Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13252715 times)

cerat0n1a

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11550 on: December 23, 2015, 01:41:17 PM »
So their kitchen re-do was at least 90k?

The budget was £100k. It did involve some building work, not just putting in new cabinets etc.

Papa Mustache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11551 on: December 23, 2015, 10:43:03 PM »
The F250 is pretty much a standard commuting vehicle at my workplace. If only I'd known a mere picture of one outside the office would amuse this group so much. Hell, there are entire sections of the lot where trucks this size line up. Typically, they're driven 10-30 miles each way, all week long, loaded to the gills... with a 250# human and a briefcase.

My inability to locate my compact car in a sea of these things is one reason for parking in the far corner of the lot. Getting extra walking time and avoiding door dings are also relevant.

I feel like maybe this response would be better served in the Mustachian People Problems thread, but this has been a pet peeve of mine for...well, probably since I started driving.

I've always driven smaller cars, and it annoys me so much when I end up parking next to a truck or SUV. The reason? I basically have to blindly back out of the spot because there's no possible way to see anything around these monstrous vehicles.

Look UNDER them as you back out... HEHEHE...

Papa Mustache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11552 on: December 23, 2015, 10:47:16 PM »
Is that the F250 I read so much about here?

Just curious, do you live somewhere where heavy duty trucks are not available?
Eastern Germany.
As far as I know there are exactly 3 cars of this type, but not that big, in this 30000 city.

I do have seen a few Urals from the farmers, but not in the last years.

As I recall from when I lived in Italy - vehicles like the size class of the F250 where always owned and operated by the military. Even most of the municipal vehicles were smaller.

JrDoctor

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11553 on: December 23, 2015, 11:43:48 PM »
...

Doctors tend to be among the worst spenders. I suspect it's a combination of the accumulation of years of grinding and waiting (med school, residency, fellowship), high earnings that are consistent once they are in practice, and the ego/drive needed to be a doctor. I have many doctors in my family and they spend money faster than I can imagine. I think my cousins are a little smarter with their money though, so hopefully this is changing, though I have one cousin that's in his second year of residency and he's talking about buying a $100,000 car once he gets done. Another cousin bought a condo in the most expensive part of the Twin Cities so that he "can have fun." Not going to lie though, it is fun hanging out with him and I love the view from his condo.

I think the reason doctors spend so much it to do with the theory of will power.  It basically all gets expended at work.  Its stressful and arduous and so by the time you get home you've spent all your energy and you give into your basal urges which takes will power to resist.  You thus buy that shit of amazon of have that takeaway pizza.

Also the lack of time means many try and make up for that by spending there way into enjoying that limited time better.

And then some people are just not that clever at work.

steviesterno

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11554 on: December 24, 2015, 07:30:22 AM »
I'm a doctor and teach interns in their final year of clinical rotations, and I see a real sense of entitlement. One problem is a lot of students have family/friends/parents/mentors that have been in the field a while and are successful. those doctors also worked a lot more in the 80s, when you could pull money in hand over fist. now the new graduates see these successful doctors (or at least flashy) and think they are entitled to look and act and drive and live like this older generation.

funny thing, all the field docs I know that are rich did it more from side hustles than actual medicine. Either buying real estate, investing in new practices, or just stock market for a long time. Hell that's my plan. Medicare pays us like $18 a patient, and that takes a half hour of our time, plus another hour or so paperwork, filing, calling, etc. Really hard to pay off med school loans at $36 an hour.

With This Herring

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11555 on: December 24, 2015, 08:40:01 AM »
*snip* Medicare pays us like $18 a patient, and that takes a half hour of our time, plus another hour or so paperwork, filing, calling, etc. Really hard to pay off med school loans at $36 an hour.

I've heard that a lot of doctors consider Medicare/Medicaid patients as charity work, as the reimbursement rate is so low.  Is that true from your perspective?

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11556 on: December 24, 2015, 04:53:41 PM »
I think the reason doctors spend so much it to do with the theory of will power.  It basically all gets expended at work.

Yeah I can see that. I know that after long days, I am sorely tempted to go out or get takeout as opposed to cooking something. I've been working on different strategies to curb this impulse.

