Tracy Nelson Is An Unfortunate Acceptable Loss

Obamabump

That was difficult to watch. Good luck to her and the millions out there who are facing similar problems.

That was really effective. I never really liked her as an actress but this is wonderful. Hell, if her acting roles were infused with this much passion and "real" talk, she would be great. But Father Dowling Mysteries just didn't cut it for me. lol.

I am glad she has beat cancer . Seems like she is tough as nails. Three times? Wow.

What happened to all the money she inherited from her grandparents Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, pioneers of television and multi-millionaires?

Or the money she inherited from her father, Rick(y) Nelson, best-selling teen idol/recording star?

And couldn't she get some financial help from her brothers, the twins who are the pop group Nelson?

And couldn't she get some financial help from her aunt and uncle, Pam Dawber and highly-paid popular star of TV's NCIS, Mark Harmon? (Mark is the brother of Tracey's mom, Kris, and at one point Mark and Pam tried to take the Nelson twins away from Kris after Ricky's tragic death)

r4. She had cancer THREE TIMES. Medical care is ASTRONOMICAL in cost. It is quite possible that she blew through ALL that money you mention, even with it being a huge sum. Think about it. One ambulance ride is $3,000! It adds up very quickly.

Chemo treatments without health insurance costs THOUSANDS. Treatments can go on for years.

OMG major flashback. I used to watch that Father Dowling show with my grandmother. I normally can't hold my attention through these types of vids, but she did a good job. Unfortunate story, great message.

She was hilarious on 'Seinfeld'.

I would have to die. I wouldn't be able to afford my own treatment and I'm not going to get well just to live on the fucking streets.

I used to watch Father Dowling with my grandfather. It was a fun show to watch except for Tracy Nelson's scenes which always seemed to drag. The housekeeper was great.

I got turned down for a whole lot less than that. And you know the Repugs are going to get hung up on the fact that she's a "liberal Hollywood elitist," so just trying to get their sympathy. I know a whole lot of Repugs whose children can't fly the nest and are taking advantage of the 26-year-old insurance coverage thing, though.

I loved her as the Valley girl on 'Square Pegs'. She and Jami Gertz were the best.

She also did a fun, brief stint on a cheesy Australian show called Snowy River: The MacGregor Saga (along with Hugh Jackman and Guy Pierce, IIRC).

What a moving video. I usually tune out of these things after a few minutes, but she was so sincere and captivating.

"She had cancer THREE TIMES. Medical care is ASTRONOMICAL in cost. It is quite possible that she blew through ALL that money you mention, even with it being a huge sum. Think about it. One ambulance ride is $3,000! It adds up very quickly."

Exactly! ReThugs are so batshit crazy and just plain evil, these bastards simply don't see that being denied health insurance as a VERY BIG problem.

My dad had minor heart surgery about two years ago, 'minor' in the sense that it wasn't open heart surgery, but the complete bill, minus his out of pocket TV rental, was over $80,000! Thankfully he has his own private coverage which he carried on when he retired, as well as Medicare.

Does that creepy looking douchebag Paul Ryan HONESTLY think a voucher plan will work in place of the current Medicare system? Is he serious? How much is this fucking asshole putting in each old person's voucher plan? I'm sure it will not be $25,000 let alone $500,000!

How the hell does even $10,000 cover the cost of health insurance, surgery and a hospital stay? What happens if you need to go back into the hospital during that year?

This is what baffles me to no end, the willful ignorance of these ReThug voters.

How can these ignorant ReThug voters be willing to vote for these two liars who are not even giving them ANY honest answers about exactly HOW their polices are going to work? All the ReThugs have fed their followers are non-stop empty platitudes.

The list of things Romney wants to repeal the FIRST day is office is laughable. All this slimy guys wants to do is take away established plans which work!

Medicare actually works! WHY dismantle a plan which works?

This is why it is so great living in Canada. We don't have these type pf problems. Sure the system isn't perfect, but there is no Canadian citizen who would support a for-profit health care system.

On another note, she should have remarried Billy Moses and got on his SAG policy. Mistake divorcing him.

She has had a pretty steady career, working on an acting gig at least once a year.

What about the SAG medical benefits?

I never really had to deal with this, so I didn't pay much attention, but weren't employer-based health insurance plans allowed to reject for pre-existing conditions?

But also, the insurance policy I got through a previous employer capped medical payments at $1 million per policy. Apparently several employees had gotten cancer and other serious illnesses, and because of the chemo plus whatever other treatment they received (bone marrow transplant, for one), the insurance company ended up paying millions on each policy. So maybe there was a cap on the payments.

