I feel like I should make a post about this because it’s not something that’s very well-known, and that Americans in particular may need to know about given the uncertain state of our healthcare system at the moment. I’ve wanted to write this out for a while, It’s kind of a long post, so sorry about that!
If you have an emergency and have to go to the hospital, you’ll owe the hospital a lot of money. (I got into a car wreck and broke my ankle and my arm. My hospital bill was around $20,000)
You’ll also owe the ambulance provider, if you need one. (My ambulance bill was about $800)
You may get separate bills from the anesthesiologist or surgeon. (My anesthesiologist bill was $1,700)
You may need follow-up appointments. (My orthopedic surgeon billed me for the appointments and his surgery together and it was about $1,000)
You’ve also got to pay for medical equipment you need afterward, like crutches or a walking boot. (Mine cost about $75)
Altogether, I ended up with almost $24,000 in medical debt from one car accident. That’s a really scary number for someone like me who makes $10/hr at a 12 hour a week job.
I got my debt down to $1075 by making some phone calls and submitting some paperwork.
The first thing I did was contact the hospital. They don’t make it easy to find, but many hospitals (perhaps most hospitals?) have financial assistance programs for people who can’t afford medical bills. I don’t make a lot of money, and I have bills to pay, so they were able to help me. I called the billing department and asked if they had any assistance programs for low income people who can’t pay their bills. I had to call multiple times, and I got transferred in circles by people who didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I got an appointment with someone in “Eligibility Services” (I don’t know what other hospitals call it, if it’s something different). I had to bring my pay stubs and copies of all of my bills. When I got to the hospital for the appointment, nobody knew what I was talking about so I had to wander a little to find where I needed to go. I spoke with the guy in Eligibility Services, and I waited for a decision on how much of the bill they would forgive. A month later, I got a call telling me it was totally forgiven.
I did the same thing for my ambulance bill and my anesthesiologist, but the process was a LOT easier. I just had to mail some paperwork and it was totally forgiven.
I didn’t bother with the medical equipment suppliers, since the bills came from separate companies and I didn’t feel like going through the process twice for $75. I was assured at the hospital that they had similar programs for debt forgiveness, so I could have probably avoided paying that too.
The only thing I couldn’t get taken care of was the surgeon/follow-up appointment cost, but they were able to put me on a no-interest payment plan.
Medical debt is scary because it’s something that can come from stuff that’s already really scary. I didn’t need the burden of $24,000 in debt on top of trying to get around on a crutch with a broken arm (it’s not easy, believe me!).. but I can’t imagine what it would be like with a bigger debt or a more severe medical emergency. I see lots of people in even worse trouble than I was in, both financially and medically. Please know that there are options for you when that GoFundMe doesn’t do enough. Even if your income is higher than mine, it’s worth a shot even for partial debt forgiveness.
I am about 900% sure there are people who don`the know this.
Please, reblog! IIt’s called self defense. Apart from having here, in the US, one of the highest cases of homicide and rape in the world and high rate of GBV, think about how this could help your mother or sister
not giving your money to a business that’s currently striking is literally an essential part of a strike.
Amazon brings in over 34 BILLION dollars every day. Even a one-day boycott could mean massive leverage for the strikers – especially if the boycott coincided with one of the most profitable days Amazon expected to have all year, as this one does.
Do not visit Amazon.com on 10 July 2018 (or July 15-16 in the US)!
Style is not fashion. Fashion is not trendy after a season. I couldn’t give a shit about fashion. Style is dressing the way that you feel confident and what is appropriate for you, your age, your body type.
‘The retailer, which last year made more than £6bn of revenues in
Britain, has a disciplinary system under which points are accrued for
illness. Workers are issued a penalty point for each episode of
sickness.
Workers are told that more than one point will result
in a “series of counselling and disciplinary meetings” and between four
and six points can result in dismissal.
In one case, a woman who spent three days in hospital with a kidney
infection was docked two points, reduced to one on appeal, despite
providing a hospital note.
The system has been revealed in an investigation by The Sunday Times at Amazon’s sorting depot in Dunfermline, Scotland.