Icecreamarsenal

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11557 on: December 25, 2015, 01:01:51 AM »
*snip* Medicare pays us like $18 a patient, and that takes a half hour of our time, plus another hour or so paperwork, filing, calling, etc. Really hard to pay off med school loans at $36 an hour.

I've heard that a lot of doctors consider Medicare/Medicaid patients as charity work, as the reimbursement rate is so low.  Is that true from your perspective?
I sure do. So does everyone I work with and everyone I've ever known in the medical field  (that's not salaried).
Frustrating when you know that we're not saints, just incentivized beasts with mouths to feed, just like everyone else.
As the supreme law of the land states, life, liberty, and the myopic, haphazard, byzantine, underwhelming pursuit to socialized medicine.

paddedhat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11558 on: December 25, 2015, 06:56:31 AM »
Earlier this week, on the local news, here in central Florida, there was a report of a woman who was run over and killed at crosswalk, in Gainesville. She was in a wheelchair and the driver was unable to see her, since he was operating a "lifted truck"...........................  I guess this is heading in the direction of the "Affluenza" defense. Not guilty of vehicular manslaughter due to tiny genitals, and a need to compensate with an 8000lb truck, that four feet off the ground to the door sill. WTF?

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11559 on: December 25, 2015, 11:27:12 AM »
mouths to feed, just like everyone else.

Just like athletes are playing, "for the love of the game."

You're not like everyone else, there's no need to try to pretend otherwise. If you got paid minimum wage or even the median income, you would not be working as a doctor. There's no way people would go through med school, residency, and fellowship unless you have a fairly good size income, and that's ok, but don't pretend that you're just another person, clocking in and clocking out.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11560 on: December 25, 2015, 09:44:44 PM »
mouths to feed, just like everyone else.

Just like athletes are playing, "for the love of the game."

You're not like everyone else, there's no need to try to pretend otherwise. If you got paid minimum wage or even the median income, you would not be working as a doctor. There's no way people would go through med school, residency, and fellowship unless you have a fairly good size income, and that's ok, but don't pretend that you're just another person, clocking in and clocking out.

That actually goes for every kind of work where there's a significant up-front investment, though.

The Soviets experimented with paying everyone else more or less the same. The result was that the medical field became drained of its research-oriented talent. The only people who were willing to go through the grunt work to get in were the ones who had an emotional attachment to the field.

steviesterno

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11561 on: December 26, 2015, 06:27:22 AM »
*snip* Medicare pays us like $18 a patient, and that takes a half hour of our time, plus another hour or so paperwork, filing, calling, etc. Really hard to pay off med school loans at $36 an hour.

I've heard that a lot of doctors consider Medicare/Medicaid patients as charity work, as the reimbursement rate is so low.  Is that true from your perspective?

somewhat. My experience is a bit different, as I've switched from private practice to teaching full time. sure, 50% pay cut at least, but now it's 40 hours a week of helping students and patients, and I do ZERO billing myself. I'm only worried about getting people care, not worried about collecting since my salary is the same every other week. oh yeah, 6 weeks vacation a year isn't terrible either.

Medicare sucks for a lot of reasons. you can't actually opt out, and even if the patient isn't medicare qualified for what you're going to do, you have to submit and bill to them anyway. they decide what's best for the patient off a spread sheet, not even looking at what the patient needs.

steviesterno

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11562 on: December 26, 2015, 06:30:07 AM »
mouths to feed, just like everyone else.

Just like athletes are playing, "for the love of the game."

You're not like everyone else, there's no need to try to pretend otherwise. If you got paid minimum wage or even the median income, you would not be working as a doctor. There's no way people would go through med school, residency, and fellowship unless you have a fairly good size income, and that's ok, but don't pretend that you're just another person, clocking in and clocking out.

I think people would do all that work if they got paid a living wage while going to school. If you think about it, I paid for the privilege of working 8 years to get to the field before I could start collecting a positive cash flow. If I made a life and wage in the process, it would have been much easier. Also I wouldn't need to make a ton of money if I didn't have to pay back $200k at 6% interest.

mm1970

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11563 on: December 26, 2015, 10:51:17 AM »
mouths to feed, just like everyone else.

Just like athletes are playing, "for the love of the game."

