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[scriver]

This...why? Why did people think a joke about C. elegans is hurting a group of humans? It doesn’t make sense

From what I can gather from that article the worm scientists feel looked down upon by the grander science community and this has developed a self esteem complex over it.

Which has been allowed to inflate and fester until it eventually erupted into said overflow of bitterness and self-insightless, bitterness fueled, moronic comparisons to other groups vulnerable to discrimination.

From this and the thing with the sock puppet the other day I feel science Twitter must be a real hoot

[misko27]

Yoooo Upper Manhattan lost power this morning. I woke up at 5:00 or whatever groping in the dark trying to plug in my fan without actually waking up, only to realize that everything was off. Down to 60th and up through Harlem, East and West sides. Came back on an hour later just as we were beginning to plan for the blackout; in fact I was helping my mother hold the window open so she could take a video when the power went on.

Worried a bit because there's no word on why yet. ConEd said something about "Transmission failure", which seems not immediately easy to reconcile with the explosion at 77th of a transformer I saw reported. What's weird though, is they say it isn't lingering damage from Isias which tore through a few days ago, which to me seems a little bizarre because if not that than what? Heck large parts of long island still don't have power from then.

Really hoping this doesn't become a recurring theme. Even an hour without my fan hurt, and the carnage that would ensue at our overfilled fridge in the case of a prolonged blackout would be devastating.

[Frumple]

I mean... if you're worried and have somewhere exposed to the air you can stick it, maybe get a small generator? Just to keep the fridge running, more or less. Dunno what kind of living space you got and it ain't really viable in most apartments, but...

[Flying Dice]

Had to go to the ER yesterday because of sharp chest pain. Five hours later I get discharged because they've ruled out anything immediately life-threatening. I go to follow up with my GP, in about five minutes she figures out that I had a bad muscle tear or sprain in my chest right over my heart and left lung. Now I'm just sitting here fucking terrified of how big the bill will be for this bullshit. (I don't blame the person who called the ambulance and would have myself if I'd been able to focus on breathing enough to get to a phone, you don't fuck with chest pain, but of all the stupid goddamn things...)

[Frumple]

Oof. Yeah, ambulance is usually four digits by itself, iirc, so unless you somehow got insurance that actually isn't shit it's probably going to hurt. There might be some kind of assistance program available, though, and almost certainly installment type options you can negotiate with the hospital.

[LordBaal]

Well, pain in the chest is something no to be taking ligthly, never.

[Eschar]

What if it feels like it's sort of in the ribs area?

Happened (mildly) to me yesterday.

[scriver]

Quickly take them off the plate and hope they didn't get burned

[Flying Dice]

Oof. Yeah, ambulance is usually four digits by itself, iirc, so unless you somehow got insurance that actually isn't shit it's probably going to hurt. There might be some kind of assistance program available, though, and almost certainly installment type options you can negotiate with the hospital.

Thankfully I have decent medical, but my yearly deductible is $2,000 before it kicks in and I still have to pay 20% from $2k to $3.5k before coverage shifts to 100%, so I'm probably going to eat a big chunk regardless. I can eat the cost since I save most of what I make but it's going to push back how soon I can finish knocking out my student loans (and thus how quickly I can make a down payment on a house and stop renting). Not life-ruining but it'll cost me a year or more towards real financial independence, all because I slept funny or lifted something a bit too heavy.

Could be worse, but that's not very comforting when I basically had to take those bills in case it wasn't something that I could solve with ibuprofen and rest. Especially not since I've got the right (wrong) build for a spontaneous collapsed lung -- that happened to my father a few years back, was what I was initially worried about after I had time to think and notice that the pain was mostly at the end of full inhalations, and also what the ER doc checked for right after ruling out heart attack.

[McTraveller]

Yeah, I'm quite jaded by the high deductible model of health care in the US.  My family plan premiums are close to $1000 a month (when you include my part + my employer's part) and I have a $2500 per person / $5000 family deductible.  This means we shell out at least $14500 before the insurance even starts paying a dime (we also then go to 20% payments, up to a max out of pocket of like $11k or something crazy*).  This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that I have an HSA (NOT FSA thank goodness!) that my employer funds, so I personally do OK.

Health insurance is my family's number two expense, barely behind housing (and that's only if I include property tax and homeowner's insurance; health care is more expensive than my mortgage).  The only expense we have more than health care is federal and state taxes.

I'm coming to an understanding that many of the systemic issues we have with race in this country are also tied to insurance.

*For those of you not in the US - this number does not roll over either. If you spend $2499 on your deductible through December, it sets to $0 on January 1.  It's flabbergasting.

[Flying Dice]

Yep, the interlocking systems of healthcare and insurance in the U.S. are positively predatory. It's exactly why I have the job I do, since I pay no premium for medical and only ~$26/mo for dental + vision it's functionally equivalent to my pay being ~$12k-15k more per year. Not getting bent over a table for insurance is one of the few remaining upsides to public service now that most jurisdictions have axed proper pensions. (That and I get 25k life insurance for 30 cents a month so if I do kick the bucket early my family won't lose a bunch of their savings for funeral expenses.)

[Frumple]

Heh. Well, upside to public work if you're full time (or maybe just in a less shit place than me, I'unno). Part time public work your benefits are, uh. Maybe fairly flexible hours and not working for overt pieces of corporate shite :V

... but that's it. No medical, no PTO, no vacation accruing, etc. It's not actually that bad overall for the shithole I live in, but it's not exactly great, either. Good thing I'm mostly doing it just to make family feel better, ha.

[Reelya]

Yeah, crappy system there. I know people who've needed an ambulance here, but never once heard anyone mention such a thing as being charged for needing one. (EDIT: apparently there are charges in different states. here, but take with a grain of salt since this page is trying to sell people on private insurance. So the upshot is that if you lack insurance, an ambulance trip could cost you about $800 US dollars in the most expensive part of Australia. In Sydney, the charge would be about $US 250. I should caveat that I've known unemployed people who needed an ambulance, and none of them ever mentioned being charged for it. We have a thing called a Health Care Card issued to all unemployed and pensioners and some low-income people. Maybe they just don't charge the ambulance fees to those people).

Even private stuff here, I go to a private GP near here if I need a medical certificate or something, the fee is $75 but you get 50% back from a government rebate on that. If you go to an even more bargain-bin doctor then 100% is covered by the rebate (since it's a set dollar amount). But, I haven't bothered to shop around to find a cheaper GP nearby, I'm going to the most obvious clinic in the area that's near the big supermarkets here. So I'm pretty sure if I could be assed to look around I could find one that charges only the rebate amount, and get free consultation. But since i have a decent job I'll leave those for people who are struggling for money.

Point being, I have a fulltime job, but I'm still covered by universal health, and could finagle it so I never have to pay anything if I wanted. Have been in hospital once or twice, never received anything like a bill for that. People who make more money do pay more in taxes for the medical thing - it works out as paying an extra 2% on your taxes if you're making decent money. But that means everyone is covered fairly and the hospital doesn't have to get involved in anything to do with your finances. Anyone who's got the valid card is treated exactly the same.

[Naturegirl1999]

Australia sounds like a nice place

[hector13]

Only if you ignore all the wildlife that can kill you.

And the sun.