How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Alright so basically I just had surgery back in April for a hernia that I got while working. It was supposedly covered by worker's comp, but I've already gotten a letter or two from different doctors I saw because of the whole thing.

Here's the punch line, I quit working for that company a month after I recovered from the surgery. I sat around all summer and didn't do ----, went back to work for the same company yesterday and as soon as I started lifting things there was a lot of pain, I could tell that I already had another hernia.

The twist is that I know it didn't come from work, so I can't place the blame there again. I also currently have NO health insurance, and according to the public aid office I'm not eligible for public aid either since I'm not disabled....but if I can't work doesn't that mean I'm disabled?

So what should I do, pay $50-70 a month for health insurance? See if the hospital will give me some kind of payment plan? I'm poor as ---- right now so $50-70 is a lot on top of my other bills but so is $10,000 if I have to pay for the whole thing.

In this case blaming it on the company is NOT an option.

WWHMTD (what would HMT do?)

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Get the insurance, take it easy at work for a few weeks THEN complain about it.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Damn, you are obviously not built for physical exertion if you are tearing muscle like that left and right.

I think Mikey paid for his hernia out of pocket, and it was less than half of $10K? Hitchhikkr knows the details.

If you saw a bill for $10K, well, that's what doctors charge insurance companies. A hernia operation is a job, and doctors are contractors like many other business entities out there. Shop around and you can find a decent doctor who will do a decent job for a decent price... my mom ipaid for her kidney removal out of pocket, and is paying for all her leukemia treatment out of pocket until she gets old enough for Medicare. If you are pro-active in being up front and honest, and ask about discounts for paying 1/2 or all up front (doctors fees... let the anesthesiologist and hospital bill you, ---- them), you CAN cut deals.

Remember to be direct and to the point, as well as nice as ----. Doctors hear enough real sob stories and lengthy dramas, if you make it easy for them to help you then one will.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Move to canaduh. Free health care is the ----. :D

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Yeah it's real free when you take home 40% of your pay.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

and free health care is awesome. I mean ---- its not like I plan on having any condition where I need to see a doc sooner than 3 months away. ::)

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

I'm going through the same ---- with workers comp right now. They don't want to pay for physical therapy for slipped disks and herniated disks I got while lifting 50 lbs of dog food bags and 30 lb boxes of cat litter. I'm not built for it.
Insurance is the way to go. But if you have to make a deal with the dr and pay them first then everything else. The one thing to remember is alsong as you pay them something they can't do anything. They can send you to collections sure but in the overall creditors don't look at dr bills when applying for credit because they consider it a necessity. But always pay them off when you can.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

$10k for hemroids ---- are you kidding me i can do it for 1,000 in my living room. you might want to bring a jug of wiskey

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

it's only 10% less than what we take home??

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

rofl

a HERNIA, not HEMORRHOIDS. :P

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

My taxes work out to about 25% of my gross income. Not too bad at all if you ask me. I'm in the higher tax bracket too because I make a lot. If I end up hurting myself or coming down with something even if I was pre-existant I don't get fucked over. They take me in and take care of me.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

i know i just thought it would sound more funny and redneck ish if i said it that way

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

You answered your question in the title ;)

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Tijuana surgery FTW. My step-dad paid 5k cash that would have cost 15k+ in the states.

It's not as ghetto as you're probably imagining it. Tons of Americans are going out of country for surgeries not covered by insurance.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

easy... it's a thing call collections, lol. get it done and neverpay for it.

job doesn't offer health insurance? go buy some, it's not that expensive

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

not quite.

funny thing is that the only people who complain the most about how much Canadians spend on their health care system are Americans.. :-*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCoVaeYHzWA

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

I agree with JD about working with the docs. On the other hand. Is the hernia in the same place? You could have re-injured the existing one. They never really heal completely especially if they just stich em back up and don't do the metal gauze thing.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

depends on how bad it is , buy plane ticket fly back to hong kong then immediatly go into the emgerency room to have it done. scine ur traveler there will be a bill but then u can just fly back here and never go there again

P.S. the medical ---- are excellent there compare to a lot of places in Asia not the crap crap CDM ---- lol

but then plane ticket will be another 3 grand

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

if yourhealth insurance is only 50-70 a month get it

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

It's not that I'm not build for physical exertion, hernias run in the family on my dad's side both male and female have had them. Of course he didn't tell me this until after I already got one, and the doctor said the other side would be soon to follow.

Right now I'm thinking the side he fixed is fucked up again which hopefully he will work with me on but I'm pretty sure the other side went out too. It was around $10,000 to have it fixed since when they went in they found the one they KNEW I had, and then found another one they didn't know about and they were obligated to fix it as well. I'm thinking that if I can get him to re-fix the side he already worked on and he finds the other side to be fucked up too, he'll be obligated to fix it and put me on the easy pay plan.

I was thinking it might be easier to just work a deal out with a surgeon than get insurance since I can hopefully get the payments below what it would cost to have health insurance, just not too sure I could get insurance, say it hurts about a month after coverage starts, and then cancel the insurance after they pay for the surgery.

The only thing is that insurance is also good to have for doctor visits and all that but usually if I'm not to the point where it feels like I'm dying I won't go see a doctor.

I'm gonna call the surgeon that fixed it the first time tomorrow and tell him that I think it's fucked up again but what sucks about that is that I'll be out of work again for a month and have to go through the extreme pain again. Anybody that's had a hernia fixed before knows what I'm talking about. Simply getting out of bed and walking a few feet to the bathroom is like stabbing an ice pick into your groin and through your nuts.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

I had a friend who got the metal gauze treatment.. he was told if that ripped open he'd die before he could get to the hospital.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

don`t they "sew" a fiber net across the opening? how could the same side went bad again..

FYI i`ve read that lot of times while they have u opened up they will usually fix the other side too as a precauction.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

I know for a fact they didn't fix the other side, I can feel whatever they put in me....the doctor called it a "mesh." It's also not very big, approximately a 2" by 2" square is what it feels like, and he told me they put a plug in me to fix the other one but I can't remember exactly how that worked.

However he did say it would take something equivalent to a head on car accident for it to be re-injured. I figured just going in and having him check me for anymore hernias would be a good starting point and if he does find something on the same side perhaps he'll be inclined to fix it thinking it's his fault.

On another note I've heard there's a lot of ongoing lawsuits with a company that makes "mesh" just like what they used to fix mine and people are getting substantial settlements because it's failing or not safe or something. I haven't been able to find anything about it on the internet though, perhaps buk or one of our other news fiends could find something.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

ROFLMAO, Aww ----, added to sig.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Anyway, you may be a dirty cracker racist, but nobody here wishes you any harm. Hope things work out well for you, little buddy.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

On a serious note that there is some bu'----. When I worked for UPS I got hurt and all I had to show for it was some time off and a "---- you". Hope you get better. They don't pay us enough to get injured on the job. Might wanna think about a career change. Hey there's always pOrn. :-X

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Attachment 23988

I think sex is actually how I got hurt the second time...it was a crazy summer. Oh, and I've got a nice big scar right above my dick thanks to all of this, so I don't think I'd find any work in porn either.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Nobody would be looking at you, doofus.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Guys aren't the only ones who watch porn. My girl is living proof of that.

Re: How to pay for expensive surgery? Health insurance?
 

Sweet.