Early Risers.

[Erichill16]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

One thing is for certain, we will never return to where we were before the pandemic. Even if the disease was completely eradicated (not a reasonable assumption) the effect of the pandemic on social structures and the work environment  has been so transformative that, at best (or at worst – depending on your viewpoint), very little will be able to be reversed to pre-pandemic status .

 

I don’t think it will be just physically that we will never return to where we were, mental health issues will scar people for the rest of their lives. I know people who are terrified to come outside and I think this will last long after ‘the world returns to normal’. We have a young man at the pharmacy  with long standing, though relatively mild anxiety issues who is now, to put  it bluntly a ‘nervous wreck’. I think we will see people wearing masks for years to come and people nervously weaving down the supermarket aisles with a trolley full of antiviral products. Let’s hope there’s money left in the pot to help those left with serious mental health issues.

As to my post last night, I’m sorry, got caught by one of those waves that was coming crashing down.  Better now, Sydney’s here for a sleepover though this morning’s supermarket shop was a little disappointing. It’s amazing  how the little guy lifts our spirits and his absence over the last 10days or so has been felt. 
Early start tomorrow so a relatively early night here so goodnight.

Robert

Robert
 

[Erichill16]

7 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The chicken and bacon pie and chips went down very well and now I'm feeling full. 

That sort of service is available in the UK if you go 'private' but it doesn't cost anything like that as the actual medical procedures are still free of charge and all you actually pay for are the 'extras'. I'm the first to admit that there's room for improvement in the NHS but its still something to be proud of.

Not sure about the ‘still free’ bit but the NHS is definitely something to be proud of. I think I read somewhere that the WHO suggests the the  British NHS system is a model that other nations should aspire to.

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[PeterBB]

If you go private you pay all costs whereas using NHS it is free at the point of need but for some things e.g. knees and hips there is currently a considerable wait that Covid-19 has made worse.

 

I agree with Eric above about going out ... thankfully SWMBO shops so last own food shop visit was March 2020.  SWMBO says that there are many people who have 'chin straps' , 'forget' about social distancing and barge their way through. It makes her cross.  Having said that one lady not wearing a mask to whom she spoke, a carer shopping for her client, apologised for her forgetfulness,  immediately put one on and thanked her for the reminder. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by PeterBB
typos

[Ian Abel]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

How much does the illustrated US version cost the user?  Or their insurer?  What if you don't have health insurance?  How much does the UK version cost the patient out of pocket?  So which system is better?  

Brian mention one window into it...

To do anything even vaguely "in depth" would be a case of, how long have you got???

 

The breakdowns vary wildly based on your employment status for one, working, retired as the basics. Since I'm still working let's try that one briefly

1) Working at a lower paid job especially working less than the minimum hours required to have the employer "OFFER" health insurance.
    This one is a minefield,  many of those types of jobs, in restaurant/service industries or even big box stores try their hardset to have folks not QUITE work enough to have to even offer healthcare insurance. When/if they do it's quite expensive for small benefits.

2) Working as a "professional" with a decent salary and 40-hour work week, the employer will offer various tiers of health insurance.

 

In ALL cases it's your choice to take the insurance or not. Since employers will cover some part of the cost, opting to go-it-alone and find your own usually means much higher premiums.

 

Almost without EXCEPTION unless you're working for some benevolent benefactor, health insurance is made up as follows.

There are usually various tiers/levels you can sign up for. All offer different levels of reimbursement, at different levels of expense to you.

You always are on the hook for some portion of the actual cost of the insurance "plan". If you work for a nice company they may pay as much as 50% of the total cost of the plan you choose. You pay the balance.

Typically plans cover some amount of expenses after a deductible payment, e.g. my insurance has me pay $25, called a copay, for each doctor visit.

From there things go manic! Depending on your "plan" you may have to pay any percentage of the actual cost of any tests, X-rays, procedures etc.

Similarly you'll pay come copay for prescriptions. Some folks pay very little some much more.

Major surgeries (Brian was/is exceptionally lucky to have had all his covered), hit you up, again for some predetermined % based on your plan.

All plans also have an annual maximum amount you can typically be on the hook for, again sliding scale based on the plan (based on what you pay!).

 

Let's put this in $$ terms.

