sat am ride ends in deer ding, no coffee or pastry

Whoa! That sucks. Heal fast.

I was just up there less than one week ago. Just north of Windsor, I was in
the BMW dealership there which is buried among the trees and grasses there,
I noticed a car stopped on the highway. A large buck with a very healthy
set of antlers was staring us down. When I pulled up he lowered his rack as
if he wanted to head-butt the bike. I laid on the horn along with the car
driver and he ambled off the road, but I think he was up for a challenge.

We need more hunters up there. Maybe price of gas is keeping the hunters
out of the area? Too many hanging around the roadway to suit me - probably
eating the grapes the vintner's have set out for them in the local hills.
And where there's one of 'em, there's often many more, imo.

B~

 

I've ridden over 150k miles and driven probably twice that many miles in
deer country without ever using a deer whistle, and without any deer
strikes. Like you, I've seen plenty of deer on the roadside over the years,
usually either hightailing it away from the road or standing there just
staring at me.

Doing a Google search turns up several reports and studies showing deer
whistles to be ineffective. Seems like the only people stridently claiming
they DO work are the ones trying to sell them.

--
Jamin
"I don't want a pickle..."




*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

 

You know I tend to agree with you having just lost my mom a couple of weeks
ago. She did have Kaiser Senior Care which was horrible while she was in a
nursing home. You needed to go to "their" pharmacy on their hours to get
whatever you needed - if it was in stock. Had she another insurer, the home
could have called for an immediate delivery from almost any pharmacy.

Also, since I handled most of her bills, I noticed that Medicare paid ZERO
since I received their papers with regards to what medical companies had
billed them. Kaiser was billed first (primary), and then Medicare
(secondary) who paid zero or denied the claims. Kaiser only recognized a
portion of the bill and then said the other portion was excessive and it was
her that needed to pay (anything done in the ambulance was billed
out-of-pocket, Kaiser only paid for the ride). Medicare, again = zero.

Dunno, but I question a lot of what insurer's pay -- or escape from paying.
System just doesn't seem to be working if they can drop you or deny a claim
as excessive and then put the bill in your pocket.

B~

 

I think they work...sometimes. I had 'em on my NX250, and I saw a dog
perk up his ears and not cross when I was tootin' along down the
highway. So, I know critters do hear 'em, but I think they only work
under certain circumstances.

--
--
Barb
Chaplain, ARSCC



"Comparing Scientology to a motorcycle gang is a gross, unpardonable
insult to bikers everywhere. Even at our worst, we are never as bad as
Scientology."
-ex-member, Thunderclouds motorcycle "club"

 

ok. Just email me if you want to cook the "moose muffle."

--
--
Barb
Chaplain, ARSCC



"Comparing Scientology to a motorcycle gang is a gross, unpardonable
insult to bikers everywhere. Even at our worst, we are never as bad as
Scientology."
-ex-member, Thunderclouds motorcycle "club"

 

You got it! No leather involved! (We'll have to skin off the
petrochemical plastic jackets and shoes first...and the dreadlocks)

--
--
Barb
Chaplain, ARSCC



"Comparing Scientology to a motorcycle gang is a gross, unpardonable
insult to bikers everywhere. Even at our worst, we are never as bad as
Scientology."
-ex-member, Thunderclouds motorcycle "club"

 

Well aren't you just special as all ****! And tiresome, as well...

--
--
Barb
Chaplain, ARSCC



"Comparing Scientology to a motorcycle gang is a gross, unpardonable
insult to bikers everywhere. Even at our worst, we are never as bad as
Scientology."
-ex-member, Thunderclouds motorcycle "club"

 

Hi Stephan,

I've been taking karate for 16 years and have a 3rd degree black belt.
I also have a fair amount of experience crashing motorcycles while
racing at tracks. I can tell you from personal experience that even
when you can see things are turning to shit, you don't always have much
choice in how you impact. Given the choice of using your arm(s) for a
crumple zone, or using your head/neck for a crumple zone, I would (and
once did) go with the arms.

Under the right circumstances a tuck and roll works great. But be sure
to flatten out as you go onto your back. You do not want to continue
rolling, breaking all the parts that stick out. Oh, and make sure you
have stopped sliding before you sit up. Once had a nice easy slide
turn nasty when I sat up while still doing about 60 mph.

While it is possible to get better at surviving crashes, about the only
way to learn how is by doing it. Talking/reading about it may give you
a clue as to what needs to be done, but there is no time to think your
way through it when it happens. And nothing else is quite like taking
a trip over the bars.

