Murica!!! Murica!!!
I would say it makes me sick, but I can’t afford that in Murica!!
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You’re a maroon. Obama has nothing to do with silo-ed medical care coverage.
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For all that, I’m a bit skeptical about this story. I’d like to know exactly how the woman’s insurance is justifying their position that the woman chose to go out of network. I strongly suspect there are either some missing details or some badly garbled reporting here.
In any case, a decent lawyer should be able to make both the woman and his firm rich on this one. The woman was an idiot to agree to any financial settlement terms (if she actually did); hope the agreement can be quashed.
It’s actually even worse than that. Not only is the US busy shafting its own, but by means of so-called Free Trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership, it’s setting things up to ensure that everyone else is going to get shafted just the same way …
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I think that this is where I should have put the above gif… the space one.
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I’m not qualified to comment on whether or not a suitably punchy legal team could crush them or not(and how long it would take); but my experience has been that insurance companies have little trouble justifying things because they barely have to. Just string together something that isn’t word salad and then refuse to pay.
If their justification sucks they may end up caving later(whether under persistent hammering from the patient, from that plus the intervention of one or more doctors, or because of legal threats); but they start out in an excellent negotiating position(ie. holding the money and having you beg them to release it) and they often have little to lose by fucking with you a bit to see how well you can fight back.
(My own delightful insurance story: My psychiatrist wanted a sleep study because of my persistent reports of sleep cycle issues, abnormal fatigue, and the potential sleep impact of the drugs I was on. I dutifully made an appointment with my in-network PCP, who concurred with this assessment and made a referral to an in-network sleep specialist. She looked everything over, agreed on the utility of an overnight sleep study, and it was duly scheduled.
The day before it was supposed to happen, I receive a letter from the contractor to which my insurer farms out decision making, stating that the procedure will not be covered, because I am currently taking one or more drugs that might interfere with the results. Never mind the fact that part of the point was to check up on the effect of those drugs. Of course, since they sat on the decision for over a month, and only informed me the day before, there was no time to appeal the decision between then and the appointment slot, which meant that even a successful appeal would mean a delay of at least an additional month to get another time lined up. It was a total dick move; but they were holding all the cards, without even needing a plausible sounding reason. ‘Possession is 9/10ths the law’ they say, and sometimes it seems to be true.)
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If it was easy to sue insurance companies for screwing people over, they wouldn’t spend so much time screwing people over.
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You can actually practice DIY suturing on pork bellies. Pig skin and tissues below are surprisingly similar to human.
(Todo: actually try this.)
I wonder how well could such study be done using e.g. OpenEEG (and a webcam for recording the movements during the nigth, and some other sensors), how much less accurate would the results be in comparison with the “pro” test…?
Seeing the prices, there could be a pretty decent underground market for such solutions…
Pig-skin tends to be a touch tougher and coarser than human skin, but it’s perfect to start with, especially if you’re cutting it first. Suture some herbs and garlic inside it. 
Bananas (Just look at it! ) and even oranges are good too, and a lot less messy than pork. It was pretty common to see med-students suturing their lunch. Sponges are also often used as practice tools.
When you’ve got the basics down, move on to more technical exercises, such as grapes and rubber gloves (to make sure your knots are properly air-tight. It’s all about the knots.).
Caveat:
TBH, though, it’s not all that useful a skill. A well-stocked first-aid kit with adhesive sutures, coagulants and proper tape/pads makes a large percentage of actual stitching pointless. These are your go-to before you even think about picking up a needle. And when it hits the fan, the patient should not be seen as a chance to practice a hobby.
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The psychiatrist wasn’t much of a DIY type; but, in the end, one of those ‘jawbone up’ accelerometer wristband widgets was pressed into service to provide at least approximate sleep time and restlessness data. Imperfect; but it quickly became clear that the wristband, plus a Moto G to run its horrid little app, would be cheaper and far faster than trying to squeeze blood out of the insurance company. (Maybe if I were of the status where ‘just speed-dial the attorney you have on retainer’ is totally routine I could have pressed the issue; but Team Insurance can afford to dedicate a lot of phone-drone time and procedural hoops to stalling you, and they were happy to do so.)
Apropos of the DIY suturing: if you do end up trying it, I’d be interested to hear about the success or failure of a technique I read about in a medieval surgical treatise (shockingly enough ‘medieval surgical treatise with emphasis on battlefield medicine’ actually includes some sane-sounding ideas! I was quite surprised myself):
The author recommended, for suturing facial wounds without increased scarring (I shudder to think what non-sterile needle and thread with period metallurgy and spinning must have made sutures like…), that the surgeon glue a strip of vellum to the skin on each side of the wound and suture through the vellum in order to draw the wound closed without actually having to put a needle into the patient’s face over and over. I’ve never had a suitable chance to try it; but it sounds plausible enough, at least for shallow wounds.
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Thanks for the video (and the other ones it suggested - here goes the night!). I didn’t know quite a number of these tricks!
I agree that other means are preferable. But knowing the backup option has its advantages too, if only to keep Murphy away so you actually have the preferable goods on hand. (Ever noticed how rarely things go wrong when all the backups are in place and tested?) Or in case the emergency outlasts the supplies.
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She’s on the hook for lots of money because of the decision made by a third party without her consent? Hmm. Seems to me that the third party should be paying.
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“Obama” is now code for the American terror of anything that smacks remotely of socialism in spite of all evidence of it’s benefits.
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Ooooh Ooooh! I know this one! You go to the barber shop, where the nice man with the straight razor has you squeeze the bollard on the pole, and cuts your wrist right?! That’s what we’re heading towards right? Lemme get out my scuba gear, I’m heading to the swamp down the hill to go leech hunting.
Obvious solution:
Tattoos on all body parts reading DO NOT TOUCH ME IF YOU ARE AN OUT OF NETWORK MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL. TRANSFER TO IN-NETWORK FACILITY AS SOON AS PRACTICAL.
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I’d laugh, if I weren’t already literally angry with rage.
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<a href=“http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thanks-obama"target=”_blank">Meme recognition failure.
Insurers don’t lose money when the prices go up
Sorry to disagree, but they do. When they compensate based on a percentage of the charge remaining after contractual write off is deducted, the actual dollar amount the insurer pays will go up. Premiums are set prior to the insured purchasing a policy so the insurer can’t pass that cost increase to the insured for up to a year.
So since everyone wants/needs health insurance, insurers would rather than the price of health services be as high as possible. That way they sell larger policies and get a larger cut.
Insurance companies don’t get a “cut”. They pay a percentage. If the bills are high, they pay more to the hospital… not less. What is this cut you are referring to?
