KZ400 gasoline question

what happens when you get cancer?do you have to pay for the treatment in the u.s.?
i mean if yes you need to sell your house to pay your treatment....

Yep, that's pretty much what happens. Or people empty out their retirement plans. It's really sad actually.

I have a little knowledge on this- I've spent 18 years in Fire/EMS and also worked ER, private practice (orthopedics) and in human tissue donation (a non-profit).

People use the ER for primary care because a) they don't have insurance b) they can't get in to see the doctor in a timely fashion c) urgent care can't handle their emergency. The ER will give you free care if you are under an income guideline (usually poverty) and reduced fees if you're over it, usually up to 4 times poverty level. So people who have no money and no insurance go to the ER for everything.

Many people are under the income guideline for Medicaid (free healthcare for the poor) but can't get it if they don't have a child in their household. Or, they make just OVER the minimum but can't afford insurance because it's $300+/month. This is where many people who work part time or for near minimum wage fall. Many, many millions do not have coverage primarily because of these reasons.

I, myself, having been schooling towards my BSN for 3 years has had no insurance because of a pre-exisiting condition, so no one would insure me (until the new laws kicked in a few weeks ago.) Even then, I can't afford any ACA plans, it's more or less a disaster plan like if I get cancer or have a heart attack. Even when I had insurance, there were meds that my insurance didn't cover because they were too expensive. WTF am I paying for insurance for then????!!! So I had to take older meds that weren't as effective and had worse side effects.

The ACA isn't perfect by any stretch, but it's a step in the right direction. Employers have been telling me for years they won't be able to insure employees in the next 5-10 years due to the rising premiums. My last job I paid $350/mo for myself and my daughter, the employer was paying the other $1200 of my premium. That's nuts!

Also, my ex-wife is canadian. I've been to canada at least 50 times for trips and have talked to many Canadians about their healthcare (they always wanted to talk about healthcare or Bush lol) and never heard any complaints. NEVER. And I asked all the questions republican talking points cover. Never a complaint.

I could go on and on... but would rather learn about motorcycles... LOLz

AlphaDog that is amazing... I about puked when he "won" the first election, and about killed myself when he stole the second one in my home state. Diebold, a republican party contributor, made the voting machines used in Ohio and there were all sorts of stories of tampering and people loading things into the machine at the midnight hour before the election.

In the end though, it really doesn't matter anymore... but that's a whole other topic...

DeanJ said:

Pharmaceutical companies are a business, responsible to their shareholders. They are in the game to profit, so U.S. prescription users are funding the Rx R&D for the rest of the world. Direct to consumer marketing and TV ads in the U.S. are stupid... and drive up costs. The distribution of pharmaceuticals is a ridiculous model. With over 90 % of the script volumes being ongoing maintenance medications, the meds should be directly mailed to the patient from the manufacturer. But the distributers and the corner pharmacies add another 40% to what we have to pay. Stupid. Sure, we do need convenient access to prescription analgesics, antibiotics , etc. if something happens .. and we do need the with emergency refills of maintenance meds. But why the heck do we have a vast majority of prescriptions ultimately going through a retail store?

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That's BS.
They are in business to make money and make sure that effective CHEAP remedies can't get approval for many curable non-lethal conditions
It took over 10 yrs to get FDA approval for $10.00 stomach ulcer treatment, no surgery, 90%+ success, drug company 'treatment' was costing around $5~$700 a month, pretty much 'forever' or until something more serious developed (which made even more money)
It's pretty amazing that acetomeniphen is now being scruitinised because it can cause liver problems (which is going to be real expensive to treat) There is probably something with a better profit margin waiting to come on the market?

DeanJ said:

Pharmaceutical companies are a business, responsible to their shareholders. They are in the game to profit, so U.S. prescription users are funding the Rx R&D for the rest of the world. Direct to consumer marketing and TV ads in the U.S. are stupid... and drive up costs. The distribution of pharmaceuticals is a ridiculous model. With over 90 % of the script volumes being ongoing maintenance medications, the meds should be directly mailed to the patient from the manufacturer. But the distributers and the corner pharmacies add another 40% to what we have to pay. Stupid. Sure, we do need convenient access to prescription analgesics, antibiotics , etc. if something happens .. and we do need the with emergency refills of maintenance meds. But why the heck do we have a vast majority of prescriptions ultimately going through a retail store?