So, yeah, if insurance was paying over $1 million to treat one person, I can believe she blew through all her money dealing with three rounds of cancer treatments, especially since hospitals often charge more for out-of-pocket payments than they charge the insurance company.

r16 has a point....

[quote]Medicare actually works! WHY dismantle a plan which works?

Because the current system in financially unsustainable. The Medicare Trust is expected to run out in about 10 years unless something is done. And with baby boomers turning 65 and more people living longer, that 10 years could shrink.

I'm not saying the republicans have the right approach. But there's likely something that needs to change,

[quote]What happened to all the money she inherited from her grandparents Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, pioneers of television and multi-millionaires?

The were pioneers, and way before the syndication gravey train came into town. They didn't make a million dollars an episode like the "Friends" or "Seinfeld " actors did.

[quote]What about the SAG medical benefits?

Did you watch? She said she stopped working to raise her kids and her insurance lapsed and that was all it took. You can be in a Union and still not be eligible for their Insurance. She couldn't get ANY insurance because of a pre-existing condition afer that.

I watched this and I agree that her situation is very sad. I am in favor of Obamacare. However, that said, she admitted that she let her insurance "lapse" when she wasn't working and was raising her children. She never should have let it lapse! Especially since she had cancer at age 20. Her business folks, agents, husband, and other relatives in show business should have made sure she knew this. No one should go without health insurance. It is not worth the risk. She had $ and could afford it. She made a terrible error by letting her policy (prob. a SAG policy) lapse or by not getting on her husband's policy. That said, I am glad ObamaCare is nixing the whole pre=existing conditions thing.

[quote] ReThugs are so batshit crazy and just plain evil, these bastards simply don't see that being denied health insurance as a VERY BIG problem.

Until it happens to them, then they go even more batshit -- and blame it on Obama. Look what happened when Obama threatened to delay SS checks a while back. "Obama's a Communist!! He's trying to take my grandma's Social Security!!!" Not acknowledging that it's their own party that wants these social programs abolished.

[quote]No one should go without health insurance. It is not worth the risk. She had $ and could afford it. She made a terrible error by letting her policy (prob. a SAG policy) lapse or by not getting on her husband's policy. That said, I am glad ObamaCare is nixing the whole pre=existing conditions thing.

And she is not asking for sympathy. She's informing people that don't have the $ that ObamaCare is the way to go. She told her story to help others. She doesn't need a lecture from you.

Fine but does she not take any responsibility for her part in letting her SAG insurance "lapse"? I mean, isn't she living in a million dollar home now? As far as I know she still is. Maybe she personally went broke but she had the mansion and her HUSBAND's money. I'm not trying to belittle her situation but it is not even close to people who don't have those kinds of resources. She's living large now, and she never got foreclosed on or sell her house, which is the real reality.

actually she wouldn't be that big of a loss....let her go

If Canada, everyone is a part of the healthcare system and gets coverage automatically - there is no need to worry about some insurance plan or a lapse of it.

I think the lack of universal healthcare in the US is the cruellest thing about living in the US.

[quote]I'm not trying to belittle her situation

Yes, you are. And what is your point, anyway? That she didn't suffer enough, and she should therefore not be allowed to speak out about inequities in the system that she has experienced firsthand?

Part of the point is that no one is immune: it can happen even to a celebrity, even to the wealthy. It's not just freeloaders and communists who stand to benefit from Obamacare. It will benefit everyone, even people who are already privileged.

Borrow money or get money from her relatives? I think you're talking half a million or perhaps more in her case.

"I'm not saying the republicans have the right approach. But there's likely something that needs to change, "

What actually has to change is to stop allowing US health care to continue as such a large for-profit industry.

Is there really any honest justification for health company CEOs, who make anywhere from 10 to 30 million and up a year, to deny their high premium paying customers/patients tests or control how many times a year patients can see their doctors?

I remember when my sister, who was paying 100% out of pocket at the time for her health insurance (now she is married and on her husband's coverage because her insurance through her job wasn't very good), was nearly denied a diagnostic test because her former gyno told her, "Do you realize what an expensive test that is?" WTF?!!

My sister couldn't believe what she was hearing, she went ballistic, she explained that she knew her symptoms were not normal and that her monthly premium more than covered the cost of the test! I think the cost for this test was around $400 and her premium was about $600 a month at the time!

