Once again, kudos to our fabulous healthcare system. Guy has no medical insurance? Who hires lifeguards and doesn't provider medical insurance? Two anonymous people step up and pay it for him. Let's depend on popular opinion and feel good stories on the news to decide who is worthy of health care. Maybe the sick can start hanging out at freeway onramps with cardboard signs. Oh wait, I see this all the time.

[www.kgw.com]

I don't think many lifeguards have health benefits with their jobs. With the exception of some of the beach lifeguards, who have to be adults, that's usually hourly wage seasonal kind of work. The bigger question is why didn't his parents have him covered? Children in Washington are eligible for free or low cost state programs if the parents are lower income. (and the income limits are fairly high)

We don't pay for our local ambulance service, because we pay taxes to the city that provides it. But... this sort of thing is embarassing. There should be a structural exception for 'good samaritan care'. But that's up to the locale.

Good on the people who stepped in to help.

Another shining example of The Best Healthcare System In the World^TM at work. Yay freedom!

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Lemon Drop
The bigger question is why didn't his parents have him covered?

I kinda think the biggest question here is: WTF is wrong with this picture?

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Lemon Drop
I don't think many lifeguards have health benefits with their jobs. With the exception of some of the beach lifeguards, who have to be adults, that's usually hourly wage seasonal kind of work. The bigger question is why didn't his parents have him covered? Children in Washington are eligible for free or low cost state programs if the parents are lower income. (and the income limits are fairly high)

Oregon also has such a program. My sister is in this situation with her two kids. Her husband makes a couple thou over the allowed amount, somewhere in the upper $30k for a family of four. To insure them out of pocket would be another $1000/1500 a month. Not even remotely within their reach. Don't assume this kid's family can either.

There was another case last month where a lifeguard was fired for saving someone's life (just outside his beach area), after the story hit the news they offered him his job back.

[www.cnn.com]

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Wags

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Lemon Drop
I don't think many lifeguards have health benefits with their jobs. With the exception of some of the beach lifeguards, who have to be adults, that's usually hourly wage seasonal kind of work. The bigger question is why didn't his parents have him covered? Children in Washington are eligible for free or low cost state programs if the parents are lower income. (and the income limits are fairly high)

Oregon also has such a program. My sister is in this situation with her two kids. Her husband makes a couple thou over the allowed amount, somewhere in the upper $30k for a family of four. To insure them out of pocket would be another $1000/1500 a month. Not even remotely within their reach. Don't assume this kid's family can either.

$30K would be very difficult to live on.
However, Oregon's Healthy Kids program accepts families of 4 with much higher incomes than that. Have your sister check this out.
[www.oregonhealthykids.gov]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2012 01:24PM by Lemon Drop.

They make a tad bit more than the limit, faulty memory. Still, an extra $1k or more per month for a family of four is really not doable even at just over $46k. My point being there are plenty of responsible loving and hard working parents who are forced to make hard choices. I wouldn't be too quick to place the blame on the parents .

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Wags
They make a tad bit more than the limit, faulty memory. Still, an extra $1k or more per month for a family of four is really not doable even at just over $46k. My point being there are plenty of responsible loving and hard working parents who are forced to make hard choices. I wouldn't be too quick to place the blame on the parents .

I agree about hard choices. But the insurance for kids in Oregon is not $1,000 a month. It's $50 a month. Similar in Washington, where there is Washington Health Program for families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid or S'CHIP. Qualifying income levels are fairly high, premiums are very low. It's not cadillac insurance but it would cover an emergency such as the one this lifeguard experienced.
I think it's fair to ask why kids aren't covered when these programs are out there.

Low-cost

For the low-cost option, families pay a small portion of the monthly premium on a sliding scale; how much they pay depends on their income. On average, families with two to four children will pay a total of about $50 a month for health coverage for all kids. American Indians and Alaska Natives who qualify for the low-cost option do not pay monthly premiums.

A family of four that earns between $46,300 to $69,380 a year may qualify for the low-cost option.

Where was workman's comp?

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Pam
Where was workman's comp?

Would that cover him off duty?

It's good that his bills are paid, and the family won't have to worry about that. Better still, he's a hero. And that's my takeaway.

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Lemon Drop

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Wags
They make a tad bit more than the limit, faulty memory. Still, an extra $1k or more per month for a family of four is really not doable even at just over $46k. My point being there are plenty of responsible loving and hard working parents who are forced to make hard choices. I wouldn't be too quick to place the blame on the parents .

I agree about hard choices. But the insurance for kids in Oregon is not $1,000 a month. It's $50 a month. Similar in Washington, where there is Washington Health Program for families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid or S'CHIP. Qualifying income levels are fairly high, premiums are very low. It's not cadillac insurance but it would cover an emergency such as the one this lifeguard experienced.
I think it's fair to ask why kids aren't covered when these programs are out there.

Low-cost

For the low-cost option, families pay a small portion of the monthly premium on a sliding scale; how much they pay depends on their income. On average, families with two to four children will pay a total of about $50 a month for health coverage for all kids. American Indians and Alaska Natives who qualify for the low-cost option do not pay monthly premiums.

A family of four that earns between $46,300 to $69,380 a year may qualify for the low-cost option.

$1000 deductible, out of pocket expense $6000 - per child. Suppose that something, better then nothing. Better then my bare bones plan with Kaiser that costs me $400/month. It could have been the Oregon Health Plan that she was telling me about. Nice to have a governor that is an MD. Bush did everything he could to scale down the Oregon Health Plan, otherwise we'd all have been eligible on a sliding rate schedule and could have negotiated premiums and services with a pool of several million people.

Did not catch the off duty part. Just skimmed this thread.

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GGD
There was another case last month where a lifeguard was fired for saving someone's life (just outside his beach area), after the story hit the news they offered him his job back.

[www.cnn.com]

That was a private, not government position. To his credit, he refused.

Publicly funded LAFD ambulances regularly charge $1500+ for emergency runs. I doubt they collect may of these charges so wonder why if they are a tax supported emergency service they do this.

The vast majority of ambulance services in this country are voluntary units (which charge for their services). Hospital based ambulances also charge for their services. Insurance companies wont pay for many transfers between hospitals. I agree that the whole healthcare 'system' (it really is not a system) is screwed up. I think the reason why costs are so high for ambulances is because they can charge whatever they want. As far as I know, there is no regulation on the amount that pre-hospital services can charge. It is the free market, American way.

The moral of the story? Only call 911 in severe emergencies. If you are well, refuse to be transported, as the costs of am ambulance run ranges from $800-$2000 (or more).

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.
Nassau County, NY