First "HEALTH INSURANCE"

Understand, this is MY experience, I'm with a company that has a VERY GOOD plan/program, and also are unusual in that they pay 50% of the monthly premium. There are several levels and I have the premium level.

MY month direct cost, covering myself and Julie is - $800. (yep, over 500 QUID)

There's a $500 deductible, per person per year. Annual out-of-pocket maximum capped at $3,000 per person, $6,000 family. So I'm on the hook AFTER the $500 deductible, for up to $6,000 a year of whatever the insurance doesn't cover on each bill.

Costs $25 to see the doc.

Nothing to call the ambulance and get carted to the ER/A&E -  it's a $500 charge but insurance on my plan picks it up.

Surgery e.g. I had an emergency appendectomy several years back - $25,000 BILLED to the insurance company I paid $500 deductible and something like an additional $700 "no covered" by insurance.

Prescriptions, my copay is between $10 and $25 depending on the item.

Again, to put it in US price perspectives. While waiting for the insurance records to "catch up", as insurance is renewed every year. The local pharmacy in January could only let me have one prescription that I usually pay $10 copay for, for it's retail price of $590 until the insurance carp was sorted. I would have got it back claiming on the insurance once the bookkeeping caught up, BUT, some folks have to pay that for the same item without insurance!

 

DENTAL: Whoops, hope you didn't think/expect dental is part of "health care"

Luckily my company offer a plan, many don't.

I pay $34 a month for myself and Julie. Doesn't actually cover EVERYTHING. Copay is $25 for a visit, two cleanings a year are free.

My experience/example, lost a tooth (molar) and will be getting an implant. MY COST will be about $3,000, actual bill will be around $5,500 sent to insurance.

 

VISION: Here we go AGAIN

Even LESS chance of having this covered by companies, I'm lucky again, paying $5.00 a month for coverage for us. Sounds small, but cover even LESS!

That covers ONE pair of frames every 18 months (upto a $150 value!), ONE year exam annually and no charge for STANDARD single-vision lenses.

Usually I end up forking over another $100+ for a decent frame, surprisingly the $150 ones are rather CARP, go figure!

I also pay usually $200-300 for the lenses since I have progressive focus ones. Any additional tinting etc., is at cost, no coverage on that.

 

Not bad, eh! A

s the four Yorkshire men would opine - "YOU'RE LUCKY", seeing the dreadful situations so many people in the US face would frighten you to death!

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Ian Abel

[Dave Hunt]

A few days ago I was in a shop queueing at the checkout. The woman behind me was not more than a couple of feet away and despite me trying to move away she kept closing up the gap between us. Eventually I asked her to step away and maintain her distance, to which she snorted, "Oh, you're one of those." My reply was less than completely bonhomous I'm afraid but had the desired effect.

 

Dave

[monkeysarefun]

Not sure how our system is similar or different to the NHS but we basically have 'Medicare' which provides free hospital services and other services like GP's, community nursing, physio, childrens dental and some other stuff  to citizens, New Zealanders  and citizens from other countries that have reciprocal  agreements with Australia. 

 

Medicines that are on the "Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme" are heavily subsidised and can cost a fraction of what the manufacturers list them at. There is also a medical benefits scheme whereby services not covered for free such as specialists or tests can be subsidised or costs capped once a safety net threshold is reached.

 

In addition we have private cover which is voluntary but has a large stick attached in that if you don't have it you pay more tax depending on your income. This provides hospital cover for some (or all) of the costs of hospital treatment as a private patient and 

general treatment (‘ancillary’ or ‘extras’) cover for some non-medical health services not covered by Medicare — such as dental, physiotherapy and optical services. 

 

Basically if you need hospital emergency treatment its free, but unless you are a low income earner you'll pay for the ambulance trip , though most people have at least ambulance cover as health insurance. Non urgent procedures can be carried out for free on Medicare  if you don't mind going on a waiting list, or more promptly if you go private. 

 

In summary, not sure how it sits on the world scale of civilised medical services since I've not experienced any others.

Edited February 23, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

The sun briefly showed itself this morning for about 30 minutes, but then the clouds reappeared. It started to rain whilst I was making tea and it’s been falling from the sky ever since. 

