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A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer

linuxlock.blogspot.it

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Re: A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer

#82

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

msie wrote: post #22
BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that your donation goes 9% further if you just donate directly rather than through IndieGoGo.

Phew! If I had read the comments here before the article I would have donated through IndieGoGo instead of PayPal.

But I said IndieGoGo results in a smaller donation... (They take a 9% cut in addition to PayPal/merchant fees.)

Re: A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer

#85

Post by dinkumthinkum »

lgbr wrote: post #49
justin66 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 wh…

This is actually a common problem with what is, in practice, an already socialized portion of American healthcare: Emergency Rooms Since emergency rooms cannot turn patients away, there are a lot of people to come to the emergency rooms for things like pains in their big toe, menstrual cramps, and so on. This is why the emergency room is so absurdly expensive in the United States. Health care here really isn't very e…

But your logic here is flawed. People go to the ER for those things, which are normally legitimate problems, because they can't afford to go to a regular physician. It's sort of ironic that you would pick this example. The idea that health care here really isn't expensive outside of ERs ... is just kind of ridiculous. I think it would be a better argument to say "I don't care about them, screw them if they can't pay" than to use this reasoning -- at least it has the potential for being realistic.

Re: A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer

#87

Post by FireBeyond »

lgbr wrote: post #49
justin66 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 wh…

This is actually a common problem with what is, in practice, an already socialized portion of American healthcare: Emergency Rooms Since emergency rooms cannot turn patients away, there are a lot of people to come to the emergency rooms for things like pains in their big toe, menstrual cramps, and so on. This is why the emergency room is so absurdly expensive in the United States. Health care here really isn't very e…

Firefighter / paramedic (/ IT geek) here: I took a patient today out of the ER (via ambulance) to a skilled nursing facility. There were a lot (for us, 6+) ambulances in the receiving bay. Patient comments: "Wow, busy. Usually when I'm going to the ER, and I see that many ambulances, I say to my friend "we'll come back tomorrow when it's quieter"."

Read into that what you will.

Re: A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer

#88

Post by astrodust »

batgaijin wrote: post #77
doktrin wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 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.

You think our health care is bad? http://abcnews.go.com/Health/US/hunger-children-america-slow... 5% of our 300 million population is starving/malnourished children.

Then 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.

Re: A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer

#89

Post by lexarchy »

Egads, 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.

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