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crazypj said:

That's BS.
They are in business to make money and make sure that effective CHEAP remedies can't get approval for many curable non-lethal conditions
It took over 10 yrs to get FDA approval for $10.00 stomach ulcer treatment, no surgery, 90%+ success, drug company 'treatment' was costing around $5~$700 a month, pretty much 'forever' or until something more serious developed (which made even more money)
It's pretty amazing that acetomeniphen is now being scruitinised because it can cause liver problems (which is going to be real expensive to treat) There is probably something with a better profit margin waiting to come on the market?

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Why would you say that's BS PJ? The Pharm companies are in the profit business. And where do you get all of these conspiracy theories ? You really think they are involved in slowing FDA approval? now that's BS ( you sound like the same morons that believe the fictional inventor of a 200 mpg carburetor has been held by the FBI since 1980 in collaboration with the oil companies.

2_DONE_THE_TON said:

what happens when you get cancer?do you have to pay for the treatment in the u.s.?
i mean if yes you need to sell your house to pay your treatment....

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It's anecdotal, but a good friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. She's in remission now, but for a while it didn't look like it was going to end well.

You see, she's employed as a nurse, full time. She makes a decent wage and her health insurance was decent.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, they performed surgery to remove as much of it as they could and them immediately starter her on the chemo and other cocktails of drugs they use to treat the disease.

If you've never been around someone that has all these chemicals running through their body, I can tell you it's not a pretty sight. You're quite literally poisoning someone. Her health went into decline quickly and she suffered from many of the common symptoms: Insomnia, depression, etc

To cut to the chase, her doctor told her that she was unable to work. He wrote a letter to the hospital and said she wasn't fit for duty (she works as a nurse in the cardiac and pulmonary unit, so she's in life-and-death situations a lot, and so needs to be at the top of her game). I get why the doctor did it, but now my friend was unemployed and has lost both her income and her health insurance.

Luckily, she had pretty damn good credit and was able to float the cost of COBRA until she worked out a deal with the hospital to put her into a part time position that had benefits. She still ended up having to declare bankruptcy because her out of pocket costs ended up topping 40 grand. Obviously, those of us with health insurance ended up eating those costs with increased premiums, etc.

Best health care in the world, my ass.

What kind of shit employer fires someone for getting cancer?
Medical leave. Keep the insurance.

SONIC. said:

What kind of shit employer fires someone for getting cancer?
Medical leave. Keep the insurance.

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She wasn't fired, she was just told that she wasn't allowed to work. She did take medical disability (so her job was secure), but her employer has no obligation to continue to provide her with benefits during her absence. You have to buy additional insurance if you want that kind of coverage. Laws differ from state-to-state, I'm told.

Sonreir said:

She wasn't fired, she was just told that she wasn't allowed to work. She did take medical disability (so her job was secure), but her employer has no obligation to continue to provide her with benefits during her absence. You have to buy additional insurance if you want that kind of coverage. Laws differ from state-to-state, I'm told.

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Got ya,
Well thats seriously shitty IMHO.

Seems odd to me:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/benefits-leave/fmla.htm

Might be I mixed up the details. I know her insurance did run out, though (and she had to cover it herself). Could be it was after her 90 days of leave.

Unfortunately, all too many of us in the US are just one bad test result away from financial ruin. Medical expenses are THE biggest cause of personal bankruptcies in the US.

The Affordable Care Act falls waaay waaay short of what it needed to be, but it is at least a few steps in the right direction.

DeanJ said:

Why would you say that's BS PJ? The Pharm companies are in the profit business. And where do you get all of these conspiracy theories ? You really think they are involved in slowing FDA approval? now that's BS ( you sound like the same morons that believe the fictional inventor of a 200 mpg carburetor has been held by the FBI since 1980 in collaboration with the oil companies.

