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DEF CON's hacker-in-chief faces fortune in medical bills

theregister.com

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Re: DEF CON's hacker-in-chief faces fortune in medical bills

#3

Post by mkesper »

The cybersecurity community has rallied together to support Rogers' fundraiser, which at the time of writing has accrued just over $63,000 in donations, with just over half of the total sum raised so far.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-marc-rogers-road-to-recov...

Re: DEF CON's hacker-in-chief faces fortune in medical bills

#6

Post by dod9er »

mkesper wrote: post #3

The cybersecurity community has rallied together to support Rogers' fundraiser, which at the time of writing has accrued just over $63,000 in donations, with just over half of the total sum raised so far. https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-marc-rogers-road-to-recov...

Lucky who is part of a strong community...

Re: DEF CON's hacker-in-chief faces fortune in medical bills

#8

Post by righthand »

pluc wrote: post #4

That's a feature of living in the US, not a bug. It's a matter of time before it happens, it's not an "if".

USA reaping what it’s sown, we’ve had very viable healthcare candidates in the last 20 years and instead we’ve voted for hysteria and insurance industry friendly moderates.

Re: DEF CON's hacker-in-chief faces fortune in medical bills

#9

Post by glimshe »

pluc wrote: post #4

That's a feature of living in the US, not a bug. It's a matter of time before it happens, it's not an "if".

This is not true. I'm getting tired of reading this kind of stuff on HN, maybe I should just ignore it but a few friends from other parts of the world, also HN readers, are starting to believe it... So I'll try doing my part.

Yes, the worst-case scenario for health expenses is indeed bad in the US, this is true. However, this is not the average healthcare experience. It's not a matter of time until you're slapped with a bankruptcy-level bill.

My wife and I, both in our 50s, have had our share of insurance annoyances and frustrating phone calls, but we've had multiple surgeries fully covered by insurance. And this is the same with friends and family members, including at least 4 cancer treatments that did not lead to bankruptcy-level or even truly notable bills. This anecdote includes many people who died of "old age".

Worst-case scenario bills can be bad elsewhere too. For instance, a friend in Europe had to do a 250K GoFundMe campaign to pay for a life-saving treatment for his daughter because well, the only place in the world that performed the surgery she needed was... Guess where? The US. He faced bankruptcy for this bill, but friends and strangers were able to help him out to an extent. I think he's still recovering from the expense years later.

Medical bankruptcies and financially crushing bills are a sad possibility in the US, and certainly much more likely than in most other places. We need to keep working on this. But the vast majority of people will not have to face this problem in their lifetimes.

Re: DEF CON's hacker-in-chief faces fortune in medical bills

#10

Post by neilv »

The Register was hinting at how ridiculous the health insurance situation is, so, TL;DR of that aspect:

> [...] and nothing out of the ordinary showed up on a routine X-ray and an MRI wasn't possible due to insurance delays. [...] A week later, Rogers started losing some sensation in his hands and tried to have the MRI rescheduled, but the approval from his insurance company never came. [...] "Overnight I lost all sensation, all mobility, and became quadriplegic. [...] He begins a course of physical therapy today, but his insurance will only cover the first of three required weeks, [...]

In isolation, that last bit would only sound like normal unconscionable practices of a health insurance company. But in context of their prior shittiness resulting in great harm to the insured, it's like they're doubling-down. Are they so untouchable, that they don't have to care about optics?

I hope a really good lawyer contacts the victim, and they successfully sue the insurance company for a billion dollars. And that that provides a template for other victims to sue. A billion here, a billion there, and, pretty soon, and even the most sociopathic execs and boards have to start rethinking their practices.

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