Sure enough, my sister was diaignosed with uterine cancer, thankfully, because of her insistence on that one test, she is alive today.

Fuck this horrible for profit health care system we have in the US. People say we have the best in the world, but look at the hoops we have to jump through for service!

If Romney becomes president, even more people will be losing or unable to get health care due to pre-existing conditions etc, because this piece of shit wants to REPEAL The Affordable Healthcare Act!

It will be like going back 100 years if this fool gets elected. He's anti-everything!

How dare Tracey expect a for profit business to make a profit.

How DARE the people of the USA want Universal Health Care like they have in every other First World nation!

If Obamacare is enacted won't the upper classes just turn to concierge service doctors?

I mean I know I am not going to sit in the waiting room next to some women named Fernanda with a chicken on her lap.

She did a great job. Too bad so few have seen it and election day is so close.

I agree with R21

In terms of her kids, they are probably covered under Billy Moses SAG plan.

But working once a year to keep her SAG medical benefits, wouldn't be that much of a sacrifice.

Maybe she couldn't get a job...

It is true. So many prople hate Obamacare don't know what it is....

r24, you are a douchebag. Maybe she could not HELP her SAG benefits lapsing. If she hadn't been working because she was raising her kids, perhaps she could not get enough acting roles to KEEP the insurance in place even if she decided to, you know, "grab a role or two here and there just to keep the insurance." I don't know the rules but maybe you need more than one role per year or something like that? Maybe she should just have never stopped working at all and put her health insurance as a priority over and above her kids? You and a few others are saying that her decision to be a stay at home mom was her FAULT and that the ensuing financial health crisis ultimately fell on her head by her own doing. So, you ARE blaming her. Republican much? She is not asking for sympathy in that video, just a chance to PAY for her benefits, to HAVE them. That is all. And her pre-existing condition has kept her from being able to get insurance because the system is so fucked up.

I don't think an enlightened society should have a "for profit" healthcare system. It should be a given that we take care of sick people.

America is too fundamentally selfish to be so enlightened. Everything must be for profit or it is considered a pointless exercise, and the "haves" don't want to pay higher taxes because god forbid the "have-nots" might benefit from it.

Yes, I'm sure the roles for Tracy Nelson are just lining up. Do you not understand what it's like to be a working actress?

To r21 and r24: forget that she's a celebrity. I think you're over estimating the value of her acting career and family legacy, given the personal history of her father and the work she's done, but that's not the point. Even if she could have afforded to keep her insurance and chose not to (something I doubt a cancer survivor would ever willingly do, but we don't know the facts here) I still don't think a person should pay for that mistake with her life or bankrupting her family.

Imagine this scenario as a regular person.

You have insurance. You get laid off. You opt for COBRA (an 18 month extension of your employer based benefits where you are entitled to keep the same policy but must pay the full premium yourself). Your individual policy that you used to pay a percentage premium of, for instance, $100 a month, now costs you $500 a month or more. You don't find a job and the COBRA ends after 18 months. Or you get part-time a job with no benefits. You're forced to buy your own private policy, where even the cheapest policy is hundreds of dollars a month - hard to afford on unemployment or a part-time salary. You begin depleting your savings, and after a while can't afford the policy. You are forced to make a financial choice: rent, food, utilities, student loan, health insurance premium. What to give up?

Or maybe you couldn't afford the COBRA at all. Or maybe you have a family policy; estimate double or triple the costs.

Or perhaps you're younger, and you take the calculated risk of letting your insurance lapse.

Now it's time to get a new policy. Maybe it's through a new employer, or you're now able to buy your own private policy. Under the current system (which is the set-up Romney-Ryan will keep in place if elected) in the majority of cases, an insurance can't subject you to a pre-existing condition clause, if you can prove you have "uninterrupted" prior coverage. In most cases this means you cannot have gone for more than 2 months without insurance coverage in the previous year. If you fail to meet this criteria, and your new employer's benefits aren't "cadillac" enough to waive all pre-existing condition clauses, you're out of luck. Under Romney-Ryan, tens of millions will still be denied coverage.

The basic question is: do we want a system where you end up with a catastrophic illness and are unable to get coverage because you lost your job, or chose rent over insurance, or, god forbid, took a risk at age 24 that you were healthy and wouldn't need coverage for a while, and then, whoops, you get Hodgkin's or leukemia?

