Bedbound Saga Discussion&Speculation

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Someone very close to me has over 1 million fucking dollars in medical debt from emergent and intensive care. She wasn't abusing the ER; she had a sudden catastrophic illness and nearly died. Aint nobody suing or garnishing her wages. Actually I think it might be wiped by now, as so many years have passed. She also had an extended stay in a rehabilitation hospital which added on a few hundred thousand more. Again, no lawsuits and no wage garnishing.

99.9% of the time it's not worth it to these institutions to sue people who can't or won't pay. They just get the government to pick up the tab, either through Medicaid or as a tax writeoff. They can also sell the debt to a third party.

Medical debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy, in most situations.
 
DJAndyMD said:
At this point, it would not surprise me if she becomes like the people she watched on My 600 Lb Life
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I can already picture it. She'll suddenly go from "I'm not like those people" to the realization that the similarities are indeed quite striking and she'll say how eye-openeeeeen it is. Except it won't be, because her eyes have remained stubbornly shut for 5 years and counting (and gaining weight).
 
Wake me up said:
Imagine Hamberg watching 600lb Life and thinking "life goals". You've done it gorl1
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Your post reminds me so much of this one from the big 5-0-0
Owlflaps said:
Congratulations, Fattylynn! I saved this for the big occasion!

giphy.gif


Is your next mental block going to be 600 lbs?
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I don't think her goal in life was to be the shape of defrosted tube turkey, but I think it became an easy way for her to get her narcissistic supply online with minimal effort, so she ran with it.

Plenty of people have severely traumatizing childhoods that result in eating disorders and behavioral disorders, but very few people make it to a triple digit BMI; there's gotta be a raging case of narcissism to allow yourself to get that fat and rely so selfishly on weak, forgiving people UNLESS you have a caretaker with Munchausens by proxy/sadist fattening you up for their own enjoyment/purposes. There's a limit to enablers- they will almost certainly fall into one of those two categories in these megafatties situations.
 
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Your_Fairy_Wish_Prince said:
Makes sense, I thought that the basement expanded beneath some of the rooms of the house for some reason. I mean I know upper floors can hold a lot of weight, it just makes me wonder what kind of wear and tear can happen when a large amount of weight/pressure is """"moving"""" around throughout the house. Like an iceberg drifting across a continent as it were. The damage to furniture though, it makes me flinch every time I see her spilling over the edges of a chair or puddling on the couch.
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An ordinary house built over a basement that wasn't done by shoddy unlicensed construction should have no significant problem with weight. Nearly all the building collapses you read about have to do with live loads (like people dancing or jumping up and down, something which AL definitely doesn't do), and/or in a building that obviously wasn't designed for it (either by design or engineering failure).
 
She's too lazy and cheap for that. Once she's bed ridden, the background will never change.
 
What are you guys going on about?? Big Al isn’t “bedbound”. Didn’t you hear Becky when they were in the mall parking lot... Becky said “we just went to Bath & Body & picked out some fragrances”. Big Al totally waddled into the mall & helped pick those stench masking body sprays!! What did you guys think that Big AL just sat lounged in the front seat & sent Becky in herself??
 
For people like AL, bankruptcy is pretty harmless. She doesn't own anything. If her credit score gets worse, so what? She uses Becky's bank account, Destiny's credit card, etc. Her name isn't on the lease, and Becky drives. For all intents and purposes, AL is socially and economically invisible, by choice. She doesn't want her own car, home, or savings. Like many generational poor, she loves flying under the radar. She's gaming the system, or so she thinks.

Growing up, I knew tons of people like this. To them, "ownership" is an alien concept. They're more than happy to rent everything (cars, apartments), use Medicaid, prepaid debit cards instead of real ones, whatever. The less they're on the line for, the better. They would wrack up enormous credit card debt and declare bankruptcy, but face no repercussions. It's not like they had cars or homes to repossess. Within a few months, their mail boxes would be full of new credit card offers, as if nothing.

If AL gets really sick, she'll go on Medicaid for sure. The hospital knows she has nothing. The real danger for people like AL is the abusive/exploitative partner. She's incredibly lucky to have Necky, when you think about it. Imagine: an immobile lump with no ID, no credit, no car, no work history, and no bank account who relies on you for her every need, and pumps money into your bank account. Say you wanna beat her up and spend all the money on meth. What's she gonna do, get up?

Be nice to Becky, AL.
 
