Or catching on fire for no reason--one yesterday in Sacramento area.Quote:
Originally Posted by gregorys
Printable View
Or catching on fire for no reason--one yesterday in Sacramento area.Quote:
Originally Posted by gregorys
Umm stupid question but how does a library of all places become infused with meth?Quote:
Originally Posted by hatchgreenchile
The homeless.
This meth “contamination” reeks of the “if you look at fentanyl you will die” narrative floated by cops.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/18/11496...nation-closure
Attachment 445262
Lol. Lmao
Interesting read.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcphee
Cleaning up a meth lab. Yeah.
Unless someone was cooking meth in a library this is bullshit.
Seems like someone swabbed the men’s room and got a positive hit. For minimal residue. Quick!! Call the hazmat team!!!
I woke up Christmas morning with a clogged ear. It felt like something was dampening my hearing, and of course, it was full of wax. There was no pain, but it was super annoying. This year, Christmas fell on a weekend, and my doctor's office was closed, as were most of the other other medical facilities in town. It was either the ER, or an emergent care center that I have never used before. Thinking that this was hardly the type of thing to waste ER time, I opted for the emergent care center. I was accepted immediately, and I gave the receptionist my ins. card. I was taken to an examination room, where a medical tech looked into my ear with an otoscope and confirmed that I had an ear full of wax. Next, a doctor entered, looked into my ear and confirmed the tech's diagnosis. This took about 2 minutes. The tech left the room and returned ten minutes later with a Rhino ear washer bottle. He irrigated my ear for less than 2 minutes and flushed all the wax out. Relief was total and immediate. All is good.
Yesterday, I received my EOB from the ins. provider. The emergent care center attempted to charge my ins. carrier a whopping $843 ($230 for the office visit, $489 for "surgery", $109 for "medical" and $15 for supplies). The insurance carrier denied $689 of the claim and agreed to pay $154. The medical provider agreed and accepted this amount.
Attachment 445296
I hate to complain when the desired result was obtained....but...Sheesh!
....and people think lawyers are bad.
This is but one example of what is wrong with healthcare in this country. Can you imagine that if I was uninsured I would be on the hook for $843! .
Yeah. Two things short of universal healthcare that I think would solve a ton of cluster-fuckery in health care:
1) everyone gets charged the same rate. If you take Medicare, that's what you charge everyone, regardless of insurance. That solves all the back billing, out of network docs at in-network facilities, uninsured price gouging, etc.
2) If a doctor prescribes a treatment or medicine that is covered under your insurance, the insurance company has to cover it. How are patients supposed to know what the most cost-effective solution is? If a doctor is over-prescribing some medicine when a generic would do, the insurance company can take it up with the doctor. Patients aren't experts. That's why they need a doctor.
If you were uninsured, you would’ve just bought that ear wash kit off amazon for 20 bucks and done it yerself.
https://www.amazon.com/Ear-Wax-Remov.../dp/B0865JJZ7K
I just saw my PCP last week, she found wax in my right ear, irrigated the shit out of it and off I went. Exact same procedure in a non-emergent situation, and it was covered under my copay ($10).Quote:
Originally Posted by schindlerpiste
$850 is beyond fucked.
They sell “Elephant Ear” flushing system on Amazon…..they use exact same product in doctor’s office… All u need is somebody to do the spraying/flushing…lol.
Sounds like FranceQuote:
Originally Posted by Supermoon
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
A clogged ear without pain, fever etc is not a reason to go to urgent care.
As far as letting Medicare set the fees for any provider who accepts Medicare--all that would do is decrease the number of providers who accept medicare.
What's unusual about this case is that it was settled so easily.
A medicall bill should be viewed as the starting point of a negotiation between the provider and the insurer. Unless of course the patient is self insured in which case the negotiation is between the bankruptcy attorney and the provider.
(Totally irrelevant factoid--when doctors have big conventions the sponsoring organization arranges "special" rates at hotels listed in the program--specially high. I always stayed at non-participating hotels for less. I have heard that the only conventions where the hotels lower their rates are the lawyers'.
^^^Like I said, it was Christmas Day and a Sunday.
