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A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer
- FiloSottile 14y agoIndiegogo campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/helios http://www.indiegogo.com/helios (RE-EDIT: IndieGoGo takes 9% fee but PayPal is known for account freezing, the choice is up to you)
- BHSPitMonkey 14y agoNote that your donation goes 9% further if you just donate directly rather than through IndieGoGo.
- FiloSottile 14y agoEven better if they avoided PayPal, for the number of reasons we all know (and because they can't afford an account suspension) P.S. thanks, editing the comment
- msie 14y agoPhew! If I had read the comments here before the article I would have donated through IndieGoGo instead of PayPal.
- BHSPitMonkey 14y agoBut I said IndieGoGo results in a smaller donation... (They take a 9% cut in addition to PayPal/merchant fees.)
- tzs 14y agoSSI disability payments should not count against Medicare income limits. The United States fucking sucks sometimes.
- _delirium 14y agoIt's a mess that's up to the discretion of each state. This page has information on how SSI and Medicaid interact: http://www.ssa.gov/disabilityresearch/wi/medicaid.htm http://www.ssa.gov/disabilityresearch/wi/medicaid.htm In 32 states, being on SSI disability payment generally qualifies you for Medicaid without a further application, unless you also have additional income. States then vary in how much additional income, and in some you can still "buy in" to Medicaid even above the threshold, by paying some of the premium out of your additional income. In other states the criteria for SSI disability and Medicaid are different, and may interact badly, with someone on SSI considered "not poor enough" for Medicaid. This is particularly likely in states with extremely low Medicaid thresholds where even someone at the poverty line wouldn't qualify. Here is a summary of the overall effect of all those variations: http://www.workworld.org/wwwebhelp/state_1619_b_threshold_amounts.htm#1619b_Disabled_Thresholds http://www.workworld.org/wwwebhelp/state_1619_b_threshold_am... The upcoming PPACA Medicaid expansion may sort out some of it, for states that don't opt out, but we'll see.
- doktrin 14y agoI simply cannot comprehend our [as a nation] almost religious stance vis a vis public healthcare. Hearing stories like this literally upsets me, because it is totally unnecessary. We are better than this.
- batgaijin 14y agoYou think our health care is bad? http://abcnews.go.com/Health/US/hunger-children-america-slow-steady-starvation/story?id=14328390#.UDhNoDvptIU http://abcnews.go.com/Health/US/hunger-children-america-slow... 5% of our 300 million population is starving/malnourished children.
- astrodust 14y agoThen there's the worrying proportion that's gargantuanly over-weight, and an even larger proportion in woefully under-performing schools. Sometimes you wonder if the kids in less affluent countries don't have it better.
- callmesocialist 14y agoI still question the lack of healthcare in a developed nation.
- FiloSottile 14y agoYeah, in a nation like USA (or actually anywhere, but let's be realistic) no one should die because they can't afford a standard treatment. I am from Italy and the first times I couldn't believe it.
- Peaker 14y agoAccording to the movie "Sicko", the doctors working in the Health Maintenance Organizations are being told: "You are not preventing care, you are preventing payment" as they are encouraged to deny as many requests as they can.
- wisty 14y agoThe danger is that people will over-use the public system. Governments can solve this by offering a really bad customer experience (Soviet architecture, putting an experienced nurse at the front desk rather than a cute 20-year-old girl, bad food, less choices, and so on). People often prefer private hospitals, even when public hospitals offer superior treatment. This takes the load off the public system, allowing it to serve the people who need it.
- justin66 14y ago> The danger is that people will over-use the public system. How does that work exactly? I'm trying to think of how I could even deliberately overuse health care, in the event that I decided health care were something desirable rather than something I tend to avoid because it's boring. The best I can come up with would be to hit myself with a hammer occasionally, necessitating treatment of the injury. I'm not sure why people with a public system would deliberately do something like that. I'm not really trying to be facetious. This seems to be one of the ways in which health care isn't like any consumer product: people really do not want as much of it as they can get. In terms of preventative medicine, just getting them to use it can be quite a chore. In terms of treatment of disease or injury, I don't see how using it for its intended purpose qualifies as "overuse."
- gambiting 14y agoSay whatever you like about EU, but I can't think of any country here that would not help this man, or let him die simply because he can't afford surgery. In the worst possible case he would still have the surgery done straight away ,but he would have to pay afterwards,not before - he might end up in debt because of that,but better than being dead for sure. Anyway, donated some money, really wish he gets all the help he needs.
