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Post by squidlyman on Apr 4, 2009 18:15:45 GMT -5
it's a personal choice that effects nobody but yourself (similar to a seatbelt law). This is a distinctly different argument from the smoking vs non-smoking argument, which can impact others. If a person that has no insurance crashes his bike, who pays? You are wrong to say it does not effect anyone but yourself. I'm not sure how your question pertains to what I've said. If I choose to not wear a helmet, and an uninsured motorist runs into me (and likely pancakes me), you ask who pays? I'm not seeing a connection between my helmet-use-choice and the driver-with-no-insurance and the who-pays question. Ah... wait, I've re-read your post and now see what the connection is that you're trying to make. Well, to answer then, I make the following two points: 1. I repeat what I said originally... on my trike, it's quite difficult to fall off from any significant height which would damage me (other than maybe road-rash). 2. My feelings on insurance (or lack thereof) are quite independent of this topic. To generalize, if I choose to not carry insurance, well, then I would pay out of my own pocket, and certainly not expect you ("you" being the general form of "somebody else") to pay. So, your assumption, if I read your message correct, I feel is incorrect. As a side note, I don't fault you for your position... since it seems of late nowadays that people love to tend to blame everyone for everything around them before they blame themselves. IE: A lack of personal responsibility. So I suppose it's only natural that your first assumption would be that a person must be looking for others to pay for their choices in life. Heck, look at the recent hearings on AIG. The former chief actually went public and claimed that the US Gov't was to blame for AIG's predicament... and that he did nothing wrong. Hah... I think I disagree. But, before I digress... I'll stop rambling... Needless to say, I might be so bold as to suggest that it would be useful to "just accept and move on", and that others may disagree with your position on helmets... since circumstances are different for everyone.
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Post by mvi on Apr 4, 2009 19:03:39 GMT -5
If we mandate all persons over 75 y/o should wear a helmet and hip protectors 24/7 medicare (all of us) will safe a ton of money related to falls. If we mandate everybody over 15% body fat is getting treatment, we will safe even more money. As long as there even is no foot -or bicycle path (access) to the high school (so we teach immobility) health care cost will be excessive. Is riding without a helmet more dangerous than weighing more than 220 pounds? I wear a helmet most off the time, but 1 billion Chinese don't. Riding a bicycle without a helmet while smoking could be healthier than being overweight inactive. My dad got 83 y/o that way. No easy answers here...
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Post by TC on Apr 4, 2009 19:36:05 GMT -5
If you fall of your bike just going to the store or riding around campus without a helmet or insurance, you could be responsible for $500,000 in medical bills easily. It has happened in Asheville within the last year 2 times that I know of. These are slow speed accidents that don't involve any other vehicles. Neruotrauma ICU at Mission is the most expensive place to be. A 24 year old with $500,000 in medical bills will never pay, sorry, that's just unrealistic to expect. You, Squid, are a little more sophisticated, I think you would pay up, or at least try, but defaulting on those bills, therefore passes the bill to others, it gets incorporated into everyone else's bill. Mission is a business, and they don't operate at a loss, they currently have a double A credit rating (they borrowed 65 million for the new wing recently) Ride a bike without a helmet all you want, just carry private health insurance. That's the easy answer.
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Post by squidlyman on Apr 4, 2009 21:21:29 GMT -5
You, Squid, are a little more sophisticated Thank you, I always thought so despite what my Mother sometimes laments. Oh, and the username is "squidlyman", TC. Ride a bike without a helmet all you want, just carry private health insurance. I do carry private health insurance, and hope you do as well (for the health costs you express great concern for would apply to you as well, helmet-wearing or not); although, that is an issue (the discussion of whether one should carry personal health insurance) best generalized, and considered as a greater issue outside of the context of the discussion of "bike helmet wearing".
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Post by TC on Apr 4, 2009 21:55:19 GMT -5
I have private insurance, and I have supplemental accident insurance that covers 100% of lots of things in addition no pre-approval needed , like helicopter evacuation, only $30 a month extra. A helicopter ride can cost $10,000. Health related bills are the number one reason for personal bankruptcy in the USA at this time.
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Post by squidlyman on Apr 4, 2009 23:06:56 GMT -5
I have private insurance, and I have supplemental accident insurance that covers 100% of lots of things in addition no pre-approval needed , like helicopter evacuation, only $30 a month extra. A helicopter ride can cost $10,000. In regards to myself, and to quote Patrick Swayze in Ghost, "Ditto". Safe riding!
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Post by Jackson Amburn on Apr 6, 2009 13:32:29 GMT -5
My stint at Nuero ICU at Mission and my grand stay as Mission in Atlanta was around 200k that my family paid. The helicopter ride alone was at least 15k.
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