There are lots of circumstances where a person ends up without insurance through no fault of their own. And, really, do we think that even the person who loses health insurance through a stupid risk-taking choice deserves to be denied medical treatment because of it? I know plenty of people (many in my own family) who say, "take responsibility, you chose to let it lapse." Personally, I find that inhumane, and much more of a death panel than anything Sarah Palin and the GOP dreamed up as part of ObamaCare.

Her celebrity status means nothing. Think of her as an under-employed contractor.

The ACA, if left intact, will eventually make pre-existing condition clauses disappear (although high premiums are going to be with us forever, I suspect). The "tax" people will pay if they elect not to buy coverage will mean that even if they don't get coverage and then suddenly find themselves with leukemia at age 25, they will still be able to buy coverage.

I get wanting people to make smart choices rather than bad ones that end up negatively impacting themselves, their family and indirectly, society as a whole. But I personally think we've got a broken system where you pay for an error in judgement with your life or the financial solvency of your family, when a better financial model for healthcare delivery would remove the incentive people have to opt out of coverage.

Even if she did a guest spot once a year, she would still have her SAG benefits.

In Canada, you do pay for health care 'insurance' through your taxes - no choice. Obamacare is the same thing, except you pay it to a private insurance agency. Really, the U.S. needs to cut out private insurance agencies - their existence is based on insuring people who don't need it at 'this' time, but when you do, then don't count on them continuing to insure you. I don't know why anyone in the U.S. would be so resistant to universal health care. Even if you feel YOU shouldn't have to pay for it because YOU don't need it, you can bet someone you love, such as a family member or good friend, will.

R43 Canadians are not saying we get free health care. Of course we pay for it through taxes.

What we are saying is that everyone is treated the same, regardless of income. There is a level playing field.

1) Why is it that other countries around the world have a free (or almost free) government health care system that provides world class services for it's citizens? In most cases you can go your whole life without health insurance because you don't really need it. 2) Why would anyone vote against a universal healthcare system?

[quote]Why is it that other countries around the world have a free (or almost free) government health care system that provides world class services for it's citizens?

Because other countries around the world make it illegal to make a profit on basic health care insurance.

The U.S., on the other hand, worships the almighty dollar at the expense of the lives of its citizens.

[quote]Even if she did a guest spot once a year, she would still have her SAG benefits.

She had Cancer. Perhaps she didn't feel well enogh to work, or think she looked good enough to work. Whatever, it's not the point. She is only telling her story so people that don't "get" ObamaCare know what millions with PRE-EXISTING conditions are dismissed by the Insurance Comapnies. With your judgemental attitude, it would be a perfect profession for you.

[quote] She had Cancer. Perhaps she didn't feel well enogh to work, or think she looked good enough to work.

You do what you gotta do. When Madlyn Rhue had MS she looked AWFUL and needed her SAG benefits. She sent the word out to her actor friends, and Angela Lansbury came to the rescue. She wrote in a recurring part of the town Librarian just for Madlyn.

Daniel Green (who was on Falcon Crest) was in the same boat. His wife was poz and he needed to get an acting job fast, to keep his benefits. One of his actor friends on a sitcom came to the rescue with an under five part.

I'm not blaming Tracy. Shit happens. But she shouldn't have let her SAG medical benefits lapse. And she should have done everything in her power to keep her benefits. She could even do voice-over work and still keep her benefits.

[quote] Fine but does she not take any responsibility for her part in letting her SAG insurance "lapse"?

SAG insurance lapses if you don't work enough hours to mainta8in the benefit. You can't just pay for it it you don't qualify. She'd have had to have gone the private insurance route, and she'd have topped out on lifetime benefits very quickly. Luckily with Obamacare, that provision ALSO goes away and insurance companies are no longer allowed to cap your benefits.

Which is why she should have tried to get any type of 'guest spot' just to maintain her benefits.

[bold]It's Not All Rosey For Canadians Either![/bold]

Nine out of 10 Canadian families battling cancer are also battling financial debt, according to a study released Thursday.

The Canadian Cancer Society, in partnership with the Canadian Cancer Action Network, released a three-year study in Winnipeg that examined the financial hardship that can be brought on by a cancer diagnosis.

For some, a diagnosis begins a financial tailspin that pushes ordinary people over the edge resulting in debt, distress, bankruptcy and even a lifetime on social assistance.

Winnipegger Teresa Solta knows the story first hand. Within a year of her youngest daughter's spinal cord cancer diagnosis, Solta went from being a successful business owner to full-time caregiver.

She suddenly had very little income and four children to look after.

