But so far, it doesn't appear to actually be illegal, so it's probably fine.
And I'm sure any number of Trump-appointed judges will rule that the money has an inviolable right to be taken from deadbeat parents for its own protection, to go live with its corporation.
I work in a school district with about 2000 students and we've sent seventy of them home today, so far, with flu-like symptoms. I saw a kid wearing a mask in the nurse's office. I just dipped the library in disinfectant. I double dog dare you to say something to me about the smell!!
This issue is compounded by the unfair and surprise billing practices in many hospitals. Thing is, they’ve already got a remedy for unpaid bills... ruining your credit. So, if ruining your credit ain’t a good enough deterrent to “choosing” to not pay off debt, then why should we be leveraged into using it, as a standard practice, to support the economy?
I’m fortunate to not have ever lived in a place where they’ve been getting away with debtors prisons (which are illegal, so long as you can prove it). When I lived in Orlando, I had a lovely experience with the hospital. I have PCOS, and the nasty type that puts you in shock the second a cyst ruptures. Good times. So I had an episode while driving home, had to pull over or lose consciousness while driving. The guard for the business who’s parking lot I had pulled into called the ambulance after checking on me. After a quick ride to the ER (only a few miles), a few hours of doctors shaking my hand at shift change, and a useless IV bag of fluid with no other treatment for diagnosis or pain, I received an exorbitant bill that was well beyond my ability to pay.
Well, I didn’t. Eventually I got notices from collectors. After ignoring the first few, I finally spoke with one. I explained to them that not only did a bunch of doctors claim me as a patient without ever treating me, but my entire paycheck, which I had just come from cashing, had somehow disappeared from my purse between my car to my discharge in the hospital. I had already spoken with the ambulance company only to be dismissed. Lucky for me, this hospital had recently gotten into trouble for their sketchy billing practices, so the collector agreed to dismiss the charges and call it even. This is an unheard of occurrence. Imagine how easy it would have been to just throw me in the debtors prison.
My question is this: how shall the collector be paid if the person in debt is placed in jail, where they can’t earn money to pay their bill, and likely will lose their employment too? The only benefit I can see is if there’s already a personal investment in the profit generated by the prison facility housing them, possibly with a forced labor program. Again, very illegal if you can prove it. You can’t squeeze water from a rock, so no amount of money will be gained from fining a person who already can’t pay their bill. And telling them to squeeze their family and friends for that money is also unlikely to yield anything. That lawyer and judge are making money somehow. I doubt it’s from small and infrequent percentages off court issued fines.
I have a few suggestions. Everyone involved in running America's healthcare systems should [redacted] [redacted]. [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted][redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. And I hope they get splinters.
It's like Dickens, Orwell and Kafka all got together in writer's purgatory where they make up all the shit that goes on down here. We're living in a Dickwellianesque world.
Is this something new? Twenty years ago in Indiana, I was in that situation. In my case, it was a diagnosis of uninsured pancreatitis. An overnight stay resulted inan $8500 bill and getting tossed out at the crack of dawn from the only hospital within 30 miles.This was for a bed, some blood work, and a couple of pain pills.
I received a summons to appear the last Thursday of the month. Outside of the courtroom was a collection of 50 or so people, similarly indebted to the local hospital corporation. Paralegals worked the line, shaking down the unfortunate huddled masses, yearning to make health care free.
Make a deal and pay up or you'll go into that courtroom and the judge is going to lock you up. It appeared to be a regularly scheduled shakedown. Somehow I scraped together the money.
As a footnote, a few years later the old hospital was torn down and they built a shiny new "campus".
If you can't afford medical care, your choices are (1) get it anyway so you stay alive but end up in debt and maybe then jail, or (2) nobly decide to not be a "taker" and just skip the care and quietly die so you're no longer a burden on productive society.
So nice to live in a Christian country that is so pro-life.
I have to say this story gave me tears. Yet when candidates try to push for medicare 4 all they are told it's too hard, let's just try to maybe make what we have a teeny weeny bit better and call it a day. 2 candidates have pushed for medicare 4 all and Liz Warren paid a price for supporting it(Bernie never never seems to suffer for anything, he's blessed that way). We really do want to fix the broken system but that can only happen if we actually try to do it.
I'm here at home with my son who's sick, and I was thinking "well maybe today will be a day without stories that make my eyes burn and my brain think redactable thoughts." Aaaand nope.
But so far, it doesn't appear to actually be illegal, so it's probably fine.
And I'm sure any number of Trump-appointed judges will rule that the money has an inviolable right to be taken from deadbeat parents for its own protection, to go live with its corporation.