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It isn't fictional that the pharmacy companies did their best to block a cheap treatment developed in Australia.
It's been quite a while since I did any research (probably early/mid 90's?) but I still read things other than motorcycle 'comics' promoting B-N-G
Profit is one thing but profit that kills people is something completely different. (just look at all the class action suits and things taken off the market)
Something I do have personal experience of, LOVAZA was approved for one week before I had it prescribed to me.
My medical notes stated I had fish oil allergy (because there isn't any way to mark intolerance - never had any issues with whitefish or crab, lobster, etc. in small quantities)
Anyway, I now have allergy to ANY type of shellfish, even really tiny amount and LOVAZA actually advertises it may cause problems - 5~6yrs after the fact (so there must be a LOT of people developing allergy because of it)
Being overdosed on it caused full on allergy symptoms

PJ... Take off that tin foil hat and go out to the shop and work on something ;D

I won't argue CB360 carb tuning with you... but I happen to more about the pharmaceutical business.

The RX companies pay their DC lobbyists more to push FDA approval than they do their research scientists. It's in their best financial interest to deliver as many approved drugs to market as they can. Since they apply for patents and approval as soon as they begin to develop something, the clock starts ticking. It typically takes 12 to 15 years to get a new drug through the development ,clinical trials and the FDA approval process. This means that they only have 7 productive years left of a 20 year patent to actually profit for the brand name drug before it goes generic ( 7 years is the common average in market for a 20 patent life ) This is why they have so many similar drugs, yet with new patents always in the pipeline to back fill what is coming off patent and going generic. ) They are in the profit business.

Again, just like the for profit medical system, this pharmaceutical racket contributes to ridiculous healthcare costs for Americans.

Steven Brill is doing a series in Time Magazine called "Bitter Pill.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDQQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Flivingwithmcl.com%2FBitterPill.pdf&ei=6DbZUuOlB4uksQTD44DABg&usg=AFQjCNHkcmib6apIahFMfjFSO5J_FA25fQ&sig2=1dmQagRUxGSZPpONIoprJw&bvm=bv.59568121,d.cWc

In just the first couple pages, he describes the experience of one couple who had to pay almost $84,000 IN ADVANCE for cancer treatment that was urgently needed. Just one line item on the bill was $13,702 for ONE DOSE of a chemotherapy drug. This drug costs the pharmaceutical company about $300 to produce, and the hospital pays around $3,500 for it, yet the patient must pay $13,702 for the injection?

good read

Another example of why a single payer, universal healthcare system would be in the best interest of the American public ( with exception of the insurance providors, Rx companies and others that benefit from the status quo )

It's a well researched article. He happened to be Jon Stewart's guest last night.

Here is an interesting excerpt:
"According to one of a series of exhaustive studies done by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm, we spend more on health care than the next 10 biggest spenders combined: Japan, Germany, France, China, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain and Australia. We may be shocked at the $60 billion price tag for cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy. We spent almost that much last week on health care. We spend more every year on artificial knees and hips than what Hollywood collects at the box office. We spend two or three times that much on durable medical devices like canes and wheelchairs, in part because a heavily lobbied Congress forces Medicare to pay 25% to 75% more for this equipment than it would cost at Walmart."

It's going to take me a while to read the whole article. Too depressing to read all at once. :-\

Can't remember the name but there was a heart medication taken off the market because it killed more people than it cured. In the 3~4 yrs it was on the market, it made the drug company over 3 billion dollars - profit
If your part of this highly corrupt system you probably know exactly what it is, stop trying to justify pure greed as some sort of humanitarian act

Geez PJ, go back and read what I said in the posts. I'm highly critical of the "for profit" medical/ Rx system and think it is absolutely stupid for a modern industrialized nation not to have universal care.

How in the heck could you possibly think I am justifying greed ?

Your conspiracy theories would be far more credible if you had facts... you sound like a ranting lunatic sometimes. But just to be clear, we are on the same side of this argument. ( You are just to fricking ranting crazy to notice. So take off that tin foil hat and go out in the shop and work on something. )

Back to the original ?? regarding gas... Did anyone else add lead substitutes to unleaded fuel for their high compression vintage bikes to eliminate pinging and knocking? old stuff like this :

DeanJ said:

Geez PJ, go back and read what I said in the posts. I'm highly critical of the "for profit" medical/ Rx system and think it is absolutely stupid for a modern industrialized nation not to have universal care.

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To be fair, I nearly took one of your posts in very much the same way. I got over it after reading your post through a couple times. You were kind of looking at multiple perspectives, and it took a little thought about what you posted to get what you meant.