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My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

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Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#151

Post by brenschluss »

lobotryas wrote: post #148
brenschluss wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>To me it sounds like you never had a long-term plan for the treatment or your own future. You jumped in, blew your savings, and now you're stuck. You think that the OP is to blame for not having a long-term plan for a scenario in which one's very close family member is diagnosed with a previously unknown disease and $150k is not enough to take care of that? You think this is an instance of poor planning on the OP's…

I do. Cancer kills quickly, but not "tomorrow" quickly. This gives an opportunity to consider the big picture and how you'll navigate this challenge. The OP himself writes that his savings lasted for 4+ months. I was surprised that, in this timeframe, zero thought appears to have been given to the question: "What happens when my money runs out?". The final outcome may have been the same (asking for donations online),…

Okay! Scenario time! Same thing happens to you, or your family. A family member has cancer. It's going to cost $50k and a few months. What do you do?

Oh wait. Instead of $50k, it's more like $75k. Actually, make that $125k. But it's going to be $125k and no more.

Just kidding. In fact, because I'm playing the role of Life + Healthcare in this scenario, I'm going to lob a little bit more at you. In fact, it's going to be $1M. (Think this is implausible? Sorry, it's not. [1]) What are you going to do? Also, I may up that number a little bit more, just for kicks. What are your plans?

[1] http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/02/tim_a...

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#152

Post by kendalk »

bippi wrote: post #27
thatthatis wrote: post #18

Serious question: Why were these bills paid by the son who would have no financial obligation in the case of his mother's bankruptcy? America's health care safety net is bankruptcy and the 'cannot refuse critical treatment based on ability to pay' role of emergency rooms. Seems the right course to take in these situations is to string along the hospitals until it ends up in bankruptcy and only pay out of pocket from…

I'm very sad it's come to this, but bankruptcy is what I was thinking. That said, lets start the discussion: a) They're only obligated to provide some treatment (Here's a band-aid for your tumor) to get to stability. That counts, right? ...and that seriously is the case. My aunt who had no insurance had to get a thyroid tumor removed. She got it done, but she had a less-than hospitable stay. Normally you get a day or…

> Here's your homecare

I read on the news this morning that the administration is proposing to cut homecare by 40%. I did a double-take when I read that. Unless the article I read got it wrong, a lot of people are going to be hurt.

I lost my Mom to cancer this past September.

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#153

Post by kendalk »

I lost my Mom to cancer in September. Cancer is a nightmare. My heart goes out to you.

They didn't catch my Mom's cancer until it was already Stage 4 and the size of an orange to grapefruit. She developed massive ascites which caused her to gain 30+lbs of fluid. People don't know how bad cancer is until you live it first-hand.

I was my Mom's full-time caregiver. It was hard. But now that I can look back, I feel privileged to have been able to be with her.

Do you know what the word "diaper" is spelled the other way around? Repaid.

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#154

Post by danielweber »

wmt wrote: post #49
atmosx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No not even that I think. People in the USA perceives any kind of added tax, as money stolen from the state . Most of them do not have the notion of public regarded as something positive. Let's say it's a very different perception of property, compared to Europe. I am trying to convince myself that it's not wrong it's just different . I try to accept the fact that I don't understand their approach and get over with,…

There's no need to raise taxes, just provide universal healthcare. US is already spending as much per capita on public healthcare to European countries![1] This means that instead of tax hikes you would need to use the existing budget for public healthcare to provide free public healthcare to everyone, just like all other countries who provide a "free" public healthcare paid with taxes. [1] http://www.marketwatch.com…

How did they arrive at $4000 per capita on health expenditures? Times 300 million people, that's $1.2 Trillion. DHHS including Medicare and Medicaid was $940 Billion in 2013.

Anyway, I'd love to see a system that reallocated the money that the government is spending right now only on certain groups and used it to provide the best boost to public health it could for all Americans. But you would be running right into the AARP lobby who would frame this as taking care away from seniors. That's a fierce lobby, and you'd need some sort of plan.

