Phil Gaimon's Olympic dream becomes $200,000 medical bill nightmare

[redir]

I'll just shut my mouth.

But there are very very simple solutions to these problems. We just have to convince the people who think that it's still 1740 on the bootstrappin' frontier that today is not quite like then.

[bicycletricycle]

simple solutions to complex problems don't exist.

Originally Posted by redir

I'll just shut my mouth.

But there are very very simple solutions to these problems. We just have to convince the people who think that it's still 1740 on the bootstrappin' frontier that today is not quite like then.

[mecse]

Originally Posted by joevers

I really do appreciate your comments and concerns but frankly, no. The issue isn't that races don't provide adequate coverage, the issue is hospitals get to bill you 166,000$ for 4 days of medical care and there's nothing you can do about it but start a gofundme or sell your home.

Yep. It's ugly. I'd like to think the legislation recently passed changes that.

What i'm suggesting isn't unprecedented. NCAA sports students must have insurance. Southern California Municipal Athletics even offers specialist insurance policies.

Outside of sports, almost every state I can think of has minimum extra insurance policies for property/healthcare before you drive.

(I guess i'm trying to think outside every box so that nobody ever wakes up in a hospital bed after entering a bike race with a huge financial headache like this)

[tomato coupe]

Kind of an old story -- his crash was more than 2 years ago.

[windsurfer]

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong

[rwsaunders]

https://usacycling.org/resources/ins...ccident-policy

The USAC policy coverage and policy limits aren’t hard to find…the optional policy information ends up in a dead link.

[rallizes]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

Kind of an old story -- his crash was more than 2 years ago.

I'm sure it feels like old news to Phil too

[Clean39T]

(v)

[Clean39T]

<_>

[wombatspeed]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

"

In before the lock because we can't discuss how the rest of the industrialized world pays for healthcare.

And how prices are different in other countries:

A few weeks ago I wiped out on a wet mountain pass in Switzerland, so definitely out of network for my US insurance!
Broken collarbone, three ribs, lots of road rash.

Hospital bill: 850 Swiss francs. (Including ambulance ride)

Follow up visit in Germany two weeks later: several x rays and about 30 minutes with the orthopedic surgeon himself. He said that he will charge me the max allowable rates since I had no German insurance. I was a bit worried…
Bill came to 77 euros.

[Clean39T]

But back to Phil.. it sucks he’s still dealing with this. I hope I never have to. And hope things change so no one else does either.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by mecse

I mean, I don't like it either (I'm assuming you're being sarcastic)

The flip side feels irresponsible. Imagine racing a weeknight crit, with a $25 prize, and the guy next to you crashes and gets a bill like this. It's not inconceivable.

I say that everyone at the race bears some responsibility: that person wouldn't have been there if everyone around wasn't there for the fun, right?

It feels wrong to just let this happen. Watching a crit is a little bit like watching a game of financial russian roulette?

Put further: do you have a better suggestion?

Socialized, universal healthcare.

[redir]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

simple solutions to complex problems don't exist.

Greed is good has never been shown to work.

[mecse]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Socialized, universal healthcare.

Love it! That would certainly change this problem.

That feels like an unlikely scenario in the US at the moment. Everything is about privatized health insurance, not public health insurance: and it feels like an abuse of power to let athletes at a level of olympic tryouts compete without ensuring their health is looked after in case of a crash feels pretty damned rotten.

[mhespenheide]

At the risk of igniting responses that get the thread locked, I simply can't understand why we don't allow individuals to choose to buy into Medicare/Medicaid or something like it. Not as a requirement, but as an option.

I'm a teacher and change jobs in the summer. Every freakin' time I change jobs, I have to go through another deductible twice in one calendar year. Every time. Every school I've asked, not one of them can negotiate a contract where their employees have a deductible calendar that runs the time period of our contracts. It's just not done. No health insurance company offers it. You know what that tells me? It's not a free market. And this is only one tiny example. Our system is broken, sometimes fatally.

You don't want nationalized health care? Fine; don't buy in. Just don't force me to risk my entire financial stability if I get into an accident in the wrong circumstances and a hospital pulls in an out-of-network surgeon while I'm unconscious on the table or and out-of-network anesthesiologist that I didn't know about.

If nothing else, the pandemic should show us that linking health care to your employer is an absurdly risky proposition when a widespread health issue threatens many people's employment!