Please consider non-US members

[Orwar]

4 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

heyyyyyyy ...watch it!  ( remains of a earthen (pre) medieval (later wood and stone) fortress near my village)

   .. You tell the guy who lives in the region with the highest density of pre-medieval (Viking and Vendel primarily, but also several bronze age) fortresses, burial mounds, and rune stones in the world ..

   186 fortresses, more than 1,300 runestones, between 2,000 and 3,000 burial mounds - plus several stone ships and a whole lot of petroglyphs.

   Anyway, yeah. I do prefer the whole free healthcare and education thing to skipping currency conversion fees .. But it does add up. With the new transaction fees at a cap of $9.99, with 25% VAT here that's $12.49, plus the conversion fee which is at 20%, that's $14.99. 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Bedankt

Cool word! (Made up that it's the origin of "Bedonk-a-donk"!)

[Love Zhaoying]

31 minutes ago, Orwar said:

You tell the guy who lives in the region with the highest density of pre-medieval (Viking and Vendel primarily, but also several bronze age) fortresses, burial mounds, and rune stones in the world ..

When the apocalypse, or Ragnarok or whatever happens, your region should be fun! Viking zombie central!

[Sid Nagy]

I'm Dutch and I pay with Paypal in USD for my L$.
Paypal is a bank in the EU and it has therefor far better currency transition rates then CC's.

My Paypal account isn't linked to a CC either for that reason, but to my Dutch bank account.
I canceled my CC years ago, when PP became a bank in Luxembourg.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Sid Nagy
Editting is a great hobby. You should try it too.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

7 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

You have lower taxes.

I'm sorry, are you saying Americans have lower taxes?

 

[Rowan Amore]

26 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

I'm sorry, are you saying Americans have lower taxes?

 

Apparently, losing millions of dollars can work in your favor – if you’re President Donald Trump and can hire a team of professionals to help you strategize.

The president’s various businesses lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 20 years, allowing him to sharply lower his federal tax obligation, according to The New York Times.

The billionaire president paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, the year he won the presidency, and $750 in 2017, the Times found, in examining the president’s tax documents.

Only some of us pay lower taxes.  😅😆

 

 

 

[Orwar]

32 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

I'm sorry, are you saying Americans have lower taxes?

   Than Europeans, for the most part, yeah. Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP (2017): 

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, Orwar said:

   Than Europeans, for the most part, yeah. Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP (2017): 

We make up for it when we have to pay outrageous prices for healthcare.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Rowan Amore

[JanuarySwan]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

We make up for it when we have to pay outrageous prices for healthcare.

This is fairly recent though.  I read in 2018 92% of Americans had healthcare and it was fairly affordable, although much more so pre-Obamacare that is for sure.  The most were Hispanic of those that did not have health care.  It's changed since 2018 as Obamacare has gotten too expense and Trump didn't implement 'something' else.  Obamacare, I believe, was only supposed to be temporary.  I'm not completely sure on that, however.   But, in decades prior we had sensible and affordable health care in America.  Not anymore.  

Edited April 18, 2021 by JanuarySwan

[Drake1 Nightfire]

7 minutes ago, JanuarySwan said:

This is fairly recent though.  I read in 2018 92% of Americans had healthcare and it was fairly affordable, although much more so pre-Obamacare that is for sure.  The most were Hispanic of those that did not have health care.  It's changed since 2018 as Obamacare has gotten too expense and Trump didn't implement 'something' else.  Obamacare, I believe, was only supposed to be temporary.  I'm not completely sure on that, however.   But, in decades prior we had sensible and affordable health care in America.  Not anymore.  

The healthcare i had through my work was $100 a week plus co-pays.. Healthcare in the US is NOT affordable. Prescription costs are insane. 

[JanuarySwan]

3 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

The healthcare i had through my work was $100 a week plus co-pays.. Healthcare in the US is NOT affordable. Prescription costs are insane. 

I said decades prior...meaning prior to the current mess we have; America was not always in such a mess...healthcare, even dental and vision came with the job in decades prior to this current mess.  I was going to say I thought I'd read Obamacare was about 400 a month, but I did say Obamacare has gotten expensive.  Is that what you have?  

[Rat Luv]

3 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

The healthcare i had through my work was $100 a week plus co-pays.. Healthcare in the US is NOT affordable. Prescription costs are insane. 

$100 a week?? 

This is one reason why I couldn't live in America...no offence...but the idea that you could trip or have a fall and need emergency treatment, and then get a bill for 10,000, just seems completely bonkers. Think the stress of trying to AVOID an accident would do me in first! 