You're not like everyone else, there's no need to try to pretend otherwise. If you got paid minimum wage or even the median income, you would not be working as a doctor. There's no way people would go through med school, residency, and fellowship unless you have a fairly good size income, and that's ok, but don't pretend that you're just another person, clocking in and clocking out.
They sort of are, though.

I don't really understand your point - like any program that you have to pay for, there's a cost and an upside.  And of course we rail on people here who borrow tens of thousands on a useless degree.

Unfortunately becoming a doctor is expensive, and it's a long-term commitment.  It requires significant debt to borrow for school - not to mention cost of living - I assume that once out of undergrad, it's probably fairly difficult to hold down a part time job to support yourself.  Would people even consider going through 8+ years of school, borrowing ??? however much, if they started out of the gate at a low salary?  Probably not.  Not if you can get a degree in 4 years and make as much.

It's kind of a messed up system.  So yeah, you borrow hundreds of thousands, then work a decade to pay it all off, and then you are suddenly demonized for making $300k a year.

But I don't know - not being in the industry - one of the things I have to think about...when you get this doctor bill, and it seems outrageous.  Then the insurance company "negotiated rate" is half that.  But that doctor's office still has ... overhead, lights, rent, salaries, equipment, health insurance for their employees, billing...no?

My baby had a $25k surgery at 9 months old.  It was 18 months before that damned billing was settled, between the doctor, the hospital, and the insurance companies.  My son was double covered, we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.

nobodyspecial

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11564 on: December 26, 2015, 01:05:47 PM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)

 

infogoon

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11565 on: December 26, 2015, 01:50:59 PM »
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)

Sorry, we seem to have decided here in the US that the best possible medical care system is one where you have to pay for your cancer treatment with GoFundMe and basket raffles at the local VFW hall.

mm1970

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11566 on: December 26, 2015, 04:03:07 PM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)
I know, I experienced a *tiny* bit of that myself when I spent 5 years in the U.S. Navy.

steviesterno

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11567 on: December 27, 2015, 05:39:00 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

Anje

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11568 on: December 27, 2015, 05:42:53 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)
Not to mention that there also is a solution where med school (like any other higher  education) is also free to all and sundry  who has good enough grades.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11569 on: December 27, 2015, 01:00:38 PM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

Try keeping your tax money in a bank account, rather than your pocket

nobodyspecial

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11570 on: December 27, 2015, 01:26:13 PM »

you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket.
Except one of them involves spending $billions on billing paperwork, shackles you to an employer and can leave you ruined if you have a sick child at the wrong time.
 

steviesterno

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11571 on: December 28, 2015, 07:25:51 AM »
oh i'm the first to tell you our system sucks. it does, it's corrupt, and drug companies can advertise right to patients. "ask your doctor about..." is insane. It's a terrible system, but one that won't work well being patched, it needs a complete overhaul.

hence my willingness to drop out of the system much earlier than conventional wisdom would have me do, to provide low cost services to people that need them. But I have to be FI to make that work for any period of time.

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11572 on: December 28, 2015, 07:45:24 AM »
you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes.
Now you're just quibbling over semantics. I find it hard to believe you don't know what "out of pocket" is commonly understood to mean.

Nobody here's dumb enough to think products and services can ever be free.

Prairie Gal

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11573 on: December 28, 2015, 09:37:00 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

I think the advantage of socialized health care is that it takes a lot of the stress out of it. No-one here in Canada needs to worry about finding or affording insurance. And no-one needs to worry about getting treatment. If there is something wrong, call your doctor and make an appointment, or go to a walk in clinic, or go to the E.R. I don't think doctors' or nurses' education is paid for by the government (all though all higher education is heavily subsidized). But I do know that doctors and nurses make damn good money. We pay for all this through higher taxes than the U.S. But our system is such that the rich pay more (to their chagrin, I'm sure), and the middle and lower brackets pay less. Some very low brackets pay nothing, but everyone still gets the exact same health care.

I'm not saying it's perfect. Wait times for some procedures are ridiculous. You can wait months to see a specialist. Longer for things like knee or hip replacements. This is for non-emergency things. Emergencies will be seen right away. My husband once had unstable angina and was put in ICU right away and flown (air ambulance) to the big city and had stents put in within days.