The
undercover reporter was paid £7.35 per hour by an agency that supplies
workers to Amazon, but was left with less than the minimum wage after
paying £10 for the agency’s bus which took her to the site 40 miles from
her home in Glasgow.
It emerged this weekend that some low-paid
workers are camping out in woodland near the sorting depot to avoid
paying the bus costs and ensure they are left with more than the minimum
wage…
The reporter obtained a job with PMP Recruitment, one of the two main
agencies that hires and supervises workers at the Dunfermline depot.
The investigation found:
Workers being threatened with dismissal
if they accrued too many points for illness, late attendance or
absence, or for making too many errors or failing to hit productivity
targets.
A claim from a worker in Amazon’s on-site first-aid
clinic that workers were under pressure to hit targets and were
suffering injuries in the rush to collect products
Workers were
expected to cover more than 10 miles a day in the warehouse collecting
items, but water dispensers to ensure they avoided dehydration were
regularly empty
The reporter was told she had to sign an
opt-out of the working time directive, which limits weekly hours to 48,
in order to get a job.
The reporter was employed as a “temporary
warehouse operative” at Amazon’s vast plant in Fife. She worked in the
“picking” department, which involved retrieving items from across
several floors of the sprawling warehouse, according to orders displayed
on a handheld scanner she was given. She worked at least 10 hours a
day, with an unpaid 30-minute lunch break and two 15-minute paid breaks….
Under the system
set out in the Amazon temporary associate handbook, half a point is
issued to recruits who are late to work or late back from a break; one
point for “one period of sickness”; and three points for “no call, no
show”. The undercover reporter was told that anyone who was more than 30
seconds late in arriving at work or returning after a break would be
subject to the half-point penalty.
Workers were also told that if
they made more than one error a week in collecting items or failed to
hit productivity targets they could be subject to a disciplinary
process, which could result in dismissal.’
how the fuck are the unions allowing this???? disgusting
Support the Amazon general strike today, July 10th – do not buy from Amazon! Even if your intention is to make some kind of statement with your purchase – don’t, this is (as other bloggers before me have said) the equivalent of crossing a picket line and still handing them profit!
not giving your money to a business that’s currently striking is literally an essential part of a strike.
Amazon brings in over 34 BILLION dollars every day. Even a one-day boycott could mean massive leverage for the strikers – especially if the boycott coincided with one of the most profitable days Amazon expected to have all year, as this one does.
Do not visit Amazon.com on 10 July 2018 (or July 15-16 in the US)!
While we’re talking about effective boycotting, boycotting Amazon means more than boycotting Amazon, because Amazon has subsidiaries that also help it make money. If you’re going to boycott Amazon, you also need to boycott the following subsidiaries:
AWS Elemental
AbeBooks
Alexa Internet
Audible
Blink Home
Brilliance Audio
ComiXology
CreateSpace
Diapers.com
Double Helix Games
Evi
Fabric.com
GoodReads
IMDb
Junglee
Mobipocket
Ring
Shelfari
Shopbop
Souq.com
TenMarks Education, Inc.
Twitch
Whole Foods Market
Woot
Zappos
A boycott is not effective unless you attack it on all fronts. This is why boycotting things like McDonalds or Coca Cola are so ineffective– they have so many subsidiaries and supporting businesses that they can afford a frontal hit and still make money from its “family” companies.
If you truly want to help this boycott, make sure to boycott Amazon and its subsidiaries.
Some cats are orange, maybe only a little bit, and well thats just fine and good, and I like it a lot.
I know an orange cat who lives in a bookstore lemme see if i can find a pic of him.
This is Lord Byron and hes a fatty who likes sitting on peoples laps while they read.
Well I can see the orange quite clearly, and he is a lover of the literary arts, and warm laps. so I will say he deserves his title as Lord because he rules over my heart
This is Gadget she keeps most of her orange hidden under her chin and belly and only reveals it to the most trustworthy of humans
Well you know, in this picture I see her revealing her little streaks and speckles of orange, which means she loves you a lot, which means you love her a lot, and well thats so cute it makes me want to cry.
This is Tabby, she’s got spots of orange and is so fat because she needed a bigger body to contain all of the love she has to give.
The Archery Range 