Stupid, Ridiculous Prices for Stuff

[IdoraKeeper]

A64 is exactly correct. It is however, a mutual addiction. Medical practitioners love my Cadillac medical coverage. My carrier however does not agree with me that chiropractic is valid treatment. Soooo, I pay cash...Insurance companies are a species of casino. I don't depend on casinos for my retirement and wish we could have a two track medical system. One system for small or recurring needs and another for disaster (like being hit by a meteor). Insurance companies would surely make a profit on that.
The subject of investment and profit however is another matter more suited to discussion of crime and punishment. :-)

[mausgras]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

A64 is exactly correct. It is however, a mutual addiction. Medical practitioners love my Cadillac medical coverage. My carrier however does not agree with me that chiropractic is valid treatment. Soooo, I pay cash...Insurance companies are a species of casino. I don't depend on casinos for my retirement and wish we could have a two track medical system. One system for small or recurring needs and another for disaster (like being hit by a meteor). Insurance companies would surely make a profit on that.
The subject of investment and profit however is another matter more suited to discussion of crime and punishment. :-)

Sounds like you like the Australian system where you pay for doctor services through the tax system and hospital through private insurance.
If you are unwaged and uninsured you can still get free health services but you have to wait in the queue.

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[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I hate to overstate the obvious, but you will always pay more for insurance than you ever get from it, or the company would go broke.

Agreed. But it's worse than that. The original, and useful, approach to insurance was to pool the risk and pool the resources to respond to specific events. It's much like a community that supports its own when catastrophes happen. But like so much in our economy, capitalists capture the commons and convert it into a private good. Where once there was an equilibrium of costs and benefits, there is now the demand for profit. It's no longer good enough to provide enough for for the collective good. More must be accumulated. This increases costs and creates different incentives than the original community-protection intent.

This is why most insurances are closer to casinos or lotteries. The house already knows the odds, has decided on its profit margins, and has fixed the rates and ratios to achieve those aims. We can all do the same by understanding our own risk profiles, and therefore self-insuring accordingly.

[model 10]

[QUOTE=Mike OReilly;1977087 We can all do the same by understanding our own risk profiles, and therefore self-insuring accordingly.[/QUOTE]

You hit the nail on the head. In 10 years of cruising I have only spent $200 US because I ran into some guy and scratched his paint. Even then he pocketed the $200 and kept on going. It was a matter of carrying a few $100 dollar bills to handle things.
You need to be careful and stay away from other boats.

[brownoarsman]

Boat insurance though, at least compared to car insurance, is relatively cheap. I think all the people who leave their boat at the marina year round subsidize those who cruise.

What really grinds my gears is paying $20 for a plastic gas bottle. They're a pain to use, aren't even vapor proof, and in some places I've lived gas was stored in all manners of lower grade plastic (though it will eventually eat some of these). I guess they are the same price for land applications but still, it seems a lot for a hollow piece of plastic.


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[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Agreed. But it's worse than that. The original, and useful, approach to insurance was to pool the risk and pool the resources to respond to specific events. It's much like a community that supports its own when catastrophes happen. But like so much in our economy, capitalists capture the commons and convert it into a private good. Where once there was an equilibrium of costs and benefits, there is now the demand for profit. It's no longer good enough to provide enough for for the collective good. More must be accumulated. This increases costs and creates different incentives than the original community-protection intent.

This is why most insurances are closer to casinos or lotteries. The house already knows the odds, has decided on its profit margins, and has fixed the rates and ratios to achieve those aims. We can all do the same by understanding our own risk profiles, and therefore self-insuring accordingly.

Totally with you and A64pilot on this. The medical insurance industry in the US is absolutely out of control ridiculous. It forces up costs and funnels a river of money out of the actual fundamental purpose of healthcare: which is making people better. Also the over medication of the US people is astonishing. The US is the only place on earth I know where frankly healthy people are routinely on several medications at once, and where a huge proportion of TV advertising is selling "medication" for a huge range of ailments that essentially do not exist.

Globally, insurance is following litigation around the world in an ever increasing dance of frenzy, destroying the very notion of personal responsibility, and mesmerising the population in the constant pursuit of more and more of "the market share". Commodification of ordinary life is what it is.

I am no Socialist. I loathe excessive state interference in human life and despise the way in which socialism also infantilises people and attacks the idea of personal responsibility. However, socialism and capitalism can be set in balance and tension against one another. A socialised healthcare system is a universal benefit to all and is clearly seen that way by anybody who has actually experienced a properly functioning example. Limits must be set on both sides of that equation, however. It is a shame that so many "right wing" or "republican" types in the US don't realise that hyper aggressive capitalism has the same effect, ultimately, that hyper aggressive socialism does: both destroy the liberty and prosperity of ordinary individuals.

[Kenomac]

No success deer hunting so far this year, but very early today..... While out hunting alone, I was using my new ridiculously expensive ($99) Cabelas "genuine deer antlers" to rattle in a deer. After five minutes of sounding very much like two bucks going at it, I stopped.... Then Used a stupidly expensive grunt call ($40) a couple of times.... thought I heard a few leaves rustle behind me via my military grade MSA Supreme Pro-X ear protectors ($399), then decided to use the Primos Bleat call ($20) as a final touch. All it took was one bleat.... Then a 260 pound white tailed deer hunter came crashing though the brush 20 meters behind me in blazing orange looking to harvest his trophy buck. He looked very surprised to see me 25 feet up in my climbing treestand ($200). I looked down and waved at him. He waved back, then wandered off through the briar patch.

