4 ms·

If you’re old and poor and have a chronic illness you can’t pay for, having mediocre government healthcare is better than nothing, obviously. The point is I wou

by tempsy 7y ago

If you’re old and poor and have a chronic illness you can’t pay for, having mediocre government healthcare is better than nothing, obviously. The point is I would 100% commit a white collar crime if I were put in that situation.

munk-a 7y ago
If you're old and poor you're probably a Medicaid/Medicare dual eligible already and are receiving a decent level of care - it's not great and it should be higher... but it's better than what you'd get in prison... that said - your chronic condition might still go untreated.
- tempsy 7y ago
  You’re giving the government too much credit. Medicare has a 20% coinsurance. Who knows if you have a chronic illness if that 20% is $20 or $200k. And if it was that simple then people in this country would not be bankrupted by medical debt. I’m also speaking of people younger than 65 who aren’t eligible for either.
  - kube-system 7y ago
    Bankruptcy is still a life of luxury compared to prison.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - tempsy 7y ago
      Debatable if you’re sick and elderly with little savings.
      - kube-system 7y ago
        Not at all, that sounds like the most ideal candidate possible for bankruptcy. The situation you describe would likely be a "no-asset" chapter 7, where the person filing doesn't have to surrender any assets. The majority of chapter 7 cases are. The worst part of the process would be getting together the few hundred bucks you need for the lawyers fees.
  - ryanmercer 7y ago
    >You’re giving the government too much credit. Medicare has a 20% coinsurance. Who knows if you have a chronic illness if that 20% is $20 or $200k. Exactly, my mother needs several new artificial teeth. She's going to have to pay just shy of 900$ to get them with medicare retired via disability. Then there was her thyroid cancer, her gall bladder removal, the 2 ambulance rides to the ER-only facility then to a proper hospital 2 weeks ago when she had pain so bad she couldn't even make it 2 rooms over to wake me up and I woke up to medics pounding on the door, her wire mesh installation, the second surgery from her wire mesh causing problems after they removed the gall bladder, multiple oral/dental surgeries and caps (one of which broke off at the post last at the beginning of the month), the umpteen trips in the past few months for liver issues she's having (apparently quite a bit of scarring potentially as a complication of her diabetes and the drug they gave her when her bones were rapidly deteriorating). All of that adding up that she has to pay 20% of. I was excited I overpaid on taxes and was going to be able to pay down a card, now I get to hand the money over to her for her teeth and it still won't be enough to get them so I'll have to try and squeeze that out of my income with a wedding in May that we're already doing basically for free. While also trying to figure out how we're going to start paying down whatever the ER/surgery/hospitalization bills end up being from earlier this month. My mother is far more fortunate than most though, my father died just before I turned 13 and she never remarried so she gets his survivor's pension (state police) which IIRC is like 60% of his salary at the time. Without that and me she'd properly be screwed. I feel truly sorry for people less fortunate than her, she's got it rough and miserable but still orders of magnitude better than some that rely on medicare and disability. Medicare is great! /s.
discordance 7y ago
This has happened in Japan [0], where old people have retired and run out of money or succumb to loneliness. They then commit petty crimes, and repeat until they are sent to prison. Often the judge has compassionately given them a prison sentence. 0: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47033704 https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47033704

by tempsy 7y ago

munk-a 7y ago

If you're old and poor you're probably a Medicaid/Medicare dual eligible already and are receiving a decent level of care - it's not great and it should be higher... but it's better than what you'd get in prison... that said - your chronic condition might still go untreated.

tempsy 7y ago
You’re giving the government too much credit. Medicare has a 20% coinsurance. Who knows if you have a chronic illness if that 20% is $20 or $200k. And if it was that simple then people in this country would not be bankrupted by medical debt. I’m also speaking of people younger than 65 who aren’t eligible for either.
- kube-system 7y ago
  Bankruptcy is still a life of luxury compared to prison.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - tempsy 7y ago
    Debatable if you’re sick and elderly with little savings.
    - kube-system 7y ago
      Not at all, that sounds like the most ideal candidate possible for bankruptcy. The situation you describe would likely be a "no-asset" chapter 7, where the person filing doesn't have to surrender any assets. The majority of chapter 7 cases are. The worst part of the process would be getting together the few hundred bucks you need for the lawyers fees.
- ryanmercer 7y ago
  >You’re giving the government too much credit. Medicare has a 20% coinsurance. Who knows if you have a chronic illness if that 20% is $20 or $200k. Exactly, my mother needs several new artificial teeth. She's going to have to pay just shy of 900$ to get them with medicare retired via disability. Then there was her thyroid cancer, her gall bladder removal, the 2 ambulance rides to the ER-only facility then to a proper hospital 2 weeks ago when she had pain so bad she couldn't even make it 2 rooms over to wake me up and I woke up to medics pounding on the door, her wire mesh installation, the second surgery from her wire mesh causing problems after they removed the gall bladder, multiple oral/dental surgeries and caps (one of which broke off at the post last at the beginning of the month), the umpteen trips in the past few months for liver issues she's having (apparently quite a bit of scarring potentially as a complication of her diabetes and the drug they gave her when her bones were rapidly deteriorating). All of that adding up that she has to pay 20% of. I was excited I overpaid on taxes and was going to be able to pay down a card, now I get to hand the money over to her for her teeth and it still won't be enough to get them so I'll have to try and squeeze that out of my income with a wedding in May that we're already doing basically for free. While also trying to figure out how we're going to start paying down whatever the ER/surgery/hospitalization bills end up being from earlier this month. My mother is far more fortunate than most though, my father died just before I turned 13 and she never remarried so she gets his survivor's pension (state police) which IIRC is like 60% of his salary at the time. Without that and me she'd properly be screwed. I feel truly sorry for people less fortunate than her, she's got it rough and miserable but still orders of magnitude better than some that rely on medicare and disability. Medicare is great! /s.

discordance 7y ago

This has happened in Japan [0], where old people have retired and run out of money or succumb to loneliness. They then commit petty crimes, and repeat until they are sent to prison. Often the judge has compassionately given them a prison sentence. 0: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47033704 https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47033704