Stevie, I think your travelling RV clinic idea is very noble. I hope you can make it happen. The world needs more people with hearts like yours.

singh02

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11574 on: December 28, 2015, 12:03:35 PM »
Interesting discussion and it's nice to see others docs on here.  The ones I work are not very frugal.  I work at a for profit community hospital and I sometimes cringe at the "business of medicine"practices I see. 

In the spirit of the thread, as a new grad my main goal has been to encourage fellow new grads to refinance their 6-8% interest loans and then max out their 401k.  As we're independent contractors, we have a huge advantage in our the amount of our 401k plans. 

I do hope to retire early so I can volunteer with doctors without borders.  For anesthesiologists, the commitments can be as little as 1 month, but definitely easier to get time off when one has F you money.

BrewandRun

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11575 on: December 28, 2015, 03:44:46 PM »
Buddy at work has to move because his wife doesn't like the HVAC system in their current house, apparently there is always like a 5 degree difference in temperature between floors. When I asked if he hasn't considered just paying someone to fix it he tells me that it also is a split level and she will never be happy with it. The house in question btw is a 350k custom home they had built for the a year and a half ago......

YaMainManBen

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11576 on: December 28, 2015, 05:23:00 PM »
It wasn't exactly overheard, but I was security guard over the summer and shared a construction site with this older guy who drove a huge truck with custom rims/tires 2 hours each way to get to work. Compound this with the fact that we work in 12-hour shifts, and the food/gas along the way, and this guy's eating mostly fast food and getting less than 8 hours of sleep a night 3-5 nights a week. I won't get into the 4 gallons of gas wasted getting to and from work.

About halfway through the summer, his tires got busted up and he had to replace two of them. He tells me that each one of them cost 1000$ to replace and took weeks to be delivered to this county (he had them ordered from some other place.) I was earning about 12/hour and made 3k over this summer. He was making 14/hour, meaning he made roughly 3.5k. The guy lost over half of his earnings for that quarter to luxury tires.


nobodyspecial

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11577 on: December 28, 2015, 05:29:00 PM »
Buddy at work has to move because his ....The house in question btw is a 350k custom home they had built for the a year and a half ago......
Trade her - it will be cheaper in the long run

antarestar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11578 on: December 29, 2015, 12:48:27 PM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

If that's what you want to do, look into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

steviesterno

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11579 on: December 30, 2015, 08:19:41 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

If that's what you want to do, look into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

I'll have to do that. One of the things that struck me recently was how slow everyone is to respond to a small/local disaster. My neighbors about an hour away were hit by 11 tornados the night after christmas, a lot of people were hurt and something like 600 homes were destroyed. Aid is coming, but it's taking a while... so I had an idea to modify the mobile clinic. Mobile clinic that tows a food truck. My wife comes from catering and wants to eventually run a food truck or similar. so we could roll up on an a problem area very quickly since it would be light and fast, serve food to the affected people and the first responders, and help treat people that need it. Could also set up the RV with solar panels as a phone charging station. Would enable us to help a lot of people quickly in a meaningful way, plus allow us to live full or part time on the road. I'd love to operate it as a non-profit and get donations and stuff to set up/cover costs, but having FIRE money would let me go at it full time.

DeepEllumStache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11580 on: December 30, 2015, 09:26:34 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

If that's what you want to do, look into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

I'll have to do that. One of the things that struck me recently was how slow everyone is to respond to a small/local disaster. My neighbors about an hour away were hit by 11 tornados the night after christmas, a lot of people were hurt and something like 600 homes were destroyed. Aid is coming, but it's taking a while... so I had an idea to modify the mobile clinic. Mobile clinic that tows a food truck. My wife comes from catering and wants to eventually run a food truck or similar. so we could roll up on an a problem area very quickly since it would be light and fast, serve food to the affected people and the first responders, and help treat people that need it. Could also set up the RV with solar panels as a phone charging station. Would enable us to help a lot of people quickly in a meaningful way, plus allow us to live full or part time on the road. I'd love to operate it as a non-profit and get donations and stuff to set up/cover costs, but having FIRE money would let me go at it full time.

That is a fabulous idea, especially if you're serving comfort food - warm and cold options like soup/hot drinks or sandwiches/cold water depending on the season/disaster.

