk to or interview the man he is claiming was forced to make this choice or is he just telling people about him ?

What the fuck does that even mean? Are you implying that because I was 'not of proper age to understand what is going on in the world' (whatever the fuck that means anyways) at the time you were fighting in the middle east that I can never understand the situation over there period? Because if that is what you're implying, a lot of historians are simply masturbating... My guess, you're simply trying to pass off my voiced disagreement with your ignorant and extremely paranoid viewpoint as lacking knowledge because your viewpoint is exactly that, ignorant and paranoid...nice try Pops!

BTW- I have seen 11 year-olds who can put together a more coherent, rational argument than you have set forth here...

Wait...you've had to have your fingers reattached more than once? Yikes.

Seriously. Stay away from sharp things, man.

yeah

well the first time it was just an index finger severed and the middle finger crushed to ribbons. Caught in the chain of my motorcycle. (nothing to do with my name here)

The second time it was a saw at work. Right across the middle of my palm and including my thumb. So no digit loss really, but major damage that is fairly comparable. With some exceptions. The hand was still attached though severed completely through most the bone. Having the tendons still intact on one side though is a major +.

I've had stitches more times than I could shake a stick at for various things. Never any problems other than long waits if you're non-emergency in the ER and that god awful smell.

Oh , but now that I'm thinking about it, the first accident I did have a sort of surreal experience with the ambulance guys. I lived very close to the hospital and they told me in no uncertain terms that I should to get someone to drive me down or drive myself if I felt up for it, because if they drove me the like mile and a half down the road it would cost about $400. But they would have taken me if I insisted, no doubt.
Not anywhere near being told to make a decision about what you can afford to reattach.

I have personally have been sent to the ER without insurance. I was treated but nobody picked up the tab. My injuries were nowhere near as extensive as what you described but I was paying off the medical bill for nearly five years after that. My mother, who did have insurace at that time, has had to keep a benign tumor on her finger because it was ruled to not be medically necessary to have it removed until it grew to the point that it was starting to restrict the blood flow, at which point it was finally ruled medically necesary.

Yes, they interview the man. Show you his workshop and what remains of his finger. And, yes, your story is definitely an exception and not the rule. My wife currently works with a man who had a thumb and one of his fingers mauled by fighting dogs just a year or two ago. Even though he works full time, he did not have insurance. The first and closest hospital to which he went would not admit him but rather made him go to Cook County hospital. He was treated but we held a little benefit party for him to help with the medical bills. I don't know the details but I'm sure he is still paying off that debt, even with the little benfit we threw for him. So, no, I personally don't know of anyone who has not had a body part reattached because they could not afford it but I do personally know people who either did not get prompt medical attention (even while insured) or got medical attention only to be in debt from it for many years.

Medical debt is the leading cause of banruptcy in this country. There is nothing farcical about it.

Meh. I've worked with my hands all my life. And I work a lot. You try not to be careless. You take all the safely precautions you can. But accidents happen.
I'm no bubble boy.

Okay, fair enough. The didn't tell you that they wouldn't take you to the hospital. They only suggested it might not be in your best interest to do so. "Sure, we could help you, but do you really want to do that?" Clearly you've never had to make a decision about whether or not to get medical help based on whether or not you could afford it.

Sorry
I'm not saying or implying that it's not, or that it's not a problem. I totally agree. I'd love to see universal coverage. Scary thing to me is, doing moderately better in life and actually having some insurance, an accident like that would probably ruin me now.
What I am talking about is if you are in trauma with severed digits or limbs, I've never seen a financial adviser come around with the physician and say something to the effect of " so . . . um, how much money do you have on you. Cause you know you've got a lot of digits here to reattach and um my condo needs new carpet. . . ect " In my experience that does seem pretty absurd. I thought most places had strict laws about refusing emergency medical service ? Wouldn't it simply be illegal ? I'm not even questioning if it's true. It's simply unbelievably horrifying.
I'll look forward to seeing that bit in the movie.

Ok, clearly I'm not attacking you personally. What the fuck do you know other than what I just told you ? Clearly you don't know shit about what decisions I've had to make.

You do get that there is a massive difference between our health care system ten years ago and the one we have today, right? Sort of fallen apart a bit since then.

<pause> Huh? <shrug> No, I didn't think you were personally attacking me until just now nor did I think I wrote anything that personally attacked you. If you want to get all pissed off at me because I think you might have had to, for example, avoid taking an ambulance because of the cost because you had just told me that story yourself. Well fine, then. Fuck me for reading it.

Yeah.

I don't know what my point was. I was very very lucky.
That is all.
I am scared to death of the crappy ass coverage that I pay an arm and a leg for now.
PuLeeeaSE , get us Universal Health Care.

Thank you.

hum , maybe I miss understood when you said

That seemed a little personal and highly presumptuous to me. If I was mistaken then my sincere apologies.
If not <shrug> I've got a titanium reinforced middle finger and I'll use it if I have to.

My wife is going through a delighful private health insurance experience right now. She was given the wrong type of diabetes medication last night by CVS, which caused her to throw up last night, and sickness all through today. When she took it back they said they could not take back the medicine. And they did not have her normal medicine. They neglected to tell her this when she picked it up - just decided to choose for her.

Now we have to pay full fee for her medication because the insurance company won't pay for the same medicine twice. And she has to go to a different CVS that has the right type of her medication.

Thank God we don't have to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of a universal health care system! This private health care is awesome!

Guess I should have put a smiley after that "clearly ..." sentence. My bad.

oof. Mine too. Sorry. I'm usually better at picking up sarcasm.

Objection! Anecdotal Evidence! show me a pie chart!

mmmmmmm pie chart

You know what's funny, is that any time I was doing a job where I was exposed to sharp things all the time (bare razors, power saws, etc) I didn't cut myself once. When I'm just working on cutting mat or doing something absolutely normal with knives, I look like a masochist.

In all fairness to FoxNews, they did agree with Moore on Sicko! Hard to believe, I know, but it's right here.

On top of that, what they said could happen can (and has) happened. I wouldn't say public healthcare is a terrorist breeding ground, but it can happen...