As Bushie's World Turns (The Update Thread)

[Gustaf]

So, are you thinking of taking up a missionary position over there?

[Gustaf]

I'm disappointed that my question received no answer. Oh, well.

I'll also add that I agree with the negativity being a bit bizarre. This may not exactly be a wise move, but it's hardly disastrous either.

[Gustaf]

Let me see if I have this correct:

So you did not want to claim unemployment, something you actually paid into, because that would be mooching, but you show up for a few hours to a pow wow and you are entitled to free health care in perpetuity. 

I can't speak from direct experience but I know most of these tribes and those on reservations are pretty desperately poor and have a dearth of resources.  Some white guy with 3% and very distant ancestry  taking up resources doesn't seem right to me.

I'd be interested in BRTD take on this- didnt he live on a reservation as a youth?

Get off your high horse. He's a poor in need of medical attention. It's a national disgrace that he's not entitled to care as an American citizen, but that's just the way it is. I would absolutely go for the free medical care in his position. I'd be interested to know if mental health care is covered also. Not trying to be a jerk about it, but I suspect that's something he could use as well.

Thanks, Memphis.  I don't see anything wrong with it and I definitely don't feel bad about it.  This is not mooching, it is using what I'm entitled to and something I desperately need.  If this is going to save me a hypothetical, but not unrealistic, $4,000 a year, that is $333.33 a month saved.  That will make my pay cut not seem so bad.  A side note, this even covers my OTC allergy medicine (Zyrtec, Claritin).  When I get my insurance in October, I will have to tell them I have insurance and they have to file with the insurance, but the tribe will pick up my portion of the cost, so I still don't have to pay anything.

From what I've heard this even works if, heaven forbid, I'm hurt on the job and have to go to the Emergency Room and end up hospitalized for a few days, I can get my entire bill paid for or at least heavily discounted.

Again, I'm going tomorrow morning to Shawnee to fill out the application along with my mother.

The only downside is my doctor would be 45 miles from my work, but if I get free service, I'll go!

Your monthly savings is more than I spend per year on healthcare.

[Gustaf]

Let me see if I have this correct:

So you did not want to claim unemployment, something you actually paid into, because that would be mooching, but you show up for a few hours to a pow wow and you are entitled to free health care in perpetuity.  

I can't speak from direct experience but I know most of these tribes and those on reservations are pretty desperately poor and have a dearth of resources.  Some white guy with 3% and very distant ancestry  taking up resources doesn't seem right to me.

I'd be interested in BRTD take on this- didnt he live on a reservation as a youth?

Get off your high horse. He's a poor in need of medical attention. It's a national disgrace that he's not entitled to care as an American citizen, but that's just the way it is. I would absolutely go for the free medical care in his position. I'd be interested to know if mental health care is covered also. Not trying to be a jerk about it, but I suspect that's something he could use as well.

Thanks, Memphis.  I don't see anything wrong with it and I definitely don't feel bad about it.  This is not mooching, it is using what I'm entitled to and something I desperately need.  If this is going to save me a hypothetical, but not unrealistic, $4,000 a year, that is $333.33 a month saved.  That will make my pay cut not seem so bad.  A side note, this even covers my OTC allergy medicine (Zyrtec, Claritin).  When I get my insurance in October, I will have to tell them I have insurance and they have to file with the insurance, but the tribe will pick up my portion of the cost, so I still don't have to pay anything.

From what I've heard this even works if, heaven forbid, I'm hurt on the job and have to go to the Emergency Room and end up hospitalized for a few days, I can get my entire bill paid for or at least heavily discounted.

Again, I'm going tomorrow morning to Shawnee to fill out the application along with my mother.

The only downside is my doctor would be 45 miles from my work, but if I get free service, I'll go!

Your monthly savings is more than I spend per year on healthcare.

It's news to you that healthcare is insanely overpriced here in the US? You should know that it's also a common experience to have to wait weeks for an appointment, then wait hours after your appointment time to be seen, be seen for just a minute or two, and then receive a bill for a few hundred dollars. And usually that's just to receive a permission slip to buy a drug that is also outrageously priced. A short hospital stay can easily cost a man a year's salary. And while fixing it all wouldn't be simple, it's not difficult to figure out that there are far too many hands in the cookie jar. Insurance companies, people whose job is to take pills from big bottles and put them in small bottles, and at every step of the way, an enormous army of very well paid advertisers and salesmen. And millions of Americans go bankrupt trying to manage the system. And plenty of them even have insurance. And now that even the government is going bankrupt just trying to pay for basic care for the elderly and destitute, it looks like this burden will soon be pushed even further onto those least able to afford it. All that said, I find it very difficult to cast judgement on Bushie for finding a way to circumvent this train wreck. Any sane person in his position would do the same.

No, it's not news to me, I just still find it surprising. I can probably count the number of doctor/hospital visits I've done in my life on my two hands. Unless one has a chronic disease I'm not sure what one does to rack up these kinds of costs.