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   PID: Synchronet 3.19a-Linux master/46b1f86f5 Oct 31 2021 GCC 11.2.0   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.14-Linux master/46b1f86f5 Oct 31 2021 GCC 11.2.0   
   BBSID: TRMB   
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    >    Too many people with insurance don't care how much something costs since   
    > "insurance will pay it".  Seldom, if ever, realising this is why their   
    > premiums continue to go up.   
    >    Until I turned 65 and had to go on Medicare, I had no health insurance,   
    > it was either out of pocket or workers comp (if on the job).   
    >    The times I would have dental/medical work done and told them I was   
    > paying cash I got strange looks with a receptionist asking a co-worker "can   
    > he do that?"   
    >    And my payments were often half what insurance would charge since a lot   
    > less paper work involved.   
    >    Insurance is a racket.  The company is betting it will never be used,   
    > the customer betting it will pay if needed.   
      
   You're 100% banging on all 8 cylinders. . .   
      
   Here we're born having full coverage for all medical stuff, & people milk it &   
   abuse it.   
      
   The emergenmcy rooms are filled with sniffles & coughs (even before Covid); I   
   don't go to ER unless it truly cannot wait til the next day for me to text or   
   call my doctor. i.e. There's blood involved that's not going away on its own.   
   Most of my last ERs were for kidney stones (the worst pain humans ever suffer,   
   I've been told, & believe it); they used to put a bag of morphine in me, do an   
   X-Ray, & send me home before breakfast.  Now I only go in if it's something   
   unusual, increased, or new with my stones (e.g. blocking my flow of urine); I   
   just passed a large triangle shaped sharp shard last week -- horrible extreme   
   p-ain, but I sucked it up, bit down, & stayed home, where I know the germs. . .   
      
   I know that if it continues to be used too much, there'll soon enough be a user   
   fee attached to visits & I'd haste for those lesser off than me put off   
   necessary medical stuff because they lack the $10.  So if I avoid going even if   
   justified, it covers one who shouldn't be there(maybe--I'm not a doctor)   
      
   I'm soon going to approach our company's owner about me (re-)starting a   
   division that focuses on bringing enhanced medical services to local residents,   
   for a fee for premium options, like housecalls. (we, by law, can't charge for   
   housecalls, but we can charge for the doctor's travel & our time arranging   
   everything); I'll need to work up a public education campaign, too, as most   
   people are kneejerk-hostile to anuything that hints of two-tier medicine.   
      
   I am fine with getting the richer folk out of the way so the limited public   
   resources become less overbooked for the hoi polloi.   
      
   Richer being anyone making more than minimum wage, & minwagers who know how to   
   use/save money.   
      
   Life insurance:   
      
   company: We bet you'll live to at least 80   
   mark: Betcha I'll die long before then.   
   company: how's about putting $30/month oin the line for this bet?   
   mark: you're ON!! Free money for me, errm, for my wife & kids. . .   
   (omitted: company plans to declare anything he dies from to be part of as pre-   
   existing condition, so they make money whether he dies or not)   
      
   It's like any gambling: the only way to truly come out ahead is to own the   
   house!   
      
   Your friend,   
      
   <+]:{)}   
   Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM   
   --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux   
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757.2)   
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