Also having some chairs/tables as well as enough of a generator that people could charge up their mobile phones would be really helpful in times like that.

mtn

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11581 on: December 30, 2015, 10:01:27 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

If that's what you want to do, look into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

I'll have to do that. One of the things that struck me recently was how slow everyone is to respond to a small/local disaster. My neighbors about an hour away were hit by 11 tornados the night after christmas, a lot of people were hurt and something like 600 homes were destroyed. Aid is coming, but it's taking a while... so I had an idea to modify the mobile clinic. Mobile clinic that tows a food truck. My wife comes from catering and wants to eventually run a food truck or similar. so we could roll up on an a problem area very quickly since it would be light and fast, serve food to the affected people and the first responders, and help treat people that need it. Could also set up the RV with solar panels as a phone charging station. Would enable us to help a lot of people quickly in a meaningful way, plus allow us to live full or part time on the road. I'd love to operate it as a non-profit and get donations and stuff to set up/cover costs, but having FIRE money would let me go at it full time.

That is a fabulous idea, especially if you're serving comfort food - warm and cold options like soup/hot drinks or sandwiches/cold water depending on the season/disaster.

Also having some chairs/tables as well as enough of a generator that people could charge up their mobile phones would be really helpful in times like that.

Frankly, the food that would go over best in situations like this are the cheapest. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. PB&J. Shit on a shingle.

Throw in some banana's for vitamins and whatnot and you'll be cooking with gasoline.

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11582 on: December 30, 2015, 10:40:54 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

If that's what you want to do, look into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

I'll have to do that. One of the things that struck me recently was how slow everyone is to respond to a small/local disaster. My neighbors about an hour away were hit by 11 tornados the night after christmas, a lot of people were hurt and something like 600 homes were destroyed. Aid is coming, but it's taking a while... so I had an idea to modify the mobile clinic. Mobile clinic that tows a food truck. My wife comes from catering and wants to eventually run a food truck or similar. so we could roll up on an a problem area very quickly since it would be light and fast, serve food to the affected people and the first responders, and help treat people that need it. Could also set up the RV with solar panels as a phone charging station. Would enable us to help a lot of people quickly in a meaningful way, plus allow us to live full or part time on the road. I'd love to operate it as a non-profit and get donations and stuff to set up/cover costs, but having FIRE money would let me go at it full time.

That is a fabulous idea, especially if you're serving comfort food - warm and cold options like soup/hot drinks or sandwiches/cold water depending on the season/disaster.

Also having some chairs/tables as well as enough of a generator that people could charge up their mobile phones would be really helpful in times like that.

Frankly, the food that would go over best in situations like this are the cheapest. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. PB&J. Shit on a shingle.

Throw in some banana's for vitamins and whatnot and you'll be cooking with gasoline.

After disasters, Wal-mart's research discovered that what people want most for consumables are strawberry Poptarts and beer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/14/business/yourmoney/what-walmart-knows-about-customers-habits.html?_r=0

powersuitrecall

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11583 on: December 30, 2015, 10:52:41 AM »
Apparently yesterday's snowstorm (this season's first) was too much to handle for 2 of my CWs:

CW1: Hey CW2, did you just contract someone for home snow removal?
CW2: Yep it was XYZ for $whatever
CW1: Cool, I'll call them too.  I had to shovel like 3 times yesterday
CW2: Yeah me too, I don't feel too badly today because I'm in pretty good shape, but it was TERRIBLE
CW1: No shit.  Shoveling is the WORST

Both CWs are young, in great shape, and pay for gym memberships.

Pooperman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11584 on: December 30, 2015, 11:06:14 AM »
Apparently yesterday's snowstorm (this season's first) was too much to handle for 2 of my CWs:

CW1: Hey CW2, did you just contract someone for home snow removal?
CW2: Yep it was XYZ for $whatever
CW1: Cool, I'll call them too.  I had to shovel like 3 times yesterday
CW2: Yeah me too, I don't feel too badly today because I'm in pretty good shape, but it was TERRIBLE
CW1: No shit.  Shoveling is the WORST

Both CWs are young, in great shape, and pay for gym memberships.