- mtrn 14y ago* Germany: In 2005, Germany spent 10.7% of GDP on health care, or US$3,628 per capita. Germany has Europe's oldest universal health care insurance system, with origins dating back to Otto von Bismarck's Social legislation, which included the Health Insurance Bill of 1883, Accident Insurance Bill of 1884, and Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889. * US: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States spent more on health care per capita ($7,146), and more on health care as percentage of its GDP (15.2%), than any other nation in 2008. The United States had the fourth highest level of government health care spending per capita ($3,426). Source: * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_the_United_States
- gambiting 14y agoYet I am sure that this man would never ever be in a situation like this, had it happened in Germany. I know how it's like in EU - if an operation is life-saving they always do it first,then ask for the money, not the other way around, as it seems to be in the US.
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- technotony 14y agoThese are old numbers... America is forecast to spend 17 or 18% of GDP on healthcare this year...
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- DanBC 14y agoI really hope paypal don't freeze the account for 180 days while they investigate.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- eric_bullington 14y agoI just donated $50. And as much as I agree with the sentiments on this page about my country's lacking health care system (and have always voted with this in mind), I hope we can come together to focus on the problem at hand, which is raising money for a fellow dev in his time of greatest need. I assume the Indiegogo account cannot be suspended as easily as Paypal, so I made the donation through Indiegogo despite the slightly higher service fee. EDIT: Here's the link for the Indiegogo campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/helios http://www.indiegogo.com/helios
- FiloSottile 14y agoI think that developers as we are, we could just offer our apps or services for IndieGoGo perks! Also, I already see the Reddit cross-post, but I am sure everyone here can think to a still not touched community (even niche) or mailing-list.
- mparlane 14y agoI matched your donation! :) I hope he gets the surgery before it's too late. It didn't help that I was listening to a depressing song while I read the article.
- mr337 14y agoJust matched that donation. Really screwed up country I live in. :S
- doktrin 14y agoDonated $20. I am currently saving cash as I am planning to take leave of absence from work to concentrate on my studies for a semester. I made the payment through paypal, I sincerely hope it isn't "suspended" due to a rapid influx of cash.
- stanmancan 14y agoJust donated $25 myself. It always makes me feel warm and fuzzy to see online communities come together to help save lives.
- zitterbewegung 14y ago
- shirro 14y agoIt isn't like a health safety net even has to be all that expensive. A good mixed system looks after the poorest people and everyone else is encouraged (with tax penalties etc) to have private health insurance. In a wealthy country hardly anyone should be poor or unemployed anyway so the costs aren't that great. The US is a triumph of ideology over common sense.
- marquis 14y agoI just donated via Paypal given the comments about the 9% vs Paypal fees. However it got me thinking from reading the indiegogo site: "The cost just to book the OR for Ken's surgery is $50,000, and that doesn't include the surgery itself, nor any post-op medical expenses." What is the total cost of expenses, or is that unknown? Knowing how much is needed would possibly help raise more funds.
- noahc 14y agoIn general American health care is a giant black box. Depending on the deal your insurance company has cut is how much stuff costs. Most doctors offices cant tell you how much anything costs, which is why i opt out of all tests.
- tzaman 14y agoOf all the crap we throw money at, I see absolutely no reason not to help this man out. Donated.
- carbocation 14y agoHe needs to get himself admitted to a major academic medical center, possibly via the ED.
- sidcool 14y agoOk, I trust Hacker News and I am donating whatever I am capable of.
- sidcool 14y agoMy donations went to "DragonWing Software", I hope that's correct.
- mparlane 14y agoThomas A. Knight has put up a page that tells Ken's story and he's volunteered to host the fund raising page for this effort. I believe it's Thomas' company.
- FiloSottile 14y agoCorrect. It is Knight's company, and he is managing the fund raising.
- sidcool 14y agoCool, happy to know it's gone to the right person.
- taknight 14y agoYes. DragonWing Software is my software contracting company. I also publish my books under DragonWing Publishing. Thanks!
- chadr 14y agoNewer blog post about the surgery: http://linuxlock.blogspot.it/2012/08/it-started-with-hopelessness.html http://linuxlock.blogspot.it/2012/08/it-started-with-hopeles...
- rplnt 14y agoI'm sorry to be so ignorant when it comes to linux core (perhaps?) developers, but the entire blog post didn't mention his name nor his wife signed it with hers so I could at least assume who he is.
- FiloSottile 14y agoKen Starks. From the post on http://thomasaknight.com/ http://thomasaknight.com/
- jorahmormont 14y ago$ cd kernel ; git log | egrep -i starks $ Nothing there. It would help if they told us what his contribution actually was.
- chaostheory 14y agoI could be wrong but I don't think he was a developer. From the pieces I've read it looks like his contribution to linux, seems to be distributing it through donations of old computers with linux installed to people / organizations in need.
