News Stories

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

It's a defoliant, which means it effectively kills pretty much any plant life it comes in contact with. It's also highly toxic and causes a whole host of bad things in animal life, including humans.

and it sticks around for a long time in the environment.

[Urzu 7]

I remember hearing that it painfully attacks your nervous system, and can kill you by stressing your heart and it is very painful. But I'm not sure on those details. This is what I remember hearing as a kid.

[RRW]

Doctors remove spider hiding in woman’s ear canal

A woman who went to China's Changsha Central Hospital complaining of itching in the left side of her head was told by doctors that the source of irritation was a spider that had been living inside her ear canal for five days.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...195029859.html

[Elestia]

Wells Fargo fires employee because his daughter had cancer.

"Wells Fargo allegedly fired an employee because his dying daughter needed expensive cancer treatment, according to a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Court on Thursday. Wells Fargo fired mortgage consultant Yovany Gonzalez three days before his daughter Mackenzie was scheduled to get cancer surgery in August of 2010, the lawsuit states. According to the suit, the hospital canceled the surgery because Mackenzie no longer was covered by health insurance...

Daughter has cancer, bank fires him because "he filled out his time sheet wrong", loses coverage from United Health Care, COBRA papers are "lost" for 90 days, scheduled surgery is canceled three days before operation because he is no longer covered, and daughter dies shortly after.

Holy fuck.

[Urzu 7]

My 2 cents: I hope they are happy about the money they saved from that operation because it'll cost them in the afterlife...

[Vexx]

And that's why "employer driven healthcare" is a pile of shit -- you're not the customer, your employer is.
UHC is also one of the shittier insurance companies (no, that's not an opinion - documented statistics).

Assuming the events are accurate - this will burn the "status quo" fiends for a long time.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by RRW

Doctors remove spider hiding in woman’s ear canal






http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...195029859.html

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Why... why would you attempt to give us nightmare fuel

Originally Posted by Vexx

And that's why "employer driven healthcare" is a pile of shit -- you're not the customer, your employer is.
UHC is also one of the shittier insurance companies (no, that's not an opinion - documented statistics).

Assuming the events are accurate - this will burn the "status quo" fiends for a long time.

The Right says government issued health care is socialist devil's work and anyone who wants one is a commie.
But it's working out pretty good for us.

If I had no insurance, it's cheaper for me to FLY back to Japan, have surgery, and fly back to US.
Makes no stinking sense.

[Mr. DJ]

first comment I read about that...

"OH THAT'S ALRIGHT! I DIDN'T NEED TO SLEEP EVER AGAIN ANYWAYS!"

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Originally Posted by Elestia

Wells Fargo fires employee because his daughter had cancer.



Daughter has cancer, bank fires him because "he filled out his time sheet wrong", loses coverage from United Health Care, COBRA papers are "lost" for 90 days, scheduled surgery is canceled three days before operation because he is no longer covered, and daughter dies shortly after.

Holy fuck.

That's disgusting. I really hope they have to pay out some ludicrously large payment to that family. Pretty sure a company pulling anything close to that down here (Aust) would be crucified publicly in the media to the point of having to reverse their decision.

Originally Posted by aohige

The Right says government issued health care is socialist devil's work and anyone who wants one is a commie.
But it's working out pretty good for us.

If I had no insurance, it's cheaper for me to FLY back to Japan, have surgery, and fly back to US.
Makes no stinking sense.

Those 'Right' folks sound like morons to me. That system you guys have now would be a massive detractor for me if I ever considered moving the the USA. I know people bitch about the Public system down here, but it's really quite the decent system (except for queue times on things like elective surgeries). I was in it for a while until my illness got to the point where it because more economic to go 'private'. That and it 'forces' the Private health insurance guys to be competitive (hell I know I've got my monies worth out of them).

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by aohige

The Right says government issued health care is socialist devil's work and anyone who wants one is a commie.
But it's working out pretty good for us.

What most of their fears ultimately come down to is the dislike for the idea of being forced to do something. They don't want the government to be able to force them into anything, and they also don't like the idea that they would be forced to support "lazy people" who would be parasites to the system.

When the healthcare debate was raging, I frequently heard these types of people saying, "I don't want to pay for anyone else's problems or healthcare." The funny thing about that, it gives away a total lack of understanding about how insurance - whether government-sponsored or private - works.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Mr Hat and Clogs

That's disgusting. I really hope they have to pay out some ludicrously large payment to that family. Pretty sure a company pulling anything close to that down here (Aust) would be crucified publicly in the media to the point of having to reverse their decision.

