AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Chat Area Most egregious event

cool, I'm not sure we're talking about the same issues here. My initial point was that I believe if the government is going to be expected to pay the costs associated with accidents they should be able to enact legislation designed to lower those costs.
You noted that your friend incurred 40 k in med bills due to a broken leg. Did her injuries result from her failure to wear a seatbelt? If not, I'm not sure what the connection is.
If so, then my comments are relevant. Indeed, you have helped make my point; many are not able to afford adequate insurance, thus hospital and tax costs rise for us all, as the cost of medical care for the indigent must be recovered from somewhere. With respect to why a broken leg should cost 40 k, I don't know the answer to that as you did not provide the specifics of your friend's injuries. Was it a compound break? Was hospitalization or surgery required? Did she have to undergo physical therapy? Lots of factors come into play. I never implied the accident was your friend's fault. You, however, posted the account immediately following my post about the government's right to legislate.
I will say I do agree that the US government has squandered much too much on "war" and that doing so has been to the detriment of many other areas they should have been addressing.

As for me personally, I don't think you know enough about me to know whether tragedy has befallen me or not. Nor do I think that is germane to this conversation.

God, Law...what you wrote reminded me of the arrogant legal eagles from San Francisco whose big nasty dog ripped out their neighbour's jugular vein in the hallway of a Pacific heights apt. building. The two lawyers BLAMED the victim and said her scent must have provoked the beast. It was quite the famous case back in 1999.

So someone who cannot afford medical insurance or who gets involved in an accident but does not have the means to pay is at blame and ohmigawd is gonna cost the poor ole taxpayer money?

Then you better get ready to sue all the drinkers, smokers, dopers, crack and meth babies and members of the military and let us not forget, GOVERNMENT, for costing the taxpayer too. I see years of litigation in front of you. Better put that expensive holiday off for awhile. You are gonna be one busy gal.

I am sorry to a certain degree for this voice but but that one statement you made about folks who are smart enough to buy medical insurance? Think hard about what you said. It comes across as being very insensitive and oh, dare I say, ELITIST?

Why would it matter how she broke her leg? But if you really want to know she broke it walking down the steps into her daughter's backyard. THE LAG ON THE POSTING...SORRY as I missed your other post.

What steams me is the lack of decent, cost-effective medical coverage for all "americans" in the states. Not everyone can afford insurance. Folks who live paycheck to paycheck, folks who live on minimum wage, folks who are single parents...the list could go on. All it takes is one setback and the downward spiral begins.

Yeah tragedy is germane to the conversation because all of us who have the means to live well could easily find ourselves in a position of vulnerability if we were to suffer a financial setback. And could we expect the government to help out? I doubt it.

Yes, she had to be hospitalized, yes, she had to have surgery. 40 grand is ridiculous. It is a farce and it is butt reaming joke on the american working classes.

Oh yes, tragedy no matter how major or minor is germane. I do not wish tragedy on you nor penury but it is so easy to put the blame on others when one is existing higher up the socio-economic ladder.

cool, I've already agreed with you that not everyone can afford to purchase adequate insurance. None of my comments related to assessing blame; rather they were about the reality that someone must bear the cost of providing medical care to those without adequate insurance. I don't understand that to be elitist, it is simple economic fact.
I also never mentioned suing to recover those costs and am at a loss as to how you arrived at that supposition.
It appears that you might have confused some issues, but I'm frankly unable to tell. As for your attempts to insult me personally, I don't mind but neither do I see the relevance.

this interests me, one, bcuz it is the first time i saw cb lose his cool, and 2, 1st time i've seen law have to resort to this type of behavior, and 3, you guys are also talking about me.

this year i lost my med ins due to divorce. i am a part time worker and a part time single mom. i had no house and an 11 yr old car when i was asked to leave.

as a single mom, i had to buy a house (rents up here are worse than mortgages), get a new used car (the body started rusting outta the old one), and i had to pick up med ins. (as well as little things like a bed, dishes, EVERYTHING).

i was told just what you said by the ins guy: we pay the rates we do bcuz we have to cover the med expenses of those not insured. so, i got a fairly cheap policy with a hefty deductible, but you better believe i got a policy.

while i feel for cb's friend, as we all know stuff happens, that is why we all need to have insurance. i do think the govt needs to get involved here, but for now, they arent. just my 2 cents.

Jane Sweetie, the topic IS 'What ****ed you off in 2006'. The food pyramid is what ****ed me off. And That IS On The Topic.

Law, I am ashamed at you! 1. I said I do wear my seatbelt. I don't think the gov't should tell people what to do.....like wear a seatbelt 2. What makes you think people who don't wear seatbelts don't have the money to pay for themselves to be scraped of the sidewalk? You, an attorney of all people should not make this assumption. ...tsk tsk.

Why indeed does a broken leg cost 40K? Yes Virginia, This Is The Problem. And PS you get a HUGE discount if you don't have insurance....I choose not to have it, I pay cash up front and get a 20% to 50% discount on all medical services (except for lab if it is done at a lab; I do labs at the hospital and viola, they give me a 45% discount.) LOTS better than the $850 a month in health insurance that it went up to a couple years back.

Nah wasn't trying to insult....just doing a free form rant. Sometimes its just how the old brain works. Like I said before - the lag on the postings is to blame here because I never got to read your one post Law because I was in the process of posting mine.

I have visceral reactions from time to time and if it foments discussion and ideas then I am doing great.

Remember Law, lawyers have been disliked since the days of Billie the Shakes.

SWeet...your two cents is invaluable. Thank you for "keepin' it real."

No assumptions here, Mal. You might be enlightened by doing a bit of reading on the legislative history. The information regarding how much injuries resulting from failure to wear seatbelts and helmets cost us all is well documented. I rarely assume - you know what they say about that. Seems you might have assumed I did though . . .

CB - "lawyers have been disliked since the days of Billie the Shakes" In my opinion, those kinds of generalizations serve no one well. I'm not saying you are generalizing, just that it's not so helpful for those who do...

This is a very sad subject - but folks who suffer from catastrophic injury usually end up in state care. Not aware of any health insurance that covers long term acute care.

That is why states have an interest in mandating seat belt use and other safety requirements.

Well Law being a journalist (former these days) I am just about as equally despised so I hold a tankard of Beliken up to you and salute you for your tenacity. I do sincerely mean that. Cannot always be a curmudgeon.