 

Well I’ve managed to do SOME sorting out of the shelves in the office, it just wasn’t my magazine pile. I came upon a pile of paid bills that hadn’t been filed, so I did that and whilst doing so, I sorted out the ‘FILES’ as well, getting rid of covering letter etc. I ended up with a pile of old paperwork that was about 5 inches deep. So I then removed any bit that had names, address, account number etc, and put the rest in the recycling bin. After dinner I spent the afternoon shredding the removed bits that didn’t go in the recycling bin. I ended up filling an old shoe box with all the shredded bits and that too went in the recycling bin. The bin is now pretty full, but it’s only emptied once every 4 weeks and it’s due this week!

 

The forgot to mention last night that Mike was due his Covid injection today, Sarah got her’s yesterday, whilst I get mine tomorrow morning. Neither of them are essential workers, but I think the reason that Mike and Sarah have had them so early, (they are both under 40) is that they are both very overweight, which puts them both in the at risk group. They are also in a different area to us, we live in Trafford, whilst they live in Salford, which has quite a high death rate, so Salford could well be ahead of the game, but we’re just both glad they’ve had it done. One small step back towards normality.

 

I had a message from our local leisure centre (where the swimming pool is) that they are opening up in April. I’m pleased that they are reopening, but until you can just turn up for a swim when you like, I’ll give it a miss. Booking slots of 1 hour, which includes changing before and after a swim is enough for me, I usually do about 60 - 70 minutes in the pool alone, never mind changing and showering before and after. 

Edited February 24, 2021 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

43 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

A few days ago I was in a shop queueing at the checkout. The woman behind me was not more than a couple of feet away and despite me trying to move away she kept closing up the gap between us. Eventually I asked her to step away and maintain her distance, to which she snorted, "Oh, you're one of those." My reply was less than completely bonhomous I'm afraid but had the desired effect.

 

Dave

I've been told of a similar situation where a woman without a mask was standing behind a chap who admonished her for standing to close. All he got for his trouble was a mouthful of abuse. So he just turned round and let out an enormous loud f@rt in her direction. She kept her distance after that.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

53 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Not sure how our system is similar or different to the NHS but we basically have 'Medicare' which provides free hospital services and other services like GP's, community nursing, physio, childrens dental and some other stuff  to citizens, New Zealanders  and citizens from other countries that have reciprocal  agreements with Australia. 

 

Medicines that are on the "Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme" are heavily subsidised and can cost a fraction of what the manufacturers list them at. There is also a medical benefits scheme whereby services not covered for free such as specialists or tests can be subsidised or costs capped once a safety net threshold is reached.

 

In addition we have private cover which is voluntary but has a large stick attached in that if you don't have it you pay more tax depending on your income. This provides hospital cover for some (or all) of the costs of hospital treatment as a private patient and 

general treatment (‘ancillary’ or ‘extras’) cover for some non-medical health services not covered by Medicare — such as dental, physiotherapy and optical services. 

 

Basically if you need hospital emergency treatment its free, but unless you are a low income earner you'll pay for the ambulance trip , though most people have at least ambulance cover as health insurance. Non urgent procedures can be carried out for free on Medicare  if you don't mind going on a waiting list, or more promptly if you go private. 

 

In summary, not sure how it sits on the world scale of civilised medical services since I've not experienced any others.

I can thoroughly recommend the Royal North Sydney Hospital for emergency treatment and for - how shall I put it - an imaginative descriptions of what an INR test was for which avoided me having to pay for it.   Mind you most of the nursing staff and doctors I saw there were English expats, including one from West Yorkshire although it was the Aus Doctor who came up with the imaginative reason for the test..

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[southern42]

' night all and nos da.

 

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by southern42
Late night typo!

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I can thoroughly recommend the Royal North Sydney Hospital for emergency treatment and for - how shall I put it - an imaginative descriptions of what an INR test was for which avoided me having to pay for it.

I walked into an ambulatory urgent care when visiting Australia. Since I had complained of thoracic pains (as I suspected, it turned out to be a gastric issue) they bundled me into an ambulance and ferried me, no ifs or buts, to a local hospital casualty/emergency room for a cardiac workup.