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#155

Post by lobotryas »

brenschluss wrote: post #151
lobotryas wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do. Cancer kills quickly, but not "tomorrow" quickly. This gives an opportunity to consider the big picture and how you'll navigate this challenge. The OP himself writes that his savings lasted for 4+ months. I was surprised that, in this timeframe, zero thought appears to have been given to the question: "What happens when my money runs out?". The final outcome may have been the same (asking for donations online),…

Okay! Scenario time! Same thing happens to you, or your family. A family member has cancer. It's going to cost $50k and a few months. What do you do? Oh wait. Instead of $50k, it's more like $75k. Actually, make that $125k. But it's going to be $125k and no more. Just kidding. In fact, because I'm playing the role of Life + Healthcare in this scenario, I'm going to lob a little bit more at you. In fact, it's going to…

Your post may be more convincing if you outlined your actual point instead of relying on hypothetical scenarios. My only guess at what you're saying is: "Healthcare costs can be unpredictable." That's a fair assumption, but it fails to negate my previous point in any way.

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#156

Post by robotresearcher »

ry0ohki wrote: post #113
robotresearcher wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those violent crimes in the UK don't tend to involve guns and/or becoming dead. UK homicide rate: 1.2 per 100,000 persons US homicide rate: 4.7 per 100,000 persons You are more than twice as likely to get beaten up in the UK than the US. You are around 4 times as likely to be murdered in the US than the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentiona... The UK has a violence problem, probably at leas…

Those statistics mean little outside of cohorts. I would wager to guess the murder rate for the class of people who visit HackerNews is 1 per 10,000,000. Being randomly murdered is not a rational fear in America.

I'd prefer not to sweep problems under the rug because they are not suffered much by my "class".

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#157

Post by grecy »

danielweber wrote: post #150
danielweber wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People pay taxes that pay for healthcare for every single citizen. No person is without care. (end of comparison). The Netherlands and Switzerland have a system of compulsory insurance that's closer to PPACA than it is to "pay taxes that pay for healthcare for every single citizen." Germany has a combination of sickness funds combined with insurance mandates. Singapore has compulsory health savings accounts. The US…

> EDIT: Implied in my broad statement is No person pays out of pocket for care, other than the original taxes. To emphasize how completely wrong this is: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.PUBL/countries?or... Even single-payer Canada only has 70% of health-care costs covered by the government. And co-pays are hardly restricted to America: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/c...

> Even single-payer Canada only has 70% of health-care costs covered by the government

I happen to live in Canada. Sure, Canadians pay out of pocket for some health care, like chiropractors and dentists, but it's important to note no Canadian ever went bankrupt or died due to lack of care (the OP) because of a car crash, slipping on ice, or simply getting hit by statistics.

Canadians don't pay out of pocket for things like broken arms or needed surgeries. Also worth noting that applies to the un-employed, mentally disabled, those unable to work, and those too young or too old to work, etc.

You can nit-pick my broad statement all you want, at the end of the day, health care in America is severely, shockingly, disgustingly lagging behind the developed world.

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#158

Post by grecy »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #149
grecy wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tell me how to vote for change, and I'll gladly do it. Turn off your TV, get off your couch and get outside and protest like any good citizen of a democracy is required to do. Look what happens in France when the government tries to take away a single public holiday, or make changes to maternity leave. What your government is currently offering for health care is completely and utterly unacceptable beyond belief. I…

> What your government is currently offering for health care is completely and utterly unacceptable beyond belief. It's your job to make them change it. Many of us argue that it's reprehensible that government is "offering" healthcare at all. We are protesting, though :)

> We are protesting, though :)

Really? I've never seen anything on the news about it, yet I see plenty of citizens of other countries in the news because they are protesting things their government is doing. You must not be protesting loud enough ;)

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#159

Post by hartator »

joshmn wrote: post #125
brd wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say I find it suspicious that 284 days ago he posted about how he had "no cash to build an MVP" and yet 3 months later he had 150k in savings. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5727255

It was more of an open-ended question for discussion, and I was wondering how other people had bootstrapped themselves when they needed to buy product in order to kickstart something.

It doesn't sound like this to me.

It seems you were begging for money for a brand-new project of yours. I actually remember it from last year. If you were dishonest about money then, why should we trust you now?

Re: My mom is dying, and my bank account is dry. I need help

#160

Post by ry0ohki »

robotresearcher wrote: post #156
ry0ohki wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those statistics mean little outside of cohorts. I would wager to guess the murder rate for the class of people who visit HackerNews is 1 per 10,000,000. Being randomly murdered is not a rational fear in America.

I'd prefer not to sweep problems under the rug because they are not suffered much by my "class".

Who's sweeping problems under the rug? I'm simply saying it's not something you need to fear, unless you plan to enter the drug trade instead of coding.
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