Maybe this will flush Eki out- $143K Hospital Bill Shocks Snake Bite Victem

[airshifter]

$20k for a cleenex (3 ply is extra). But they do throw in a super duper mega max king whopper burger and a coke that comes in a cup the size of a bucket.......

The drinks the size of the bucket are now old news. Mini kegs is the current trend.

[Rollo]

This was an advert inside the bus in Sydney today:

[Tazio]

Sounds like a clever marketing slogan to me. I would be a little suspicious of that particular insurance company. :bulb although it is true) :
The exspression "When in Rome" comes to mind right about now. It is probably a good idea that you stay as far away from the U.S. as possible. We are going to miss you so terribly though.

[Tazio]

Don't they go all vacant after a simple 'hello'?

No, but many would if they heard in a cockney accented… 'ello

[Tazio]

But they do throw in a super duper mega max king whopper burger and a coke that comes in a cup the size of a bucket.......

That is as undeniably true as all Brits having "bangers and mash" for breakfast every day with a huge helping of fried bread and a bowl of lard the size of Stonehenge to dip it in.



Oh yes and what teeth you do have are in a state of terrible disrepair. :

[Rollo]

Sounds like a clever marketing slogan to me. I would be a little suspicious of that particular insurance company.

From the TID website:
This insurance is arranged and managed by Cerberus and underwritten by certain underwriters at Lloyd's.

Cerberus Capital Management LP has roughly $20bn in assets under management. I would be a little suspicious of one of the top 100 Contractors of the U.S. Federal Government too.

[Tazio]

Ok fair enough. Now how many fraudulent companies do you suspect that hospitals have to deal with? I would say quite a few. Never the less If your policy was from such a legit operation as Lloyds and you were in California, why did you not have the procedure? I had Blue Cross and had an emergency procedure at a hospital that is practically in bed with Blue Cross. But since I didn’t have my Blue Cross ID with me they billed me. I spoke with them and they said just send us a photo copy of it and everything will be taken care of. Well it was, it took almost a year of correspondences between us (which by the way I found quite absurd and still do). But you being a tourist you really didn't know the ins and outs of the system. As I stated before if this happened in California all you had to do is go in through the emergency room, and have your visit. They do not discriminate against people with or without insurance. After your stay you walk away or you leave in a wheel chair. You go home and I guarantee you Lloyds would take care of it.
You still haven’t told me which hospitals in
California refused to treat you. I would really like to know because they would be in deep sh!t.
Maybe as a tourist you asked for a guarantee that this surgery was going to cover you completely and the people on staff could not tell you what you wanted to hear. I suspect that is more like something I would believe you could make happen, and pitch a fit about it.
So this guy From Norway who admitted he had cut rate insurance did not have to pay a dime, and went on with his studies in cybernetics at UCSD. You went crying home to Australia even though you could have had the procedure done here. (if it was in California) I love the fear mongering, it is hysterical. If you don't like our policy's stay away, because the majority of San Diegans don't want you anyway.
When I was hitting the beaches as a much younger man there was a popular saying among the locals:
"Tourist's Go Home But Leave Your Daughters".
Ciao........saaanap!!

[Tazio]

That may be true, however this is a very large country California Alone is about the same size as France. I probably have about as much in common with someone From Auburn Alabama as I do with someone from the Canari Islands. Visit [/I]if you dare[I] Del Mar, Solana Beach Santa Monica/Venice, San Francisco, Carmel, Napa, Mendocino, and the only fat people you will see are tourist's form Illinois, (they also love their sausage) Virginia,( they specialize in Ham although Newport News VA. is very progressive) and depending upon who can afford it many other States. The statistics are skewed and you can't draw conclusions from it other than as a whole we are fat. Let me give you another example. I don't think that San Diego would rate very high in the lean index because it is/was a Navy Town. With all the conflict's that the previous administration was drooling to throw us into and did. The only people in my line of thinking that would enlist are misguided patriots, or others that have no other real options. They generally come from the South or just about any poor rural area including California. When in training, these men and women are probably in pretty good shape. But that doesn't last long, plus their dependants who don't have to train are generally good candidates for type two Diabetes by the time they are 14. The hard core capitalist’s in the "Home of the Gullible" tell us that we need lower taxes to generate more growth in the economy. That is something I believe is a bad solution. Not because I don't think it's true, because it will bring on more of the same people running around with GPS’s, and hand held internet, and always at least a cell phone, so they can be much more effective working machines. Don't get me wrong I think these are all great devices, but over here they are great tools to get employees in the field to run around like mad men, and women who make psychologists and psychiatrists wealthy, making the idea of fast, cheap comfort food very appealing. Personally when I go out I only bring my cell phone (turned on) with me if I am expecting a call, you know why? I come from a different time. A time when your only phone was hard wired to a line in your house. So I have carried over some of its so called limitations. My cell phone is off because (metaphorically speaking) I'm not at home. I'm sure plenty of people will say what if someone in your family has an emergency? If they can reach a phone they can dial 911 and you know what else the paramedics that arrive cannot refuse to treat you in your own house or anywhere else in California.
Now if you are savvy, and you don't have insurance in San Diego, you can go to the San Diego Mid City Clinic. Here is there phone number; (619) 280-2058 The vast amount of people that go there are on CMS (Not having a net worth of $1,999.99 excluding one auto for transportation) Everything that is done for these people is covered by County Medical Services. They don't pay a penny and that would include antivenin from a rattlesnake bite, plus it can be applied retroactively. If you don't have insurance, you can and (I have) go there. Your office visit is all the way up to $36 dollars (that is to see an MD) They will give you lists of facilities for whatever tests you may need. Some of them are so low that it would impress a Canadian or a Romanian Who pays for all this you say; The Tax payers? As I said before most of the rest of the country and many in California call us communists, although I think what their dumb asses mean is socialist’s. What I'm saying is that statistics can paint us with a broad brush. And please remember this: No other Country has blindly followed us into military conflict in the last 20 years than the UK. That is why I respected the stance that the French took especially in the UN when the case was made for us to go into Iraq because of the overwhelming body of evidence of weapons of mass destruction

[Tazio]

.......and I almost forgot, the Native Americans which probably outnumber Brits have a genetic predisposition to becoming obese and getting type 2 diabetes. Why you say? I so glad you asked. They spent many thousands of years as mostly gathers. As much as you would like to believe they gorged themselves on Buffalo that is a creation of Hollywood (not that some didn't hunt Buffalo). However there were none in the vast majority of what is now the USA. These peoples ate as many berries nuts and fruit as they could find, however it was for the most part just enough to survive. It is no secret that these people have a conditioned response to over-eat. I think if you check these peoples have an enormously high percentage of obesity, and type 2 diabetes even compared to all other Americans. Black descendants of Slaves have a less rate than Natives although if you check I think you will see that they are higher than European/descended Americans. saanap