One year later, the accountant herself was diagnosed with leukemia and was forced to stop work entirely. In the months that followed, she declared bankruptcy, lost her home and moved with her four children into her parents' two-bedroom apartment..

"My pride took such a beating because I was very pleased with the fact that I'd been so self-sufficient," she said.

"Just imagine what it feels like to have a 13-year-old break down in tears and tell you that, 'we're homeless.' That really hurts. That broke my heart."

The Cancer Society is calling for income stability for patients and caregivers and more funding for affordable cancer drugs and medical equipment.

R51 she could have filed for disability.

Now, if you look at her IMDB...she does work on some project at least once a year.

Sad

"Which is why she should have tried to get any type of 'guest spot' just to maintain her benefits"

Listen, you Kelsey Grammar/Rick Santorum hellspawn fuckface..

What's wrong with our healthcare system? Is it that the for-profit industry with its millionaire executives denying people coverage to save a buck ?

Or is the problem that Tracy Nelson and others in similar circumstances for one reason or another finds their insurance has lapsed and that they should have overcome WHATEVER personal problems or obstacles they may have experienced at the time which led to that lapse of insurance therefore they need to be more "responsible"?

You are fucking scum who deserve to suffer as much as the people you would force to endure their ills to save a few bucks for millionaires.

True, R51, but maybe being a business owner has something to do with her specific case. It's tough, but I doubt many Canadians who get cancer face homelessness as a result. One of my best friends has cancer and gets disability. She even gets some of her alternative treatments covered through public health benefits.

Honey, if finding work for an over forty year old actress were that easy, Meryl wouldn't be the only one sucking up all the big roles.

Those of you saying "Just get a couple of guests spots" are clueless to how it works. If she took time off to nurse herself through her illness and also look after her kids, it's not going to be easy to find good paying work.

Besides, R57, who the hell wants to work when they have cancer? And if you're sick, who the fuck is going to hire you for an acting gig, particularly if you're not insurable? Some of you are so fucking clueless it hurts sometimes.

And third world countries too [r32]!

Question for someone familiar with non-US health systems. If the government provides benefits instead of the insurance companies, how do the hospitals, doctors and pharmacuetical companies work? In the US, the hospitals, doctors and pharma companies are for-profit just like the insurance companies - are they for-profit in non-US locations to, or extensions of the government?

It's common practice to bitch about insurance companies in the states, but I've never understood why the complaints stop there. They are only one piece of the healthcare system, and if the government steps in as the replacement for only that piece, we're still all fucked.

R60 in Canada each province (the US equivalent of States) receives transfer payments from the Federal Government. This is in the millions of dollars.

Each Premier (think Governor) of each province then doles money out to the various hospitals. While individual doctors bill the province for their services to patients.

Each citizen of Canada has a Health Card. We present our card when we see the doctor, get a test, or see a specialist. That gets billed to the province, and they in turn send a payment back.

The transfer payments each province receives should be enough for the year. Our taxes pay for Health Care.

R25 is disgusting. I can't believe no one has called him out yet.

I hope you get cancer. See how it feels.

[quote][R25] is disgusting. I can't believe no one has called him out yet.

R27 shows as R25. Weird.

She should just borrow money from her parents, like when she needed to borrow some money to go to college or start a business or join a nepotist career.

The girl who played Rhoda in 'The Bad Seed' was given a pity guest star role on the CW show 'Supernatural' so that she wouldn't lose her SAG benefits.

I'm 56 - haven't had health insurance in 4 years. Just can't afford it.

She does't talk to her mom

R65, debunked. Patty McCormack had four SAG parts in 2012 before "Supernatural."

Wasn't there any money left from Ozzie & Harriet. Why are all the Nelson's crying poverty?

Obamacare will bankrupt this country and will actually be damaging

End of Days

I always thought she was a darn good actress. I especially liked Father Dowling starring Tracy and Tom Bosley. My wife and I have been wondering why we haven't seen her on any movies recently, so I went to google. We didn't know her cancer had returned. Tracy, if your reading this, I was always a huge fan of your Dad's. I have so many of his CDs and albums, and still today, look in music stores for any that I may not have. Also, it's either his music or Frankie Avalon's that I play in my car or while using my tread mill. For me, they will always rank 1, 2. And Tracy, I certainly wish you the best future possible.

She once had cancer and then did not bother to be sure she had health insurance? Not buying it.

In Australia, doctors who work in public hospitals are government employees.

For those talking about SAG insurance lapsing, you have to earn at least 45k each year only from acting gigs to even be elligible for it. That number may have risen ith the horrid merger.