- agent86 14y agoHe runs an organization/project called Reglue (http://reglue.org/ http://reglue.org/). They give out computers to children who otherwise would not be able to get one. If you live in Texas you should consider cleaning out your closet and donating some computers to the cause. They're basically looking for P4 class machines and better. Something gathering dust in your closet can changes a kid's life forever.
- rplnt 14y agoIt's funny how we assume (well, at least I did) how contributer has to be a developer.
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- ixacto 14y agoI would gladly pay 5% more income tax to be on par with Canada as far as rates go, if the USA got single-payer healthcare.
- streptomycin 14y agoIt'd cost quite a bit more than that. 5% of the income tax is only like $50 billion dollars, which is dwarfed by our current Medicare/Medicaid spending to cover a fraction of the population. Maybe something like doubling everyone's taxes could do it?
- ixacto 14y agoThat is if we kept spending at current levels. Canada spends much less on healthcare than the united states. Canadian life expectancy is also higher, which leads me to believe that their gasp socialist healthcare system is actually more efficient.
- streptomycin 14y agoOur government already spends more money on Medicare/Medicaid than most other governments spend on healthcare. I don't see how we could possibly lower our government spending by covering more people.
- oneandoneis2 14y agoFriend of mine got charged almost a thousand dollars just for being taken to hospital in an ambulance. The journey lasted about ten minutes. This kind of massively-overinflated cost is endemic in US healthcare. Getting rid of it would easily allow you to lower spending whilst covering more people.
- streptomycin 14y agoYou're misunderstanding my point. Our public healthcare systems, Medicare and Medicaid, are already more expensive than many national healthcare programs. So forget whatever you friend spends in the private sector. Even if all people not on Medicare/Medicaid spent absolutely nothing on healthcare, we would still be spending more money than these other countries in total. So the idea that we can somehow expand coverage while wildly reducing costs seems silly.
- bugmenot 14y agoWhat about going to get cancer surgery abroad? Say in Germany? The cost seems substantially less: http://www.medicaltravel.ru/en/index.php?categoryid=8 http://www.medicaltravel.ru/en/index.php?categoryid=8
- tylerc230 14y ago+$50
- mbreese 14y agoAs an update: http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2012/08/it-started-with-hopelessness.html http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2012/08/it-started-with-hopele... While he still needs money, they did find a doctor to perform the surgery. But don't let that stop you from donating, if you're able. He also answered a question that I had: he's a veteran, so he should qualify for VA medical assistance. According to his post above, the VA system moves too slow to stop his rapidly spreading cancer.
- crag 14y agoAbout the VA. What he would receive (this includes medical care) depends on his level of service. Was he in combat? Was in injured while on active duty? And many other factors. All this takes time for the VA to consider. And worse still, there's a HUGE backlog of claims right now (for obvious reasons). Just pointing this out in case anyone declines to help out cause you're hoping the VA will come through. I mean, they will, it will take time though. And he doesn't have time.
- sliverstorm 14y agoWhat he would receive depends on his level of service. Was he in combat? Was in injured? Tangent, that's good to hear. I've known more than a few individuals who pushed paper in the service for two years and actively avoided a tour, and seemed to be reaping all the same benefits as the ones who saw combat.
- FiloSottile 14y agoFinding a pro-bono doctor was in the plans from the start, if I get it right. And the doctor should have never been in the $50,000 total. cit: "The cost just to book the OR for Ken's surgery is $50,000, and that doesn't include the surgery itself, nor any post-op medical expenses."
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- raverbashing 14y ago
- barking 14y agoAmerica does seem to be a country where it's devil take the hindmost but people who live here in Europe find plenty to complain about in our systems too.
- keithpeter 14y agoDonated £13.06 according to paypal. In the UK, the National Health Service certainly has inefficiencies, delays and issues. However, care is free at the point of need. I suppose there are different ways of rationing a resource for which there is theoretically an infinite need. I prefer the way we do it in the UK.
- gozman 14y agoSet aside the debates on healthcare, the awful reality of this man have to raise funds to keep him alive, or any other political rhetoric. Most of us, even the most starving bootstrapper of the bunch, has enough change in his/her pocket to make an impact on a real human life. Let's not brag about what we donated, or how much, or if we donated at all. But please everyone, let's reach out for someone who needs us like every good human should.
- taknight 14y agoBlown away. I'm simply blown away, as day after day the outpouring of support for Ken grows. When I put my blog post together, my hope was to help a good friend with a new monitor, and the rest was kindof a pipe dream. Now, 8 days and almost $40,000 later, I'm at a loss for words. Thank you to everyone who has donated, commented, passed it on, or done anything else to help us out. Both Ken and I are speechless. Thank you.
- glesica 14y agoDonated $50. I realize we're trying not to rant about the healthcare system too much, so all I will say is that this is exactly why the system is a problem. What's the point of all our technology and "progress" if we still don't provide reasonable care to all?