My friend asked for snow removal services where he lives (NY up by Canada, so they get actual snow). I told him to put a plow on his corvette :D

dandarc

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11585 on: December 30, 2015, 11:05:30 AM »
Apparently yesterday's snowstorm (this season's first) was too much to handle for 2 of my CWs:

CW1: Hey CW2, did you just contract someone for home snow removal?
CW2: Yep it was XYZ for $whatever
CW1: Cool, I'll call them too.  I had to shovel like 3 times yesterday
CW2: Yeah me too, I don't feel too badly today because I'm in pretty good shape, but it was TERRIBLE
CW1: No shit.  Shoveling is the WORST

Both CWs are young, in great shape, and pay for gym memberships.
I went with the 'get a job for more money in Florida' approach to hating snow shoveling.

merula

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11586 on: December 30, 2015, 11:28:41 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

If that's what you want to do, look into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

I'll have to do that. One of the things that struck me recently was how slow everyone is to respond to a small/local disaster. My neighbors about an hour away were hit by 11 tornados the night after christmas, a lot of people were hurt and something like 600 homes were destroyed. Aid is coming, but it's taking a while... so I had an idea to modify the mobile clinic. Mobile clinic that tows a food truck. My wife comes from catering and wants to eventually run a food truck or similar. so we could roll up on an a problem area very quickly since it would be light and fast, serve food to the affected people and the first responders, and help treat people that need it. Could also set up the RV with solar panels as a phone charging station. Would enable us to help a lot of people quickly in a meaningful way, plus allow us to live full or part time on the road. I'd love to operate it as a non-profit and get donations and stuff to set up/cover costs, but having FIRE money would let me go at it full time.

I love the idea, but one thing to consider is the supply chain. In a major disaster, you're not going to be able to get fuel, electricity, food or water locally, so you'll need to plan for a way to bring all that in. Water and food are easier than fuel, since you could just have extra storage, but theoretically you'd need an extra-large tank for the truck plus propane for a gas stove, and possibly diesel for a generator.

infogoon

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11587 on: December 30, 2015, 11:33:00 AM »
Apparently yesterday's snowstorm (this season's first) was too much to handle for 2 of my CWs:

CW1: Hey CW2, did you just contract someone for home snow removal?
CW2: Yep it was XYZ for $whatever
CW1: Cool, I'll call them too.  I had to shovel like 3 times yesterday
CW2: Yeah me too, I don't feel too badly today because I'm in pretty good shape, but it was TERRIBLE
CW1: No shit.  Shoveling is the WORST

Both CWs are young, in great shape, and pay for gym memberships.

My friend asked for snow removal services where he lives (NY up by Canada, so they get actual snow). I told him to put a plow on his corvette :D

I've seen this guy around my neighborhood in snowy weather.


jordanread

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11588 on: December 30, 2015, 11:52:35 AM »
Apparently yesterday's snowstorm (this season's first) was too much to handle for 2 of my CWs:

CW1: Hey CW2, did you just contract someone for home snow removal?
CW2: Yep it was XYZ for $whatever
CW1: Cool, I'll call them too.  I had to shovel like 3 times yesterday
CW2: Yeah me too, I don't feel too badly today because I'm in pretty good shape, but it was TERRIBLE
CW1: No shit.  Shoveling is the WORST

Both CWs are young, in great shape, and pay for gym memberships.

My friend asked for snow removal services where he lives (NY up by Canada, so they get actual snow). I told him to put a plow on his corvette :D

I've seen this guy around my neighborhood in snowy weather.



That is my most favorite picture I've seen today. Thanks!!

dude

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11589 on: December 30, 2015, 11:54:09 AM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.

I'm not saying it's perfect. Wait times for some procedures are ridiculous. You can wait months to see a specialist. Longer for things like knee or hip replacements. This is for non-emergency things. Emergencies will be seen right away. My husband once had unstable angina and was put in ICU right away and flown (air ambulance) to the big city and had stents put in within days.


It's not that much different here in the U.S. -- I've had to wait months for specialist appointments, and I've got damn good health insurance.

powersuitrecall

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11590 on: December 30, 2015, 01:21:24 PM »
I've seen this guy around my neighborhood in snowy weather.


