OK footy, what do you plan to do for healthcare when you get older and more decrepit? Maybe it needs a higher priority level.....

sorry your shoulders hurt, though.

can you find a Doc who has a daughter about to get married needing pics, maybe?

Time to suck it up and pay the price for health insurance, then. Those 197 year old shoulders are not going to get any younger -- and you're going to want them some day.

better yet, find a doctor who has a daughter about to get married needing a hubby! In for life!

I can tell he's never had to deal with a HMO, or he'd know 1 & 2 are gone. :(

I pray for the day when I can be independently wealthy. When I can pay $100 or whatever for a doctor's visit and get some real quality time with him or her. When I can whip out my debit card and just pay for an MRI or whatever and just get the shit done, and not have to worry about getting a bunch of paperwork from the hospital and the doctor's medical group and the insurance company to fill my medical binder.

My last doctor in Philadelphia was kind of a dick, but he always took the time to really make sure I was doing OK, and would cut me slack financially when I didn't have health insurance. I've never forgotten that. So Dr. Rick Mandel, thank you.

I cannot imagine being barred from accessing healthcare because of a lack of money/insurance. Even when I wasn't able to make a prescription charge, the chemist let me pay later.

Are you able to get health insurance whilst self-employed, or does it become way overpriced if you've no employer to contribute?


[eta] one thing i don't get about the insurance system for health, is the whole 'pre-existing condition' thing. When you get insurance for your house, or your car or your dog, you are getting insurance based on things that are both unwanted and unlikely to occur. Most people don't get burgled, most people don't back-end a neighbour's car. But needing healthcare isn't unlikely. In fact most people will need their doctor at some point. So the whole tone of insurance is off-kilter. If you can't get insurance because of a pre-existing condition, who pays for your necessary healthcare? You're not insuring against an unlikely event you are insuring against something most people will need.

End up with a system in which the people least able to get their healthcare paid for are those with recognised and diagnosed health problems.

Medicare & Medicaid

"Are you able to get health insurance whilst self-employed, or does it become way overpriced if you've no employer to contribute?"

It's available but expensive. I have a policy for my wife and myself that I refer to as "hit-by-a-bus" insurance. No visits, no co-pay, no drugs, but it's SUPPOSED to kick in if you really need it. It does cover physical therapy after the fact though, something that many policies do not. I can float the $100.00 or so to visit a doctor, but that and any testing up to the deductible I have to pay. Oh, and it's about $12,000.00 a year. When I mention that to other business owners, they all say "Yeah, that's about right". At my age (54), I don't quite dare not having a policy, even though I have only put in one claim since 1984.
I know that we are very fortunate to have our health, but you would think that we could get a better rate because of that.
Oh, and it is deductible from the taxes as a business expense, but I still have to pay it out first.

I actually tried to get care this way. The doctors I tried in Northern Virginia wouldn't do it.

Really? Wow...fucking socialists. ;)

F3 I feel your pain! Not in my shoulders ;) but being self employed is teh shit for health insurance.

Can you join some organizations? AFAIK they have options on groups. The Chamber of Commerce for one has some plans for its members.

I have a double today and I am sleepy. The f'ing cook that can't spell told me I was smart sarcastically.......People are getting on my nerves. Because...I'm sleepy...Only 6 hours to go...And counting.

Yikes. Hang in there Cic. Don't throw anything at anyone! :)

Hello, foot. I'm a noob here, so you don't know me, but let me introduce myself. . .

Hi, I'm Jill, aka Clara Klutz. :)

I fell off my bike nearly 2 years ago and landed on my right palm and the force of the fall was absorbed by my jammed shoulder. It hurt, but wasn't that bad -- until I re-injured it. Guess how. . . sleeping! How retarded is that?

For weeks I couldn't even lift my elbow away from my side to raise my arm. To this day, even after more than a year of physical therapy, I still live in 24/7 pain, though I'd now rank it a 1 or a 2 most days, whereas in the beginning it was off the charts.

Though I am not a doctor, and therefore am unqualified to give you medical advice, I can tell you what my doctor and therapist had me doing to help the healing process.

Ice
Anti-inflammatories like Ibuprofin (I took 800mg 3x/day, whether it was one prescription pill or 4 over-the-counter Advil each time (which my doctor recommended because it was actually cheaper than the 'scrip)).
Massage -- deep tissue if you can tolerate it.

I hope you're feeling better soon!

ETA: Heh -- I love my new title - rapscallion! :D