....I guess that I could have had a shitty Christmas and waited a day, but the empty urgent care facility was happy to take me in.
Fully agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by Supermoon
I'd also add expand on point 2 - no more holding the patient responsible when there is a dispute between medical provider and insurance company.
I've seen providers send payment to an insurance company but to the wrong location, or the insurance company received it but misapplied the payment. Now you have two corporations arguing over whether a bill has been paid or not. Guess who gets sent to collections? The patient. When I had my knee surgery, which had to be pre-approved by insurance, the surgeon billed around $8k for something that the insurance co claimed it had not approved up front. So it denied the entire amount and it was dutifully listed on the EOB as "patient responsibility". Since that $8k line was denied outright under the insurance policy, it would not have counted towards my deductible and out of pocket limits which were $2k and $4k if I had been forced to pay it. That is some fuckery right there. Instead the surgeon wrote the amount off rather than trying to collect from me, but I am sure not everyone is so fortunate.
There should be no negotiation between the provider and the insurer. Insurance companies should be required to reimburse at flat rate that is determined by a government body. That fee should be reimbursed within 48 hours of receiving the bill. It’s a system that works great for France.Quote:
Originally Posted by old goat
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
Great argument here for single payer health care.
Don’t ever go to a GP for ear wax removal. Their nurses are incapable of doing it if you have a real lump in there. Last time I went to a GP the nurse made my ear bleed although didn’t pierce the tympanum. An ENT has a vacuum device and the true expertise to remove ear wax. I go every four months for ear wax removal. Only solution is to have different parents so you don’t have it in first place. I could go on about ear wax but won’t.
Thermostat went dead recently.
Unit lists a 5-year professional warranty and specifies "For Professional Install Only" (warranty void if installed by homeowner) on the box.
Should be no problem, it was installed about 18mos ago by a local A/C company. Called up the company, tech comes out and confirms it's dead. He says he can handle the warranty but that Honeywell often won't beyond one year when installed by a contractor. Ummm......
Then he adds I'd be charged a $175 fee to install it. The base and wiring are already in place. If replacing with an identical unit all you do is pull the old head unit off and stick the new one on. Takes as much time to swap as it took to type that. And connect new unit to the app.
His suggestion is warranty it myself with Honeywell. Then just plug it in myself once received rather than pay the install fee. He was nice enough not to bill me for the service call.
Call Honeywell, and of course get the runaround. "The correct process is to have the installer warranty it."
Eventually they admit I can warranty it myself but they need "proof of install", invoice, photos, and today's invoice from the tech detailing troubleshooting done and recommendation. Oh, and.... we are out of stock of this unit and won't have it again for several months. And no, we can't substitute a comparable or lesser unit.
I'll be stopping by Home depot to buy something cheaper and not requiring professional install. But I might follow through with the warranty claim out of spite.
^^^Ive got a Nest you can have for shipping. New in box; I’m moving and don’t need it.
Thermostats can be kind of a bitch - lotsa wires that have to go in the right terminal. IME anyway. I ended up paying an A/C company to figure out what I did wrong. Annoying.Quote:
Originally Posted by evdog
This is your answer Evdog. I installed one of these a few months ago. Very straight forward. The eco settings on this thermostat compared to the Ecobee settings at the same temperatures are somehow costing less per the utility bills. And that’s with heating prices going up. It makes zero sense when I reread this but we are somehow saving money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyoverland Captive
That’s one hell of a egg you laid there. While waxing on ear wax isn’t really appealing, the different parents thing needs some elaboration.Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny H
Thanks! I'll need to figure out if it is compatible with my system (I think its a heat pump outside with a fan in the upstairs room). Apparently some thermostats are not compatible.
It’s believed that ear wax quantity is a genetic trait passed down by parents, not an environmental response or lack of hygiene.Quote:
Originally Posted by BCMtnHound
Kissing cousins a problem in some parts then. I mean, beyond avoiding dating in small towns, how does one go about selecting a mate to avoid such a pairing of (recessive?) traits. Somehow, the topic of earwax problems doesn’t seem to be one that will arise before intimate pairing, let alone before nuptials.Quote:
Originally Posted by lowsparkco