A Linux dev who helped thousands needs help to fight cancer • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by Lockyy » Sun, Aug 26, 2012, 12:48 PM UTC

astrodust wrote: post #88

batgaijin wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Those overweight children are more than likely hideously malnourished, so unless they are just counting malnourished as underfed they should count into that statistic. Which makes 5% seem oddly low.

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

#132

Post by agumonkey » Sun, Aug 26, 2012, 2:13 PM UTC

Quote from indiegogo:

    8/25 - Update 4: Thank you!

    I can't thank you enough. Not only have we found Ken a surgeon, but the surgeon has agreed to 
    do the surgery for a fraction of the original cost. We have raised $47,600 total now, enough 
    to cover the surgery, any and all pre and post op medical expenses, all medication Ken will 
    need for the foreseeable future, and there might even be some left over to go to Reglue.


    I can't stress enough how thankful I am to everyone who has helped. The outpouring of support 
    is amazing. You are all wonderful people. :)


    Thank you.

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

#133

Post by DanBC » Sun, Aug 26, 2012, 8:52 PM UTC

antihero wrote: post #130

DanBC wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people go to their GP and that helps reduce the load. But see the need for out of hours doctors clinics being placed in the same place as A&E units - Swindon has electronic signs telling you the estimated wait times for each unit, with big signs telling you where out of hours doctors unit is. Continuing to remind people about pharmacists, NHS_Direct, GPs, and out of hours GPs is helping reduce pressure on the NH…

Why don't they categorise people into priorities so someone comes in with a broken arm, they get seen faster than someone with a graze? Perhaps this could be solved algorithmically.

They do triage.

But someone with a broken arm is in a lot of pain; someone with X is at risk of death. And if you have people that need to be triaged that's one less nurse for treatment (because they're triaging) and the triage queue gets long.

And the people with a graze are likely to have to wait a very long time, because (for some reason) it's not acceptable to tell people to go and see someone more appropriate. These people also count against the hospital for the 4 hour wait limit for A&E patients.

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

#134

Post by ixacto » Mon, Aug 27, 2012, 5:03 AM UTC

streptomycin wrote: post #125

oneandoneis2 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friend of mine got charged almost a thousand dollars just for being taken to hospital in an ambulance. The journey lasted about ten minutes. This kind of massively-overinflated cost is endemic in US healthcare. Getting rid of it would easily allow you to lower spending whilst covering more people.

You're misunderstanding my point. Our public healthcare systems, Medicare and Medicaid, are already more expensive than many national healthcare programs. So forget whatever you friend spends in the private sector. Even if all people not on Medicare/Medicaid spent absolutely nothing on healthcare, we would still be spending more money than these other countries in total. So the idea that we can somehow expand coverag…

Well if Mitt & CO win, who knows Medicare vouchers might become a reality. Then when people are thrown out of hospitals by the ends of their colostomy bags and IVs, a single payer system might appear to be a bit better solution. All the VA (socialized healthcare for people in the military-industrial complex) and Medi* (socialized healthcare for old people/boomers) are doing is creating an insurance market for people outside these demographics, which constitutes the nations supply of genx/geny workers. If I did not have insurance under obamacare I would have to pay $4068.15 so far this year. This was for one emergency room visit lasting an hour and 2 doctors appointments. If I didn't have insurance I just wouldn't have paid it.

Do like Mitt does, keep your money outside the country where the Government can't get it.