[JanuarySwan]

11 minutes ago, Rat Luv said:

$100 a week?? 

This is one reason why I couldn't live in America...no offence...but the idea that you could trip or have a fall and need emergency treatment, and then get a bill for 10,000, just seems completely bonkers. Think the stress of trying to AVOID an accident would do me in first! 

That's more a range for people who are very seriously ill or don't have insurance and are seriously ill.  My E.R. co-pay is approximately $50.  If you didn't have insurance, the truth is, you might be sent to what is called a county hospital.  A county hospital is a free hospital.  I'm not sure all states have county hospitals.  Our teaching hospitals are free also but you have to get on a waiting list.  Teaching hospitals are not for emergency care.  

Edited April 18, 2021 by JanuarySwan

[Drake1 Nightfire]

15 minutes ago, JanuarySwan said:

I said decades prior...meaning prior to the current mess we have; America was not always in such a mess...healthcare, even dental and vision came with the job in decades prior to this current mess.  I was going to say I thought I'd read Obamacare was about 400 a month, but I did say Obamacare has gotten expensive.  Is that what you have?  

I said had. I was forced to retire 15 years ago. Private healthcare has always been expensive in the US. Healthcare did NOT "come with the job" you had to pay a portion of it. 

6 minutes ago, JanuarySwan said:

That's more a range for people who are very seriously ill or don't have insurance and are seriously ill.  My E.R. co-pay is approximately $50.  If you didn't have insurance, the truth is, you might be sent to what is called a county hospital.  A county hospital is a free hospital.  I'm not sure all states have county hospitals.  Our teaching hospitals are free also but you have to get on a waiting list.  Teaching hospitals are not for emergency care.  

You are joking.. A natural uncomplicated birth with minimal hospital stay is over $30,000. My daughter broke her shin. I looked at the billing from my insurance. It was well over $20,000 for her treatment and overnight stay. Thankfully my insurance is amazing and fully covered it. Even minor hospital visits are insanely expensive. 

"Doc, my back is killing me"

"I see you dont have insurance, From this single X-ray it looks like you pulled a muscle."

"Doc , my back is killing me."

"I see you have very good insurance, Lets get you a CATscan, MRI, Full body x-rays, and bring in the machine that goes "PING" and run a full tox screen and blood work up."

[Rowan Amore]

38 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

The healthcare i had through my work was $100 a week plus co-pays.. Healthcare in the US is NOT affordable. Prescription costs are insane. 

The self pay I have to make since my husband is off work is almost $900 a month.  He's on unemployment and makes "too much" to qualify for Medicaid.  I went to the affordable care website and they said to apply at Medicaid.  A no win situation.

[JanuarySwan]

21 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

I said had. I was forced to retire 15 years ago. Private healthcare has always been expensive in the US. Healthcare did NOT "come with the job" you had to pay a portion of it. 

No, not where I've lived.  Healthcare, dental, vision has always come with a job after one finished a probation period of 9 to 12 months and were fully hired.  The only people I've ever known who paid for healthcare before this current crisis which began in and around the Obama years, were those who were self-employed.  

 

21 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

You are joking.. A natural uncomplicated birth with minimal hospital stay is over $30,000

You are joking or you read correct?  She said a trip and fall and needing the E.R. which would be $10,000 for a trip and fall for the E.R. visit, no it wouldn't.  Read already.

Edited April 18, 2021 by JanuarySwan

[LittleMe Jewell]

13 minutes ago, JanuarySwan said:

No, not where I've lived.  Healthcare, dental, vision has always come with a job after one finished a probation period of 9 to 12 months and were fully hired.  The only people I've ever known who paid for healthcare before this current crisis which began in and around the Obama years, were those who were self-employed.  

I've been working in post-college jobs since early-mid 1980s.  In some of the jobs that I've had, I could get Single healthcare, dental, & vision at no cost to me -- though I did often have small co-pays at the time of service & small co-pays for almost all prescriptions.  Most of the time though, I still had to share in the Premium costs.

I've never had a job where Family healthcare/dental/vision was completely covered by the company.  I have always had to pay part of those premiums.  The amount of co-pays were usually dependent upon what sort of plan I chose.  The more I paid in premiums then usually there were less co-pays and vice-versa.  There were sometimes options with fairly low premiums and low co-pays, but those were very restrictive in what doctor & other facilities I was allowed to use.  All plans always had pretty severe limits on the vision & dental coverage.

 

Yes, if a person has insurance, the doctor/hospital/etc... often bills the insurance company far more that what they would charge the average Joe that did not have any insurance.  They use that overbilling to insurance to cover the lower charges to non-insured people.  However, while the insured will sometime have more tests than are needed, in order to bill insurance more, the uninsured will often have a hard time getting all of the tests that they need.