R42, not at all.

Well, hopefully that will change with Obamacare, R75.

Mark Harmon is her uncle. I am sure he is helping her.

When my mom was still alive, she relied on Medicare for insurance. Medicare didn't cover the chemo treatment that the doctor had put her on (she had Multiple Myeloma). The cost for a one month supply was over $5,000.

Fortunately, we got help from a nonprofit called the Chronic Disease Fund so my mom was able to go on this medication but prior to this insurance companies basically said "tough luck. we can't help you."

[quote]1) Why is it that other countries around the world have a free (or almost free) government health care system that provides world class services for it's citizens?

Because their legislators serve their citizens, not private corporate interests. In the US, lobbyists own our elected officials. Most $$ wins.

[quote]2) Why would anyone vote against a universal healthcare system?

A majority of americans actually WANT a canadian style system, despite what the corporate media would have us believe.

The biggest scam is that we already do have canada-style single-payer, but only for the most expensive to cover, ie the ones the private financiers won't go near. I pay for my own insurance, then i pay taxes that covers old people, poor people, disabled people, veterans, etc.

Single payer for all is the only way out of this mess.

A year before my mom went on Medicare she came down with meningitis and was in the ICU unit for 4 days.

After 7 days total at the hospital she was discharged.

Our bill was $140,000.

$20,000 a day.

Thank god my rich uncle swooped in and took care of it. But how are people in general supposed to cover off on shit like this?

It's fucking immoral.

I had to have emergency brain surgery, and the bill was close to 150,000. Here's the best part - I HAD insurance and my fucking shitty contractors insurance REFUSED to cover it.

If I ever see an anti-universal healthcare lobbyist, I would fucking murder him.

r82 what on earth was their rationale for denying coverage for emergency brain surgery?

[quote]Mark Harmon is her uncle. I am sure he is helping her.

He should. He made $38 million last year.

R83, United "Health" Care claimed they were only on the hook for $1000 a day, so the hospital got $7000 and my neurosurgeon only got $2000 because he submitted a claim for two days of work. This left me with a bill for the surgeon of $52,000. Eventually, after 2 years of wrangling, the hospital wrote me off and only billed me $40 for the TV bill, but the doctor's practice is still coming after me for their fee.

I would have been better off financially if I had NO insurance at the time - the head of billing for the hospital actually told me this. I SO cannot wait for 2014.

r82/85, what state are you in?

Who are your congressional reps/senators?

That is criminal that you had insurance and they had the power to deny you coverage.

My mother broke her leg last summer--one night in the hospital, simple tib and fib--$32,000.

How can something so routine that doctors have literally known how to perform for millennia be so preposterously expensive?

She had insurance, so only ended up paying 3k or 4k, but you just know the hospital would have come after her for the full $32k if she hadn't--even though the insurances pay a ridiculously discounted rate.

After reading most most of the comments here, I cannot believe that most Americans are so hard-hearted as that to be so down on someone that was so unfortunate to have cancer three times. I am really glad to be living in Canada.I am not going to sign this anonymous as I am not ashamed to state my beliefs. I had a first cousin who lived in Mass. who died a few years ago because she did not have enough money to pay her medical bills. Enough said about the richest country in the world. I love the . I love your country.

Hello Tracy,

I not only agree with you, I actually moved to Minnesota to receive good affordable healthcare back in 1968.

I have good healthcare now even though I travel. Wish I could show you how to get could healthcare you could afford. Dennis. drediske61@gmail.com

[quote] But how are people in general supposed to cover off on shit like this?

I was recently hospitalized. The hospital care sucked, the surgeon was a fucking bastard. I needed a second surgery and the surgeon, who is on the hospital board, made sure that he delayed my surgery till after 60 days had passed since I was admitted for my first surgery, so that the hospital could charge me another deductible.

So now I pay $10 a month to cover the deductibles. I can afford to pay it off in one sum, but I won't. They treated me abominably and I know for a fact (a relative works in billing) that my second surgery was deliberately delayed. So fuck you, hospital.

And that's how people deal with hospital bills. They pay $10 a month.

I spent one night in ICU in Orange County. One night. My bill was 80,000.

My insurance covered it all but 232 dollars. When I looked at the bill I saw 2000 dollars for a speech pathologist. I was unconscious. When I regained consciousness I asked to be discharged the next day (so I could fly home and see my doctor).