Fat lot of good that would do for the poor girl.

[Ithekro]

People on certain healthcare systems now don't "pay into it" by their own thought, but are just getting their money back from either working, MediCare, or Veterans Benefits. The only money they spend is the copay usually.

Their complaint is having to spend more money, or spend it again when they don't believe they should. (or they were ripped off by the State because they paid into Social Security and cannot use it because they were State employees as some point....or something like that.) And of course the notion that they don't want to pay for someone else, because again, to them, they don't see themselves as paying for someone else, but paying for themselve later in life, only.

[aohige]

Hmm, just to clarify, "it's working out pretty good for us" was aimed at Japan, where as the "commie-calling Right" issue is aimed for US.

I have Japanese citizenship and therefore am covered under the national insurance.
Since I have permanent resident status in US, I would normally use my company's insurance.
But if shit hits the fan and I lose my insurance at the worst possible moment, I have the option of returning to Japan (granted, there's enough time to do some paperwork )

According those "far Right", Japan and Canada would be considered dirty commies, it seems.

[DonQuigleone]

Dont you know? THE WHOLE WORLD IS FILLED WITH COMMIES!

The USA clearly lost the Cold War...

[Ithekro]

Americans apparently also don't care to conform with the rest of the world (in the "our way has worked for us, why change it?" way)

US has "mostly" rejected metrics, for instance. Whenever it is brought up that all the other First World nations are doing something, the responce tends to come back along the lines of "So what, if everyone jumped off a bridge would you?" Or the more patriotic one, "Their ways can't work here because we have more freedoms than they do" Somwtimes added are things about not giving up that freedom for any reason, even if it seems like a good idea.

Mainly because Hollywood has spend the last half century making films and television shows that depict the governement as evil and that once a freedom is given up, you never get it back. That and films about corperations are evil and if you tie the government and corperattions together with no alternative....you end up with Blade Runner type worlds, or worlds that are worse than most inner cities are now in terms of crime, corruption, and sanitaton, where everyone is a number and doesn't matter at all. All that doesn't help at all. Espically since a lot of people can miss the messages of these films and shows (depending on what it was. They tend to be either warning about the "at the time goverment" or social commentaries on reality made extreme so the audiance will notice. Or they were satire or political pieces about our enemies (usually the Soviet for a long period of time).

[FDW]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

snip

Yeah, it's attitudes like that make you wonder where this country is going to go…

[Vexx]

Interesting (i.e. pointed) article on the New York State bank regulators running circles around the .... well, corrupt Wall Street banksters of Geithner et al (who span both political parties) as they try to shuffle the Libor scandal under the table "so no one is embarrassed". Banzai, New York...

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/...in-lawsky.html

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Elestia

Wells Fargo fires employee because his daughter had cancer.



Daughter has cancer, bank fires him because "he filled out his time sheet wrong", loses coverage from United Health Care, COBRA papers are "lost" for 90 days, scheduled surgery is canceled three days before operation because he is no longer covered, and daughter dies shortly after.

Holy fuck.

Corporate health insurance is one of the dumbest financial plan ever created. The insurance company doesn't earn alot and takes on a ridiculous amount of risk, the employer pays ridiculous sums for it and the worker gets ridiculous coverage. Who the fuck even thought of that up in the first place?

If it is a hired business advisor, he/she should be stripped and hung on his or her toes in the city square and be abused in whatever way the next passer-by wants.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by aohige

According those "far Right", Japan and Canada would be considered dirty commies, it seems.

With the accident I had last month, I am really happy than Canada is such ''commies state''

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Corporate health insurance is one of the dumbest financial plan ever created. The insurance company doesn't earn alot and takes on a ridiculous amount of risk, the employer pays ridiculous sums for it and the worker gets ridiculous coverage. Who the fuck even thought of that up in the first place?

If it is a hired business advisor, he/she should be stripped and hung on his or her toes in the city square and be abused in whatever way the next passer-by wants.

Keep in mind that the insurance landscape and the medical system were both very different when corporate health insurance was implemented. In hindsight we can say that it wasn't the best implementation, but it wasn't a bad idea for its time. The problem is that things have changed quite a bit since then, and corporate health insurance is now far from optimal.