For Those With A Fixed Income

Hi

With most people it is money, money, money,
I like to get paid but most of the time i do not, but I am ok with this, what go's around comes around.
Last week I sorted a computer for a young girl (75 + ) when she asked how much, i said
A cup of tea and a biscuit.
It was a good cup of tea, lol
If i can help i will, no man is an island, we all think we are some times but we are not.
jeff
 
What really gets up my nose is the HUGE rise in prices for anything that carries a label stating "Disability" somewhere in its description.
There is no way a wheel chair costs the prices asked.
 
savarin said:
What really gets up my nose is the HUGE rise in prices for anything that carries a label stating "Disability" somewhere in its description.
There is no way a wheel chair costs the prices asked.
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You are absolutely correct. You can buy a memory foam cushion for $20 to $30 , but since it is for a wheel chair they want $100. It is that way with everything for disabled people. It chaps my butt the prices I have to pay for things. My electric wheel chair was priced at $5000 ........ When they found out I didn't have insurance, it went up to $8000 because the insurance company gets a "discount ". My heart surgery bill was $375,000 ..... After the insurance "discount " they paid $27,000 but my co pays are based on the $375,000. I had to pay more than the insurance company. All the equipment I had to buy was rediculously priced.
 
savarin said:
There is no way a wheel chair costs the prices asked.
Click to expand...

A couple of years back I answered a Craigslist ad for a Stark 4S lathe in Mashpee (Cape Cod). In a gated retirement community. I went there and found an old timer who was just too old to use it anymore and his son. We worked out the money and then started moving it to my vehicle. The old guy told me he used it to make bushings, bearings, and other repair parts for wheel chairs. For free to some local group.

Gee, I wish I could find a gig like that.

I sold some of the collets but kept the lathe (in parts). No threading capability whatsoever.

But the old guy made it serve.
 
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Greedy medical supply companies. I have not noticed (or looked for) if any companies are nation wide. But then, it could easily be a large corp operating under a dozen or so names.

Anyway, the point is that Medicare (and by proxy most insurance companies ) pays a set amount for an item, or service. Take a walker, medicare pays $XX for wether it is one of those cheap aluminum ones with four legs, or one with big wheels, brakes, a seat, and a basket. Which one do you think they will push?

Or better yet, take CPAP supplies, many people have found that they can get them cheaper by shopping around, then going through medicare. Medicare pays around $40 for a CPAP hose, and the patients copay is around $14, yet if you look around, you can find name brand ones for $6 to $9. Or take a filter, Medicare pays $5, which means the patient pays $1.50 or so. Last time I bought some, I bought a bag of 12 for $5.

cpapa.JPG
 
There are groups of usually retirees banding together to make or fix things for disabled people but I think insurance liabilities have killed a lot off.
 
mark_f said:
( that is why you find so many projects of mine on here are tooling).
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Mark, I am truly sorry that you have to go through the pain and suffering that you do, but I certainly appreciate your many projects here.

Thank You!
 
Prices are out of control, I got a steroid injection into my spine which will be done every few months, They billed the Gov over $13,000 for a 60 min visit to the doctor. Then they wanted to give me a TENS unit, I ask what my copay would be, oh, that would be $59, Then he took me to the side and said, look at ours, then look around and see what you can find on the internet, Found the same one full price 30 dollars and a better one for 40, And just the copay was more that that, Never did find what they wanted to charge the Gov,
 
CraigB1960 said:
Mark, I am truly sorry that you have to go through the pain and suffering that you do, but I certainly appreciate your many projects here.

Thank You!
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Thank you, but after years of pain, you get to a point you wouldn't know what to do without it. It becomes part of your life. I never feel sorry for myself because if I look around, there is always some poor soul a lot worse off than me. I have had a full (and somewhat "colorful" ) life. I have done things and gone places most people could only dream of. I honestly have a hard time trying to make a bucket list because everything I think of, I have already done. I been rich , I been poor and everything in between. I really have nothing to complain about because I have been blessed so many times in my life.
You read that and you would never know that you would see a guy wheeling around in a wheel chair or maneuvering around on crutches. I've met people and they say things like " I'm so sorry for you" I just say "don't be , I'm not. I'm having the time of my life". Yea, I have had some tough breaks, but I have had the greatest opportunities of a lifetime and it seems everything has always happened at the right time. Do I have regrets? ..... a few, but I don't think I would change anything because I have had enough good times...... Enough great times ...... and enough bad times to fill three lifetimes.
I have had a half dozen different careers. I have almost died several times, but evidently God is not ready for me to come home yet. There still must be some fun to have, people to help, or things to do. I think I know what he is waiting for and I ask him to wait till at least then. That happens next March. If I'm still here after that, he's got another great plan. Mine has been.... Run as fast as you can, never look back, enjoy the ride, and never feel sorry for yourself. ( I go faster on wheels :grin: )
 
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