Bruce Richmond

PS Glad you didn't get banged up any worse Jim.

 

Well, not so sure this is a great claim to fame....if you remember how
many people died en hospital a few years ago during the heat wave in
Europe. You wouldn't find something like that happening over here.B....keep in mind the best healthcare in the EU still doesn't come
close to anything in the US. I'm from Europe.

But does sound like you were dealing with your Mom being on Medicare
and having a supplement, right? In that case, the supplement is
supposed to pay everything and Medicare does not pay anything. It's
unlawful for any medical service (hospital, doctor, etc.) to charge you
over and above what the supplement will pay once they accept her as a
patient. Seniors pay for Medicare payments anyway and then that premium
is sent on to the supplementary insurance carrier, in addition, the
senior pays for the supplement insurance, who handles all their
coverage. So, if you are still being billed extra, then you need to
file a claim with the supplemental insurance company and they will go
after whoever is trying to charge you more. There's still some bad
supplemental policy companies out there and none are perfect but
compare them to the socialized medicine system of the EU and we are
way, way ahead in that department. Some people in the EU will wait 6-8
weeks to get a test done when they know it needs to be done asap. Tests
that here we would have done within the week, if not a few days.

 

Barb, is that short for Barbituate ?? Or are thy simply kinky, eating
small birdies raw?(Fresh).

;0?]




J.

 

My friend had them all over the car when hit several times, but maybe
they were on backwards and actually calling the deer instead of
repelling them?

We find they don't work at all, to those of us who use them, no
difference.

 

Reverse deer whistles... maybe producing a tone similar to mating
vocalizations? Sounds like it could be catastrophic.

My dad tried to get me to put them on my motorcycle before my first "big
trip" around the western US. No thanks, dad. I can't fault him for his
concern, though. He is my dad, after all, and it was a significant solo
trip. He was just trying to be helpful.

--
Jamin
"I don't want a pickle..."




*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

 

Well, you know that critter heard you coming, yes. You don't know if it was
the deer whistle or something else, though. Motorcycles are noisy machines,
and critters fairly often hear them coming.

--
Jamin
"I don't want a pickle..."




*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

 

Those suckers are big! Doesn't take many to make a ton.

Bruce

 

Kaiser was her primary (as in Kaiser Senior Care which she paid for monthly
at age 90 yrs.) and any additional charges were forwarded to Medicare (acted
as supplement to Kaiser) who refused "all" (that I know of or have seen).

Primary (Kaiser) was "assumed" to pay everything. Didn't work that way and
I have the kick-back secondary payment bills from Medicare to prove it. The
hospital's ER now bills separately from the ER doctor's parent company.
Hence, charges go up quickly and the insurance company denies the charges as
being exorbitant and refuses to pay above their set baseline. Then the
doctor's bill you separately. Just because the statement of payment from
the insurance company says "It is not your responsibility to pay $xx)
doesn't make it so if the doctor is not a recognized member of that
insurance company, or the ambulance company has a monopoly and can doesn't
need to be a member of your insurance company so they can set fees at will
and bill extra to whomever.

Doubt that. I see bills for everything done by the EMT's on the ambulance
and Kaiser disallows as they only paid the ride, not the ambulance EMT's
treatment (i.e. IV needle placement, hoses, etc. which ran over $470 cash).
Friend fell and busted her hip and got a stern call from her insurance
company as she was supposed to call them "first" to get pre-approved for the
ambulance. Since it was an emergency call, they did pay.

Only true if Medicare is the primary payer. If you have another insurance
such as Kaiser or Secure Horizons, then they are primary and Medicare steps
back - and, more often, out.

No. You can go to arbitration. Don't know with Medicare as they haven't
paid anything and all her statements from them (after the billing party gets
payment form Kaiser) says "It is her obligation to pay $xxx dollars (that
Primary, Kaiser, did not pay). So what good is Medicare?

Fwiw, MediCal (California medical insurance for those over 65) supplied
hospice care which basically is end-of-life care for 390 days at which point
it is terminated as well. There is NO nursing home coverage unless the
patient has finances (in our case $6060 monthly or $202 per day) cash to pay
for it or long-term care coverage which cost more than the medical
insurance. The only nursing home coverage that we found was if she were
hospitalized more than 3 days then she would receive 100 days nursing home
care as a one-time deal with Medicare. We paid the $6060 (cash). Kaiser is
pretty much out of the picture when hospice enters. Hospice allows NO
ambulance or hospital calls unless it's under their direction (as I said,
Kaiser is pretty much out of it). Basically, you are morphined up until you
are gone. They did provide a nursing bed and table and possible nebulizer
and oxygen if needed to maintain a pain-free death. Nurse checks in 2 times
a week and possible care for bathing by volunteers for 5 days a week.