- sseveran 14y agoHow do you define reasonable?
- jfb 14y agoHow about surgery to deal with a metastasizing cancer that is highly efficacious? That seems very reasonable to me.
- runawaybottle 14y agoNot having to resort to donations for life saving surgery?
- glesica 14y agoThe other two comments (at this moment) summed it up pretty well. The treatment has a high rate of success (80%) and is in no way "experimental". If something has become a part of the standard medical "toolbox", providing it to everyone is reasonable. There is simply no excuse for our current system, especially when other countries provide care and spend less to do it.
- sharms 14y agoHackernews has been very kind to me through the years, glad I can send a few dollars to return the favor
- bunsenhoneydew 14y agoI just donated through paypal. Hopefully the account will hold up ok. Geeks with heart. You're a lovely bunch HN peeps... Wishing Diane and Ken all the best.
- jfb 14y ago$50. Nobody should be in this situation. The US system is appalling.
- bstar77 14y agoI'm happy to see these kickstarter clones popping up for medical causes. I'm much more apt to donate when I can better see where my money is going (and hope I don't get scammed in the process).
- bjm1 14y agodonated $100, hope he gets better.
- raheemm 14y agoJust donated $35.
- hhimanshu 14y agoI donated $10, I wish him better health and good luck
- lexarchy 14y agoEgads, what a mess. You can't think rationally without fearing being labeled a monster. OK, here goes. Here are three separate strategies to avoid this situation: Strategy 1: "Help thousands" in a way that allows you to capture some of the value yourself. Use some of the proceeds to buy health insurance. Strategy 2: "Help thousands" in a way that allows you to capture much of the value yourself. Be rich enough to pay for your own health care. Strategy 3: Do whatever. Buy catastrophic health insurance with a high deductible. It's not that expensive. The sob-story blog post linked in the article even says This man doesn't know how to be selfish. The result of this lack of selfishness is having both a friend and a "life-partner" panhandle for him on the internet. I'm no fan of the U.S. healthcare system, but framing this as an indictment of that system is absurd.
- johnrob 14y agoI donated $30 (thought I'd add more social proof while I'm here).
- masmullin 14y agoDonated. Get well Ken.
- eculver 14y agoDonated $40. Two days ago, there was a post on HN announcing Watsi, essentially a Kickstarter for healthcare (Sorry if I'm discrediting it's overall value in any way, it's a great idea: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4424081 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4424081). Most of us in the Western world aren't the target audience for Watsi, but this seems appropriate. Can we not make this happen and see a cohesive case to be made for those asking questions about cause and background?
- bobdvb 14y agoDon't know the man, a little sad that we have to support the screwed up US medical system, but I've given money because I have it and he doesn't.
- roma1n 14y agoDonated. Now what about fixing your health care system, Uncle Sam?
- antihero 14y agoHoly fuck is your healthcare system stupid.
- iamanet 14y agoDonated $50. Get well Ken.
- taknight 14y agoWe have closed donations coming directly through PayPal. Thank you to everyone who has been so generous. The IndieGoGo campaign will remain open for another day or so, but we can't keep taking donations when we've now clearly met our goal. The $50,000 we collected in 10 days will more than cover all of Ken's medical expenses as he continues through his difficult cancer treatment. Thank you to everyone who helped out, you are all wonderful people. :) Thomas
- tytso 14y agoThe title of the article is not accurate. He is not a Linux developer; for those who don't know who he is, Ken is the founder of the Helios project, which is a non-profit which refurbishes old computers and distributes them to children whose families can't afford computers. So for someone who has paid things forward, he certainly deserves help. See the following article from his hometown newspaper in Austin, Texas for more about the good works that he has done: http://www.statesman.com/news/helios-projects-ken-starks-helps-kids-bridge-digital-834613.html http://www.statesman.com/news/helios-projects-ken-starks-hel... Update: Thomas Knight reports that they have raised the necessary $50,000. It looks like the Indiegogo campaign is still open, and there's a note than any excess that isn't needed for his medical expenses (if all goes well the $50k should be enough) will go to Reglue, his non-profit which helps children to get access to computers.
- simcop2387 14y agoYou are all lovely people. <3
- two1eight 14y agodonated $40. Get well soon.
- agumonkey 14y agoQuote from indiegogo: 8/25 - Update 4: Thank you! I can't thank you enough. Not only have we found Ken a surgeon, but the surgeon has agreed to do the surgery for a fraction of the original cost. We have raised $47,600 total now, enough to cover the surgery, any and all pre and post op medical expenses, all medication Ken will need for the foreseeable future, and there might even be some left over to go to Reglue. I can't stress enough how thankful I am to everyone who has helped. The outpouring of support is amazing. You are all wonderful people. :) Thank you.