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If you read my post, I said the same thing and it would be great, I just said they shouldn't be "blamed" for it.
In addition, the UFC does not have "teams", so it could be argued the Teams should offer some sort of healthcare and for all we know they do.....that doesn't mean riders take advantage of it. The same thing applies for the number of guys that have dirt bikes without insurance and then complain when they are stolen. Ultimately, its about personal responsibility and anything others (promoters/teams) can add to make it better is great.
I hope he makes a full recovery and is hopefully back racing sooner than later. I'm curious if any of the top guys have it written in their contract that if they're injured, that the team/factory has to take care of all their medical costs?
If guys like Eli, Ken, Jett, Chase, Anderson etc. refuse to sign a deal unless that is included in the contract then they're out.
Do you think the team would stand their ground and let a top guy walk? I think if a couple top guys demanded this eventually it would trickle down to other riders and teams. Just a thought. Just made a donation. Get well soon Brandon.
Oh 100 percent. I don’t blame them. I just wish they did better. The issue isn’t always insurance it’s just missing out on the paychecks that R2R helps with.
Only about 8-10 riders in this sport can miss a year or 2 without being dead broke. And even then, that would run out quick. This isn’t a sport where people get rich in large numbers.
That’s why I like the comparison to UFC fighters. All are 1099. Only a few make really good money worth the bodily harm. You have to be a pyscho to deal with the harm that comes from it and all the training. Most fighters have to teach kids or take exhibition grappling matches to stay afloat just like most riders teach schools and go to off-season or local money races.
Disability insurance helps, but those premiums get high once you’ve tapped into it a couple of times. So having a fund from feld/MX sports would help.
If a rider’s out of pocket got covered, that’s an extra couple of months of cash runway they’d have. Just some thoughts.
Free, my ass. All the money your nowhere government steals from your paycheck is being “redistributed” to some one else.
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Correct, and if you don't want massive wait times, you need private health insurance anyway. It is also not free to go to the doc and you need referral for almost everything. Just like everything, there is no free lunch. Somebody, somewhere has to pay for it and it's most likely you.
They also have a maximum.
Insurance companies and healthcare (what a name) are two of the dirtiest businesses around. Insurance Co.s have standards on how much they pay for each procedure (norms) as specific facilities with specific Dr’s. Think “the book” at a auto body shop. Healthcare facilities has their own set of “norms” that are built to cover the costs of the overall facility and the Dr’s there that may not be directly tied to your insurance co. Ins companies “norms” don’t match facility “norms” and Dr’s cost can be different from facility to facility and insurance to insurance. Through all of that nonsense in the name of healthcare “balance billing” was created to cover the difference in cost and guess who gets stuck with it??? When Healthcare facilities became big businesses with enormous Org charts and overhead the “humane” part of healthcare went out the window.
I lived it, I know. Rode in in an ambulance and rolled out 2 days later with some hardware and a $50,000.00 balance bill after insurance had paid the max and I paid my $5000 annual out of pocket maximum co pay. Do NOTE I have insurance, good insurance. I fought and I fought hard, was very very time consuming, frustrating and several trips back and forth to the hospital retrieving records, itemized records. It’s not until you start questioning the $3500 room rent, $100 meals, $40 gauze rolls, $300 each stainless screws, I have 18. You can then find the dirt. After several appeals questioning and comparing costs that I was charged vs. the “norms” that insurance pays miraculously I was told that errors were made and $50K balance bill was wiped clean. It’s friggin sad that injured and sick people get taken advantage of in the lowest of times by “healthcare”. Hope the Hartranft family reads this and can take something away from it. It’s sad but you actually have to question every supply and every touch of any healthcare person that enters the room.
Good luck and Get Well Soon!
I couldn't agree more and have similar stories with injuries. You have to fight in some cases especially when it comes to "network" when you have emergency surgery and the hospital assigns the doc and then the insurance pays it differently because he is out of network. It takes a lot of time and talking to the right person for sure.
Nah they would just throw them another 10k into there million dollar contract and say make sure you have full medical coverage.
Your probably right. I just looked up Nascar, F1, and Motogp. From what I can gather after some searching, everyone but the driver is covered under the teams insurance except the racer/driver. I know we're a small sport in the spectrum, but all the NFL, MLB, and NBA players are covered under their team. I'm surprised that none of the top guys never had insurance coverage written into their contract. Maybe some do and it's just kept on the down low.
Regretting wading into this debate, but why can’t the AMA do this.
I’m obviously in another country and industry (Construction), but any contractor who signs up for us cannot start without supplying their certificate of currencies for all required insurances. It’s pretty bloody easy for all parties particularly as it is industry standard and non-negotiable.
Yep. And now they are all merging to area monopolies.
Around here everything is run by either Atrium or Novant.
I have been waiting to get a simple EMG test for 4 months.
Last year I scheduled the same test for 2 days after the referral.
This.
nothing is "free." I'm sure in a country like New Zealand where (most) people are from the same culture and heritage, a social welfare system can mostly provide for the nation's healthcare costs. This is because generally speaking most people in the society are paying into the social welfare system and not abusing it.
In America, the same system absolutely will not work. those actually paying to support our welfare state is probably less than 50% of the population. We're already running the country into a huge deficit just paying for basic defense and food stamps. There is just no way the working class can afford to float the health care costs of the non-workers here.
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