Until they write off pre-existing conditions and exempt you from coverage.
Worse is when you get kicked off coverage as with cost over-runs as was in
my father's case. In his position following surgery, he got kicked off the
plan (appeal to arbitration) about 2 weeks before he ended up on life
support until his demise a few days later. Hospital bill ran over $220,000
which necessitated my mom into selling her house with the attorney
negotiating the price with the hospital downwards as do most insurance
companies.

Maybe so, but in the U.S., if your insurance decides the procedure is
unnecessary or they decide not to pay at all, then what do you do? You can
also get put into a line waiting to get to scheduled for whatever test you
need here as well - which will not come cheap.

Another interesting tidbit was that a few weeks ago it was published by the
World Health Organization (?) that the U.S pays the most for health care,
but its people live shorter lives than countries with socialized medicine.
They gave the U.S. a rating of 32, with other countries having far better
care management.

I found it interesting that a co-worker went all the way to South Korea for
a simple operation and the hospital surgery, doctor, and six days in their
hospital was only $1700 (U.S. dollars). Cannot do that in the U.S.

The doctors used medical insurance in the U.S. as a blank check for too many
years. Now the insurance companies want to control costs. Who suffers?

B~

 

Thanks for all the information, very helpful.

And, yes, so true. Two separate issues insurance companies vs. quality
care. Sorry about your battles with the insurance companies, not a good
time to be going through that at all.

Our system is definitely flawed, but I'm going to keep it and hope the
US doesn't turn to socialized medicine because it's a mess at best.

Stephan talks of having an indemnity plan, and that's when you have to
pick up a lot of your own expenses but we've seen a change here to
PPO's and HMO's where you do pay only the co-payment for services.

 

Somehow I feel this is an Alaskan recipe (end of season).

Did you see that HUGE moose in the airport there, the one you can drive
a volkwagen under?


Becky

 

Maybe we are talking two different issues? Insurance payment vs.
quality healhcare and in this they've become scrambled. But I will
stand by the US having the best healthcare available. Our insurance
system is definitely flawed and needs work but imho socialized medicine
isn't the answer.

That's how my health insurance works too. Depends on what you have,
what you choose, what you have available to you. But we have more than
two choices, usually.

 

yes, what a cool bike. I found this '88, with 1034 on the odo, doubled
the miles within two weeks.
"The Flea"
js

 

As I see it, the two extreme positions are, on the left, the assertion
that "medical care is a right" and on the right, the willingness to let
the market deny those without funds care that is available to those who
have them. I doubt that even the Republican Party is prepared to allow
a system where those who can't afford doctors should be left to die, and
so we have this patchwork where government pays for services to some
people, some employers subsidize medical care for some of their workers,
and the rest of us are left to pray for good health. Then to
destabilize the whole structure, we have the unfunded mandate that every
hospital emergency room is required to accept all comers, without regard
to insurance status or ability to pay.

The medical industry's response to this is rampant price discrimination,
whereby those who lack the market power of the State or the insurance
industry are forced to pay more to cover the losses incurred in treating
the covered patients.

As an example, a couple of months ago I was referred to a dermatologist.
His fee for that visit was $198. I am lucky enough to have obtained
Blue Cross coverage (after going uninsured for a year and half when my
previous insurer left the business in California), so instead of simply
paying a bill, the doctor had to submit it to Blue Cross, who decided
that $130 was the contracted charge for that service. I then had to
contact the billing service in another county that the doctor uses to
effect payment of that amount. The process involved heaven knows how
many clerks at the doctor's office, Blue Cross, and the billing office,
and took nearly a month.

Were I still uninsured, I would have paid 50% more, and the doctor would
have had his funds on the day of the visit.


What we have is a system that generates enormous administrative costs,
and passes those costs on to those who are not inflicting them for the
benefit of those who are.

What I have is a hybrid coverage: I pay for my own costs, but at the
wholesale rate, and Blue Cross will indemnify me if those costs exceed a
generous deductible. It works for me, but I acknowledge that there was
a great deal of luck involved -- I'd been turned down for coverages
several times by different insurers before Blue Cross happened to say "yes."

Rich, Urban Biker