SAVE TWINKIE! said:
Medical debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy, in most situations.
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Huh? Of course it is. It's unsecured debt that can be discharged by a Chapter 7. That's actually one of our bigger problems with self-pay patients who get on a 10-year repayment plan, make one payment and declare bankruptcy because fuck if they're going to make 119 more.

You can't discharge medical liens but it's becoming more rare for hospitals to use them. Municipal authorities don't really like it because you can annihilate the local housing market filing liens, and you need to remain on their good side to get your certificates of need certified for any expansion you want to do, so

If Big AL wandered into the ER she's get immediately flagged in the system as an indigent risk since she's a renter (did you know hospitals run your address on the intake form? now you do) and the nice old black lady who works the floor would help her sign up for Medicaid so at least we could get something out of her. Her care team wouldn't be told about her indigent risk, but if they decided to admit her inpatient she'd be booted out pretty fast by admin staff.

The US healthcare system is some crazy stuff.
 
eternal dog mongler said:
If Big AL wandered into the ER she's get immediately flagged in the system as an indigent risk since she's a renter
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Is that true for all renters? Or just ones without health insurance?
 
ADHD said:
Is that true for all renters? Or just ones without health insurance?
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Just uninsured patients. If you have private health insurance then nobody really cares about your financial status, we'll just wrangle your payment out of the insurance company eventually. There's a whole department for that.

Also here's a protip from someone who works in the industry: never fucking go to a freestanding ER because insurance won't cover it.
 
eternal dog mongler said:
Huh? Of course it is. It's unsecured debt that can be discharged by a Chapter 7. That's actually one of our bigger problems with self-pay patients who get on a 10-year repayment plan, make one payment and declare bankruptcy because fuck if they're going to make 119 more.

You can't discharge medical liens but it's becoming more rare for hospitals to use them. Municipal authorities don't really like it because you can annihilate the local housing market filing liens, and you need to remain on their good side to get your certificates of need certified for any expansion you want to do, so

If Big AL wandered into the ER she's get immediately flagged in the system as an indigent risk since she's a renter (did you know hospitals run your address on the intake form? now you do) and the nice old black lady who works the floor would help her sign up for Medicaid so at least we could get something out of her. Her care team wouldn't be told about her indigent risk, but if they decided to admit her inpatient she'd be booted out pretty fast by admin staff.

The US healthcare system is some crazy stuff.
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Speak for your own company. I'll take my powerlevels, but in many institutions, particularly not for profit health systems, patients are thoroughly treated regardless of their ability to pay. I agree that fat Albert is likely to skip out on her bills, but not all hospitals are solely out for that $$$.
 
theriddler3 said:
Your post reminds me so much of this one from the big 5-0-0

I don't think her goal in life was to be the shape of defrosted tube turkey, but I think it became an easy way for her to get her narcissistic supply online with minimal effort, so she ran with it.

Plenty of people have severely traumatizing childhoods that result in eating disorders and behavioral disorders, but very few people make it to a triple digit BMI; there's gotta be a raging case of narcissism to allow yourself to get that fat and rely so selfishly on weak, forgiving people UNLESS you have a caretaker with Munchausens by proxy/sadist fattening you up for their own enjoyment/purposes. There's a limit to enablers- they will almost certainly fall into one of those two categories in these megafatties situations.
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Holy shit. I’d forgotten I made that shitty gif from Giphy. She looks fucking active and alive compared to what she is now.

Fucks me up, man.
 
DaintyDyke said:
Speak for your own company. I'll take my powerlevels, but in many institutions, particularly not for profit health systems, patients are thoroughly treated regardless of their ability to pay. I agree that fat Albert is likely to skip out on her bills, but not all hospitals are solely out for that $$$.
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“Not-for-profit” hospitals in the US is a misnomer since seven of the top ten most profitable hospitals in the USA are “not for profit.” Not-for-profit category has become misused as a tax dodge for the most part.

I’m not debating Standard of care stuff, but money is top priority at all hospitals in the USA unfortunately.
 
DaintyDyke said:
Speak for your own company. I'll take my powerlevels, but in many institutions, particularly not for profit health systems, patients are thoroughly treated regardless of their ability to pay. I agree that fat Albert is likely to skip out on her bills, but not all hospitals are solely out for that $$$.
Click to expand...

lol I work for a not-for-profit hospital. It's not about money, it's about basic solvency. Hospitals are stupidly expensive to run and shit like medical imaging centers and ambulatory surgery clinics are destroying our revenue. About half the hospitals in the US are on the verge of bankruptcy.

anyway this is off-topic
 
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