 

Despite having at one point possessing an Australian Medicare card, I was eventually billed for the full amount of the care. The total was significantly less than what I would have paid (without insurance) in a US Emergency Room. I could have tilted windmills with my US insurance company to get some kind of recompense but didn't have the patience to pursue it.

 

My son accompanied me. He thoroughly enjoyed the experience of overhearing Queensland's finest while, across the hall, they interviewed a violent crime suspect who was injured and not very coherent. I'm not sure his incoherence was related to injury or treatment. (Only curtains separated triage rooms from the hallway and their loud conversation was impossible to ignore.)

[5 C]

Evening/morning awl, 

 

Catching up on RMWeb during a nocturnal awakening. I posted this over on the old cars thread but I thought it might be of interest to any ex-Job ER's or anyone who fancies a trip back to a less 'elf & safety conscious age.

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

Overnight I received an e-mail purporting to come from Royal Mail.  It asserted that details of my address were incomplete so could I fill in the gaps.  Yeah, right.  Why would Royal Mail use a Belgian e-mail address?  Mark as spam and block sender, I think.  As it happens, I was going to say something else about Royal Mail today so here goes.  How does stuff get lost in the post?  Back in October I ordered a double CD by responding immediately to a message on Facebook.  When a similar message appeared in January I raised the alarm.  It turned out that the crowdfunding site through which I had ordered the CD had not picked up the order and the seller had no record of it.  This has happened to me before with one crowdfunding site in particular.  I placed the order again.  This time I was given a despatch date and an estimated delivery date, of "no later than 8th February".  It will come as no surprise that the wretched thing has not arrived.  Once again I have raised the alarm.  I have been promised a replacement CD and await developments, but without much by way of expectation.  What on earth do I do if the replacement miscarries?

 

Various clubs and societies that I support will need to consider the future of their meetings now that we are allowed to have them again.  It will not be at all straightforward to return to the old order of gathering in church halls and the like for a talk or slide show and a cuppa at half time.  I foresee that many owners of premises hired out to the likes of the HMRS will find that they can manage without the additional income that such hirings generates and can do without the hassle, real or imagined, of sending the caretaker along to open up before the meeting and lock up afterwards.  The other factor is that some of those who used to attend may well declare themselves uneasy about going out because they might catch something and would much rather go boss-eyed in front of a computer screen.  I say to myself "What a wonderful world".

 

Best wishes to all 

 

Chris

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

A few days ago I was in a shop queueing at the checkout. The woman behind me was not more than a couple of feet away and despite me trying to move away she kept closing up the gap between us. Eventually I asked her to step away and maintain her distance, to which she snorted, "Oh, you're one of those." My reply was less than completely bonhomous I'm afraid but had the desired effect.

 

Dave

 

The local Co-op has pull-along baskets on wheels, so Bear trails that behind him when standing at the checkout queue.  Eliminates any risk of a Bandit on your six

 

6 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've been told of a similar situation where a woman without a mask was standing behind a chap who admonished her for standing to close. All he got for his trouble was a mouthful of abuse. So he just turned round and let out an enormous loud f@rt in her direction. She kept her distance after that.

 

Love it, must try it.  If you've never been downwind of a seal blubber f@rt then believe me, you've never lived...

 

11 minutes ago, chrisf said:

This time I was given a despatch date and an estimated delivery date, of "no later than 8th February".  It will come as no surprise that the wretched thing has not arrived.  Once again I have raised the alarm.  I have been promised a replacement CD and await developments, but without much by way of expectation.  What on earth do I do if the replacement miscarries?

 

It'll either be 3rd time lucky or claim a refund off your credit card company or via paypal.  If you transferred money using a cheque, bank transfer or debit card then it starts to get trickier....

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've been told of a similar situation where a woman without a mask was standing behind a chap who admonished her for standing to close. All he got for his trouble was a mouthful of abuse. So he just turned round and let out an enormous loud f@rt in her direction. She kept her distance after that.

I'm not sure whether that would  fall foul of part of the offences against the Person act of 1862 that deals with the discharge of noxious substances. However I like the idea.

 

5 hours ago, 5 C said:

Evening/morning awl, 

 

Catching up on RMWeb during a nocturnal awakening. I posted this over on the old cars thread but I thought it might be of interest to any ex-Job ER's or anyone who fancies a trip back to a less 'elf & safety conscious age.