I work in a school district with about 2000 students and we've sent seventy of them home today, so far, with flu-like symptoms. I saw a kid wearing a mask in the nurse's office. I just dipped the library in disinfectant. I double dog dare you to say something to me about the smell!!
I ain't gettin' this.
This makes me want to say all kinds of things that would get me banned from the non-comments section for life.
This issue is compounded by the unfair and surprise billing practices in many hospitals. Thing is, they’ve already got a remedy for unpaid bills... ruining your credit. So, if ruining your credit ain’t a good enough deterrent to “choosing” to not pay off debt, then why should we be leveraged into using it, as a standard practice, to support the economy?
I’m fortunate to not have ever lived in a place where they’ve been getting away with debtors prisons (which are illegal, so long as you can prove it). When I lived in Orlando, I had a lovely experience with the hospital. I have PCOS, and the nasty type that puts you in shock the second a cyst ruptures. Good times. So I had an episode while driving home, had to pull over or lose consciousness while driving. The guard for the business who’s parking lot I had pulled into called the ambulance after checking on me. After a quick ride to the ER (only a few miles), a few hours of doctors shaking my hand at shift change, and a useless IV bag of fluid with no other treatment for diagnosis or pain, I received an exorbitant bill that was well beyond my ability to pay.
Well, I didn’t. Eventually I got notices from collectors. After ignoring the first few, I finally spoke with one. I explained to them that not only did a bunch of doctors claim me as a patient without ever treating me, but my entire paycheck, which I had just come from cashing, had somehow disappeared from my purse between my car to my discharge in the hospital. I had already spoken with the ambulance company only to be dismissed. Lucky for me, this hospital had recently gotten into trouble for their sketchy billing practices, so the collector agreed to dismiss the charges and call it even. This is an unheard of occurrence. Imagine how easy it would have been to just throw me in the debtors prison.
My question is this: how shall the collector be paid if the person in debt is placed in jail, where they can’t earn money to pay their bill, and likely will lose their employment too? The only benefit I can see is if there’s already a personal investment in the profit generated by the prison facility housing them, possibly with a forced labor program. Again, very illegal if you can prove it. You can’t squeeze water from a rock, so no amount of money will be gained from fining a person who already can’t pay their bill. And telling them to squeeze their family and friends for that money is also unlikely to yield anything. That lawyer and judge are making money somehow. I doubt it’s from small and infrequent percentages off court issued fines.
I think we've found Trump's next HHS director!
I have a few suggestions. Everyone involved in running America's healthcare systems should [redacted] [redacted]. [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted][redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. And I hope they get splinters.
It's like Dickens, Orwell and Kafka all got together in writer's purgatory where they make up all the shit that goes on down here. We're living in a Dickwellianesque world.
I once worked on an IT project for a jail management system. I remember a former warden saying this: "Most 'crimes' are economic."
This is outrageous. I wish there were less outrageousness about.
Is this something new? Twenty years ago in Indiana, I was in that situation. In my case, it was a diagnosis of uninsured pancreatitis. An overnight stay resulted inan $8500 bill and getting tossed out at the crack of dawn from the only hospital within 30 miles.This was for a bed, some blood work, and a couple of pain pills.
I received a summons to appear the last Thursday of the month. Outside of the courtroom was a collection of 50 or so people, similarly indebted to the local hospital corporation. Paralegals worked the line, shaking down the unfortunate huddled masses, yearning to make health care free.
Make a deal and pay up or you'll go into that courtroom and the judge is going to lock you up. It appeared to be a regularly scheduled shakedown. Somehow I scraped together the money.
As a footnote, a few years later the old hospital was torn down and they built a shiny new "campus".
If you can't afford medical care, your choices are (1) get it anyway so you stay alive but end up in debt and maybe then jail, or (2) nobly decide to not be a "taker" and just skip the care and quietly die so you're no longer a burden on productive society.
So nice to live in a Christian country that is so pro-life.
for-profit debtors prisons. win/win.
https://media.giphy.com/med...
I have to say this story gave me tears. Yet when candidates try to push for medicare 4 all they are told it's too hard, let's just try to maybe make what we have a teeny weeny bit better and call it a day. 2 candidates have pushed for medicare 4 all and Liz Warren paid a price for supporting it(Bernie never never seems to suffer for anything, he's blessed that way). We really do want to fix the broken system but that can only happen if we actually try to do it.
These people are monsters.
I'm here at home with my son who's sick, and I was thinking "well maybe today will be a day without stories that make my eyes burn and my brain think redactable thoughts." Aaaand nope.
What's the matter with Kansas?