Too funny... Just the two of us out there a mile from the nearest road. I'd rattled in my first deer hunter.

[Prairie Chicken]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

No success deer hunting so far this year, but very early today..... While out hunting alone, I was using my new ridiculously expensive ($99) Cabelas "genuine deer antlers" to rattle in a deer. After five minutes of sounding very much like two bucks going at it, I stopped.... Then Used a stupidly expensive grunt call ($40) a couple of times.... thought I heard a few leaves rustle behind me via my military grade MSA Supreme Pro-X ear protectors ($399), then decided to use the Primos Bleat call ($20) as a final touch. All it took was one bleat.... Then a 260 pound white tailed deer hunter came crashing though the brush 20 meters behind me in blazing orange looking to harvest his trophy buck. He looked very surprised to see me 25 feet up in my climbing treestand ($200). I looked down and waved at him. He waved back, then wandered off through the briar patch.

Too funny... Just the two of us out there a mile from the nearest road. I'd rattled in my first deer hunter.

LMFOF!!! Thanks Ken, best laugh I've had for days!

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

........I'd rattled in my first deer hunter. PRICELESS!

Great credit card commercial :thumbup:

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

No success deer hunting so far this year, but very early today..... While out hunting alone, I was using my new ridiculously expensive ($99) Cabelas "genuine deer antlers" to rattle in a deer. After five minutes of sounding very much like two bucks going at it, I stopped.... Then Used a stupidly expensive grunt call ($40) a couple of times.... thought I heard a few leaves rustle behind me via my military grade MSA Supreme Pro-X ear protectors ($399), then decided to use the Primos Bleat call ($20) as a final touch. All it took was one bleat.... Then a 260 pound white tailed deer hunter came crashing though the brush 20 meters behind me in blazing orange looking to harvest his trophy buck. He looked very surprised to see me 25 feet up in my climbing treestand ($200). I looked down and waved at him. He waved back, then wandered off through the briar patch.

Too funny... Just the two of us out there a mile from the nearest road. I'd rattled in my first deer hunter.

It's a good thing you're not allowed to sell the meat you hunt Ken. There's no way I could afford the cost of your venison steak

But as long as you're having fun, and don't shoot any blaze-orange critters, then it's all good .

[Kenomac]

I use the smaller size because the deer in our area are basically sissies and won't come in to the larger antlers banging together.

The guy was actually a pretty good stalker for me not to hear him until he was that close. Right up until I turned around to look over my shoulder, I was positive a very large buck was heading right for my stand.

[Sailmonkey]

Ok, I'll bite......you want stupid expensive stuff!!! I sliced my finger open on a hose clamp....very cleanly. Went to the little emergency clinic, got 4 (1,2,3,4) stitches. After the little insurance dance was done I was sent two bills, with the same line items, from the same address to different named companies for a grand total of $1450 USD. This was after insurance paid $700 and I $100.

In summary I paid $562 per stitch including lidocaine, etc.
Had there been a list of prices on the wall I would have turned around and put some gauze and duct tape on it.

what a rip-off!!

[model 10]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Had there been a list of prices on the wall I would have turned around and put some gauze and duct tape on it.
what a rip-off!!

There should be more dock side surgeons. I could sew up your finger no problem, pain would be your problem. As for a fee, you would probably get by with 1 beer, per stitch.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Ok, I'll bite......you want stupid expensive stuff!!! I sliced my finger open on a hose clamp....very cleanly. Went to the little emergency clinic, got 4 (1,2,3,4) stitches. After the little insurance dance was done I was sent two bills, with the same line items, from the same address to different named companies for a grand total of $1450 USD. This was after insurance paid $700 and I $100.

In summary I paid $562 per stitch including lidocaine, etc.
Had there been a list of prices on the wall I would have turned around and put some gauze and duct tape on it.

what a rip-off!!

I had a similar experience three years ago. Crushed my middle finger when opening the companionway hatch in Spain. Unlike you, I decided my wife and I could handle the situation ourselves both being nurses... Wrong. I taped it together and kept it clean for three weeks... Until it festered quite badly. Went to the Emergency room upon my arrival back in the US and was charged $300 for a 10 minute visit prescribing antibiotics.... which I was allergic to. We then treated the allergy ourselves with a $3 bottle of Benadryl. Then went to a second "quick stop" clinic and was charged $95 for a twenty minute visit for a different prescription of antibiotics..... which didn't work.

Finally, I went to an orthopedic surgeon we know who properly tested, treated an removed the fingernail which cured the three infections festering under the nail bed, my finger was also broken. I'm sure his bill and the lab bill totaled more than $1000, but luckily, it was all covered by insurance. Today I can't even remember which finger was crushed, right or left? It healed 100% with no sign of an injury or scar.

Good outcome, ridiculous prices I'm sure.

[avb3]

Went doctor for my annual, blood work, x-rays, ECG, second appointment to remove some moles, prescription written, excetera and paid nothing. Canadian healthcare system. Oh yeah, and got my ear wax flushed out.

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