 

The whole system is totally FUBAR. 

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by LittleMe Jewell

[Rowan Amore]

18 minutes ago, JanuarySwan said:

No, not where I've lived.  Healthcare, dental, vision has always come with a job after one finished a probation period of 9 to 12 months and were fully hired.  The only people I've ever known who paid for healthcare before this current crisis which began in and around the Obama years, were those who were self-employed.  

 

You are joking or you read correct?  She said a trip and fall and needing the E.R. which would be $10,000 for a trip and fall for the E.R. visit, no it wouldn't.  Read already.

Not every job is like that.  In fact, most unskilled jobs that are hourly will keep everyone just under the limit to be required to offer health care.  Why do you think some people have to have more than one job?  I'm not sure where you're living but what you say is NOT the norm for millions of Americans and WHY the affordable care act was enacted.

[Rowan Amore]

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6203a10.htm

[JanuarySwan]

41 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

The self pay I have to make since my husband is off work is almost $900 a month.  He's on unemployment and makes "too much" to qualify for Medicaid.  I went to the affordable care website and they said to apply at Medicaid.  A no win situation.

Oh man, that's screwed.  

 

16 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

In some of the jobs that I've had, I could get Single healthcare, dental, & vision at no cost to me -- though I did often have small co-pays at the time of service & small co-pays for almost all prescriptions.  Most of the time though, I still had to share in the Premium costs.

It's been all for all I've known for quite a good many years but yes there were co-pays at the time of service but nothing like what is happening today with the exception of those who were self-employed or a super low pay starter job like McDonald's, those I'm not sure about.  It's just unfreaking-believeable what is going on now.  As I said, Obamacare was affordable but I do believe it was meant to be a temporary fix until a fix came along.   Well, a fix hasn't come along yet and now Obamacare has gotten too pricey.

 

16 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Yes, if a person has insurance, the doctor/hospital/etc... often bills the insurance company far more that what they would charge the average Joe that did not have any insurance.  

 We do have a county hospital where I live and it's free.  It needs an open bed, however, to be transferred there.  Our ambulance driver's ask what insurance we have while we are in the ambulance and call ahead of time.  It's all triaged here and it's complicated.

Edited April 18, 2021 by JanuarySwan

[Drake1 Nightfire]

50 minutes ago, JanuarySwan said:

No, not where I've lived.  Healthcare, dental, vision has always come with a job after one finished a probation period of 9 to 12 months and were fully hired.  The only people I've ever known who paid for healthcare before this current crisis which began in and around the Obama years, were those who were self-employed.  

 

You are joking or you read correct?  She said a trip and fall and needing the E.R. which would be $10,000 for a trip and fall for the E.R. visit, no it wouldn't.  Read already.

What crisis? The great Recession ended in 2009. 

And in what world does "need emergency treatment" only equate to a cheap visit. If you need emergency treatment you likely need x-rays, blood work and some sort of doctors treatment. Without insurance that would easily cost $10,000. 

 

[JanuarySwan]

5 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

And in what world does "need emergency treatment" only equate to a cheap visit. If you need emergency treatment you likely need x-rays, blood work and some sort of doctors treatment. Without insurance that would easily cost $10,000. 

 

What part of we have free county hospitals where I live don't you understand?   

Do you understand BLOCK?  Because you are going there now.  

[Drake1 Nightfire]

1 minute ago, JanuarySwan said:

What part of we have free county hospitals where I live don't you understand?   

Do you understand BLOCK?  Because you are going there now.  

What part of most areas DONT have free county hospitals do you not understand? Just because YOU have free hospitals doesn't mean the other 300 million Americans do. What you have isnt the norm, most people pay for insurance. And the Affordable Care Act was never supposed to be temporary. 

[Rowan Amore]

4 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

What part of most areas DONT have free county hospitals do you not understand? Just because YOU have free hospitals doesn't mean the other 300 million Americans do. What you have isnt the norm, most people pay for insurance. And the Affordable Care Act was never supposed to be temporary. 

We have a few free/income based clinics in my area but no emergency services.  I think  that's how it is in most places.  They treat minor injuries, ear aches, colds and flu, some will do children's vaccinations.  Break a bone, you're out of luck.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

2 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

We have a few free/income based clinics in my area but no emergency services.  I think  that's how it is in most places.  They treat minor injuries, ear aches, colds and flu, some will do children's vaccinations.  Break a bone, you're out of luck.

We dont even have those here..