Once I saw the speech pathologist I went through the bill. There was a private room charge (I was not in a private room), three meal charges (I never ate). There was a 90 dollar charge for an ace bandage. I didn't have any bandages I could see?

I called my insurance carrier to tell them I think there were a lot of fraudulent charges on the bill. They didn't seem to care.

Every doctor I've been to makes me sign a consent stating I will pay whatever insurance won't, but they don't provide information on what will even be done prior to the procedure. It would be great to have some idea of what insurance might not cover before agreeing to pay for it. Our system is such a mess.

I do appreciate that the ACA got rid of the barbaric pre-existing condition loophole.

About 15 years ago, the Institute of Medicine published a report about medical errors and came up with a range of 44000-98000 errors per year resulting in death. Right after the report was published, I was at a meeting with one of the authors and I asked him, "Given that medical staff routinely alter medical records and given that medical records were the source for your data, how confident are you about that range?" He replied, "Honestly, we're probably off by a factor of two or two and a half." I was surprised he was so candid. If you do the high-end math there, he was saying that medical errors may result in 250000 deaths per year. And those patients (and their survivors) STILL get billed.

US medical care is a travesty.

"Our system is such a mess."

No, humans are a mess. Always scrabbling for ever penny. People would kill you for a couple dollars.

This is true. I went in seven times for uncontrollable coughing, especially at night. My doctor tried every non narcotic medicine until she finally gave me a narcotic one after me practically crying due to lack of sleep. That helped a little but the fits continued.

My FUCKING DENTAL HYGENIST took a look at my throat during a cleaning and said " your throat is really red and irritated. Do you have acid reflux?"

When I told her about my coughing fits she told me "it is probably the acid burning your throat at night, I had that too.."

OMG....over the counter reflux medicine and I was cured in a day.

I called my Doctor to tell her, she could have cared less.

She would not get an Obamacare subsidy based on her income though, and with a family she'd have to pay $1500 a month, which right now is breaking the middle classes.

No question that our system is a fucked up mess.

That said, why didn't Mark Harmon throw her a guest spot every 3 months? He could have deducted it from his own pay.

Also, who is negotiating health benefits for SAG/AFTRA? There's no real union in the country that has a minimum work requirement. Could you imagine if a bunch of carpenters were thrown off of their health insurance because they didn't work for 90 days? Or electricians? Or truck drivers?

This is why Canada is the best country to live in as EVERYONE is covered with healthcare

No matter what pre-exisiting condition you have

Maybe she and Mark Harmon are estranged. Please die R97.

Or maybe she doesn't want charity

R99 = Pam Dawber

I don't give a fuck if she killed his favorite puppy; he has $250 million. He can afford a solid for a family member. He's a producer on that stupid NCIS and can dole out jobs to whomever he wants.

Some people slip through the cracks. As Gracie Allen pointed out in the 1930s, "A chicken in every pot sounds like a great idea, unless you happen to be a chicken."

The bills are so high because of two things, lack of competition and you're paying for the uninsured.

You can't compare today with yesterday. For example, 50 years ago, few babies with even a slight elevated risked even lived to be born. Now we're seeing tiny little premies born with multitudes of problems.

Even if they survive they generally have a lifetime of issues like asthma and minor heart issues. Though not life threatening it adds up.

That cute little Down's Syndrome baby grows up to be a hulking teenager with a sex drive and the parents wind up abandoning it onto state care when it hits puberty.

And it's not just babies by any means, there are countless examples of adult illness. I recall when I was a kid, leukemias were virtual death sentences. Now most are treatable, abet at a high cost.

You only have to look at AIDS to see the tens of thousands of potential drugs developed that never worked. Yet gays are alive because someone kept trying. Now you all pay for the failed attempt with sky high priced antiretrovirals.

Most other countries of the world simply piggy back on American research and take the drugs or procedures without any cost to them. As Archie Bunker proclaimed, "It's easy to be generous when it ain't costing you nothing."

And so it costs some something to take care of those who have nothing. It's time to get over the idea that Reagan drummed into the American psyche that this is a bad thing. Most who have now never know when their turn will come to be the one who needs someone paying for him or her,

Instead of blaming those in trouble blame the ones who caused the trouble. Contact your Reps and demand Universal Healthcare like every other civilized country in the world. Demand no more wars for profit, which basically means no more wars. Demand the money spent on wars and politicians lining their own pockets instead gets spent on good healthcare for everyone and enough healthy food for everyone and decent shelter for everyone.

