BodhipaksaThis was boosted into my feed without alt text. I’ve added alt text.
It sounds like great advice if your health insurance denies a claim.
It took less than a minute to add the alt text. Please do this.
Jona Joachim@bodhipaksa
I will never understand why people continue to live in the US. Every time I read these stories I feel like I would want to get away from this ASAP
@ryanc
I will never understand why people continue to live in the US. Every time I read these stories I feel like I would want to get away from this ASAP
@ryanc
Ryan Castellucci (they/them) 
@jaj @bodhipaksa The US has better medical care available than the UK does... if you have good insurance. I've had to get medical care in the US multiple times since moving to the UK.
Granted, the baseline of medical care available in the UK if you're poor is far better.
Also pay in the US is significantly better for tech jobs, and the climate is potentially nicer depending on where you are.
@jaj @bodhipaksa also, you drastically overestimate the ease of which people can move to a different country, especially those who aren't privileged
@ryanc
I guess so, in Europe, moving to a different country amounts to buying a train ticket, so I may be a bit biased
@bodhipaksa
I guess so, in Europe, moving to a different country amounts to buying a train ticket, so I may be a bit biased
@bodhipaksa
Lydia Trivia@jaj even in Europe, the idea that *moving* to a different country amounts to buying a train ticket is ridiculous. Learning a new language, sorting out bureaucracy (residence registration, taxes, health insurance...) possibly in a foreign language, finding a new job, possibly in a foreign language, finding a new home, packing up the old one... All of this without family and friends around to help you.
@jaj @bodhipaksa Though I am highly accomplished in my career and independent research, I have no degree from a college/university, so qualifying for an unsponsored visa is impossible for me in most countries.
I would have to get a work visa tied to a job - if I lost the job, I'd have to either quickly get a new job at a company willing and able to sponsor my visa or GTFO.
The UK has an unsponsored visa program that's a bit more flexible, so I got one of those.
Michael BuschMany countries have medical restrictions for immigration.
Those people in the United States who most often have to argue with insurance carriers for health coverage are also more likely to run into those restrictions.
For example:
I have considered applying to jobs in Ontario and BC over the years. Until Canada recently relaxed its "excessive demand" medical restrictions, it was not obvious that even I would pass them. So I did not apply.
november 🀄 in my mahjong era@jaj The people who are suffering most under our bullshit economic system don't have the resources to leave.
Corb_The_Lesser@jaj @bodhipaksa @ryanc It should be illegal here in the US for anonymous bureaucrats not treating a patient to make decisions about, or ending, treatment of that patient.
We need to 1) Make patient wealth irrelevant re: health care decisions, and, 2) provide care to all with no billing to the patients
American health care is broken because it does not deliver results commensurate with its exorbitant costs. Corporate interference in health care leeches funding away from care and treatment.
@Corb_The_Lesser
For that you would have needed Bernie Sanders. It looks like most Americans think the opposite.
@bodhipaksa @ryanc
For that you would have needed Bernie Sanders. It looks like most Americans think the opposite.
@bodhipaksa @ryanc
@jaj @bodhipaksa @ryanc Unless Sanders filled both houses of Congress with Sanders disciples -- zero probability -- his legislative agenda would have been DOA.
@Corb_The_Lesser @jaj @bodhipaksa there is value in shifting the overton window - the far right understands this, but it seems like few on the left do.
(note that I consider myself significantly to the left of >99% of politicians)
SearingTruth"Humane healthcare is achieved when the rich and the poor receive the same treatment."
SearingTruth
Charo del Genio@bodhipaksa simple question: what if they simply refuse? With a simple polite or even a rude no?
@paraw I don’t know, but you have the right to appeal decisions that have been made. This is stated in writing in every letter you receive from a health insurance company. I assume that if they refused to respond to an appeal then they would open themselves to a lawsuit for reneging on that right.
@bodhipaksa you're probably right. I guess if a patient has enough money and time to take on an insurance company, they may win before they die.
EdgeI believe ProPublica has come up with a form to help you do this, if one is in this situation.
Great, independent journalism.
Gilgwath@bodhipaksa It seems that everyday I read a new story about how some part of the US economy, health care, social security or justice system is just a madhouse where people are trying to extract the funnel the greatest amount of money into their own pockets. 🫣 How can this country function? 🤯
Eu-grin Seal-geene@gilgwath @bodhipaksa this is how... https://youtu.be/5V6GHnxEJjg?si=HSAzklW728k5ckRK
#killingthemsoftly
#killingthemsoftly
Killing Them Softly (2012) - Final Scene
David Cohen@bodhipaksa @briankrebs All good stuff, but from what I read on the Internet many people seem to have found the Brian Thompson solution more satisfying
Randy Clayton
Jim Luther@RandyClayton @bodhipaksa @philipbrewer I added that to the original post. @ProPublica has lots of great news apps. (On another platform)
Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon@bodhipaksa old fashioned, threaten them with a paper trail.....
mrsp@bodhipaksa @briankrebs good advice for Canadians too, though early, but we appear to be slowly slipping into privatization of healthcare.
John Lusk
Semitones@bodhipaksa how did you add the alt text? Typing?
@semitones I saved the image to my Mac, opened it, right-clicked on it, and then selected the text. Copy, paste, a tiny bit of editing and that’s it.
If I’d created the post in IceCubes, the Mastodon app I use, the app would offer to detect the text and create alt text for me. That would have been a tiny bit quicker.
@bodhipaksa that's cool, my phone can intelligently select texts from images too, I wouldn't have thought of that
@semitones Yeah, that would be another approach. My phone can select text from images independently of the IceCubes app. It's pretty amazing what's possible these days.
fluffy 💜@bodhipaksa It would also be nice if posts like this had a link to the original thing on its originating network. Alt text is kind of a bad stopgap solution, when posting the image is the problem to begin with.
@fluffy I agree entirely. It's frustrating if you want to check that a social media post is genuine, for example.
James Young@fluffy @bodhipaksa original Bluesky thread: https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3kokvktglp72o
J. Steven York RESISTS@bodhipaksa
Thanks for this. Due to both of us having major medical episodes in the last decade (including my open-heart-surgery) my wife became very good at negotiating with health providers (something you should ALWAYS do in the US where insurance doesn't cover it) but negotiating with insurance companies over limited coverage was a revelation. Great info.
Thanks for this. Due to both of us having major medical episodes in the last decade (including my open-heart-surgery) my wife became very good at negotiating with health providers (something you should ALWAYS do in the US where insurance doesn't cover it) but negotiating with insurance companies over limited coverage was a revelation. Great info.