 

 

If that's the documentary  about GMP traffic men in the winter of discontent, when the M62 was shut, I remember both the film and the winter very well. Beth and I had to turn round at Birch Services that night but managed to get back to Leeds via Presto,, the A59 and Skipton.

 

Jamie

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Good morning all. It's dry again and promises to be sunny.  

 

We enjoyed our meal yesterday and the day went well.  Today my main task is to getva first coat of stain onto all the timber for the gate.  I may then remain in the shed to work on things that can't be mentioned.

 

As to health care, the French system works well.  Top up insurance is compulsory, and Beth and I pay about €170 per month.  It covers most things including dental and eye care, though there are additional costs for those.  As we were both OAP's when we moved out the rest of the cost us recovered from the UK vua our S1 forms. However my Police pension us still taxed in the UK so we do oay for it in a way.  The system seems to work well, though there are stresses and strains in the system.  It appears to be a heavily regulated but privately run system but I don't know the details.

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Chuckinitdarn.. makes a change

 

Gosh its housework Wednesday again! I will make use of our new Shark to rid the carpet of dirt.. remove dust from places it shouldn't be etc. I also need to rehang a curtain poll.. seems like the holes and rawlplugs used were not big enough some 10 years ago.  Pah!

 

Over the years I have "enjoyed" free medical care from BUPA, paid for BUPA cover, paid into what was the Leeds Hospital fund for optical and dental cover( when it was bought and was moved to Basingstoke for its HQ the premiums quadrupled so I stopped paying).

The NHS (apart from the Marie Celeste) has been very helpful to me. 

 

Noticed that as a reward for helping during the pandemic the Army is to lose 10,000 soldiers. Just hope we don't need their support any time.

 

In other news her indoors has become giddy on the news of her projected pension becoming available later in the year. She has plans for it already (and it does not include cake).

Time to finish my mugatea!

I hope that you all have a good day... think positively about the future!

Baz

Edited February 24, 2021 by Barry O

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

 

5.5 hours sleep, then a little bit of dozing, as brain got engaged onto some finer details of trailer rebuilding..

 

For those Not of UK knowledge , she said Prescriptions cost £8, well it's gone up to £9 now and you can buy a "season ticket" or prepayment card, £29.65 for 3 months or £105.90 for a year, which we did for SWMBO as she rattles with the amount of pills she takes.

But now she's 60 they are free, as they are for  children, students, the unemployed, the pregnant, diabetics and some other medical conditions.

I did wonder at her having visited A&E many times, in the last 63 years of my life I've visited twice in the back of an ambulance.

 

The Army are running with up to 40% below staffing levels, they just can't get recruits, so by getting rid of 10,000 people they actually won't get rid of anyone, they'll just have less vacancies.

 

I completed one set of current shunts yesterday by heating the lab up with 2 100A shunts, I'm now doing a 50A from another set which along with those all the way down to 1ma will keep me occupied all day..

 

 Time for more typing of numbers.

 

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where the morning sun is streaming in through the window and peeping over my shoulder to get a good look at what's being said in ERs.

 

In my experience the NHS has been reasonably good - and in fact excellent for Younger Lurker with his ASD and particularly his allergies; the food challenges have allowed him to eat most of the foodstuffs he is allergic to which means as he gets older he only has to worry about one; peanuts.

 

There are gaps in the service; as an adult I have never been able to get on the NHS dental list, so go privately (and being happy with the current provider, I have not bothered to try for a number of years now), and even if it were NHS it would not be "free", and having to wear NHS specs as a teenager also scarred me. They're much better now, although of course I pay for my glasses and contact lenses privately.

 

Mrs Lurker has had mixed experiences; I know of two occasions where she has nearly been finished by NHS mistakes, and one where the failure to give her the care she needed was prevented only by the consultant getting extremely stern; but the rest of her experience has been good.

 

My Dad had to wait well over a year to get a replacement hip and eventually waited so long and was in so much pain he paid to go privately - and that was well before any Covid was on the horizon.

 

I could also make a point about some of the marginal income tax rates in the UK (there are several parts of the "ladder" where the rate is well north of 50%) but I suspect that all things being equal I prefer to at least know I can go and get treated without worrying about someone waving the bill in my face first.