You live in this country. You use the roads and streets. You use the fire and police if needed. You use the post office if needed and everything else, stop griping about some of your tax dollars going to help those in need and gripe and gripe loudly and often about the rich getting many MANY times more of your tax dollars than the poor.

My dad lived in a time when middle class people paid a huge amount of their income in taxes. He was more than happy to see his very hard earned money go in taxes to help what poor were around in those days. What he hated was knowing most of his tax dollars were going to wars and graft.

[quote] Most other countries of the world simply piggy back on American research and take the drugs or procedures without any cost to them.

Completely untrue. I worked in hospitals for 30 years and tons of equipment we used every day came from other countries. From simple urine dipsticks to sophisticated electronics equipment was developed and manufactured in Germany, France, Is.rael, Japan and other countries. Many of the drugs Americans take today were developed in other countries. For example, an Englishman and two Swedes were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology for their discoveries about prostaglandins, which led to the development of ACE inhibitors and COX 2 inhibitors.

There are countless foreign researchers who worked in their countries of origin and made terrific discoveries that we use every day.

I can't believe the GOP wants us to go back to the time when insurance companies could deny coverage for almost any reason.

Thank goodness for Obamacare!

R102 About 50% of drugs are invented in America and 50% in Europe.

While it takes lots of money to make a drug, American drug companies spend more on advertising than producing drugs. In fact, because of patent laws, the drugs companies are changing existing drugs to extend patents rather than inventing new drugs. It is well known that there are very few new drugs coming down the pipeline.

What's worse is that the American public pays twice. Most drug research gets started using NIH grants (paid by our tax dollars). Then drug companies sell those drugs to us at huge, inflated prices.

Hey Tracy, your message was right on. but I think it went over some peoples heads.

[quote]I don't give a fuck if she killed his favorite puppy; he has $250 million. He can afford a solid for a family member.

There have been rumors for years that Harmon and Dawber are assholes. I remember reading gossip news when I was a kid about their attempt to get custody of his sister Kristin's kids (including Tracy, I'm pretty sure) because Kristin was in rehab, and how they were pulling some dirty tricks. Even Wikipedia says that they dropped their custody case when Kristin revealed Dawber was doing cocaine. It's not that Kristin didn't have problems because she really did, but Mark and Pam did, too, but denied it and held others to a higher standard. Kristin even said that part of this judgmental nature was because of Mark's Roman Catholic upbringing.

I think we all hope Mark Harmon, who seems genial enough, would do the right thing, but we'll never really know how he is in real life.

Where to start about this video. Was she paid to do it, she was reading a script. Her first mistake was after she got cancer she let her insurance lapse. Why comes to mind, wanting to raise her kids is not a good answer, they needed insurance too. If Obamacare is so great, why isn't she on it? If she gets sick again, Canada is her option?

[quote]There was a 90 dollar charge for an ace bandage.

Where do they get off charging NINETY BUCKS for something they probably buy by the case that costs them pennies?!

Didn't his father die of AIDS?

Didn't her Aunt Kelly used to sell tic tacs? And John DeLeoran was her uncle?

There needs to be a serious, nationwide grassroots fight for healthcare. The politicians will not do until they are forced to.

Sick of junk protests like BLM and I am fat and want to wear leggings.

r94 They could have almost every penny and would kill you over the only one you had.

R113 BLM is not a junk protest, but thanks for playing

Tracy wouldn't be in this position if her entrepreneurial spirit hadn't been sapped by America's welfare state. She would be a multimillionaire who could easily afford cancer care.

Someone on another thread that Tracy & her twin brothers are all repubs (not to mention Mark Harmon & Pam Dawber).

If that;'s true then the family has reaped what they have sowed.

If she is a Republican, then who the fuck is she trying to blame for the "free market" that has bankrupted her?

Is she yet another one of these tone deaf Reps who doesn't get why health insurance co. have become so powerful?

She's one of those repubs who don't give a damn until something happens to them.

Which is all of them, R119

This thread is SEVEN YEARS OLD!!! R117 WHY THE FUCK WOULD RESURRECT THIS OLD THREAD!

How is she doing these days?

R121 because on the "Dave Coulier is a Trumper" thread, someone said all the Nelson kids were repubs & had their own personal "liberal bashing website" but I couldn't find a single mention of that on this thread so I added it for future reference.

For someone who has had as many bouts with cancer as Tracy has had, she should've made health care more of a political priority at the state or federal level. I know longer care about any of the Nelson kids. They're all dead to me.