That is awesome.

gaja

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11591 on: December 30, 2015, 01:39:24 PM »
Apparently yesterday's snowstorm (this season's first) was too much to handle for 2 of my CWs:

CW1: Hey CW2, did you just contract someone for home snow removal?
CW2: Yep it was XYZ for $whatever
CW1: Cool, I'll call them too.  I had to shovel like 3 times yesterday
CW2: Yeah me too, I don't feel too badly today because I'm in pretty good shape, but it was TERRIBLE
CW1: No shit.  Shoveling is the WORST

Both CWs are young, in great shape, and pay for gym memberships.
I went with the 'get a job for more money in Florida' approach to hating snow shoveling.

We moved 500 miles south to get away from the shovelling. We had meters of the cold wet stuff, not feet. It was horrible.

Uturn

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11592 on: December 30, 2015, 01:51:14 PM »
Apparently yesterday's snowstorm (this season's first) was too much to handle for 2 of my CWs:

CW1: Hey CW2, did you just contract someone for home snow removal?
CW2: Yep it was XYZ for $whatever
CW1: Cool, I'll call them too.  I had to shovel like 3 times yesterday
CW2: Yeah me too, I don't feel too badly today because I'm in pretty good shape, but it was TERRIBLE
CW1: No shit.  Shoveling is the WORST

Both CWs are young, in great shape, and pay for gym memberships.

But did they pay to have the driveway shoveled so they could drive to the gym? 

steviesterno

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11593 on: December 30, 2015, 02:41:09 PM »
we paid zero out of pocket - but imagine the overhead with the workers at the insurance company and both billing offices, filing, denying, re-filing, denying. Plus the phone calls my husband made (at least a dozen) "did you bill insurance company A?"  "Oh, no, we didn't."  "Well, that's the primary, here's the info".  Ad nauseum.
On behalf of the civilised world - can we point out that there is an efficient solution to providing health care cheaply and universally with everyone paying zero out of pocket ;-)


you do pay out of pocket, every single time you pay your taxes. Health care is never free. collect it in beginning with taxes, or afterwards with insurance or out of pocket. I'm actually not against socialized medicine, but you have to socialize the educational aspect of it, too, not just the payment portion.

one of my FIRE goals is to move to a super LCOL area and open up a free/cheap mobile medical office in an RV, travel small town to town and treat people cheaply.

If that's what you want to do, look into Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC).

I'll have to do that. One of the things that struck me recently was how slow everyone is to respond to a small/local disaster. My neighbors about an hour away were hit by 11 tornados the night after christmas, a lot of people were hurt and something like 600 homes were destroyed. Aid is coming, but it's taking a while... so I had an idea to modify the mobile clinic. Mobile clinic that tows a food truck. My wife comes from catering and wants to eventually run a food truck or similar. so we could roll up on an a problem area very quickly since it would be light and fast, serve food to the affected people and the first responders, and help treat people that need it. Could also set up the RV with solar panels as a phone charging station. Would enable us to help a lot of people quickly in a meaningful way, plus allow us to live full or part time on the road. I'd love to operate it as a non-profit and get donations and stuff to set up/cover costs, but having FIRE money would let me go at it full time.

I love the idea, but one thing to consider is the supply chain. In a major disaster, you're not going to be able to get fuel, electricity, food or water locally, so you'll need to plan for a way to bring all that in. Water and food are easier than fuel, since you could just have extra storage, but theoretically you'd need an extra-large tank for the truck plus propane for a gas stove, and possibly diesel for a generator.


one of my other reading habits and grand ideas is off the grid living, and low impact stuff. adventure RVs like the Unimog done up right are already equipped for a longer stretch of going without supply. A couple of freezers for food, storage for pre-bought bottled water, extra propane on the RV and food truck plus an extra tank for gas should be enough for a short term event. my plan is to be first on scene and set up quickly and wait for calvary, not the only people there for a month.

I also think by the time we get this thing rolling, tesla home style batteries will be available and less expensive. One of those should power the recharging/communication set up. Be your own mobile hotspot with a couple of unlimited cell phones for people to call relatives, etc. another could power the RV and food truck for everything except fuel. Solar panels on the roof and extra fold out could recharge if the weather is good, or a low current gasoline generator (only need one fuel source) would work, too.

by going super high efficiency like you see being done in microhomes, you don't need much power. a small (~300sq foot) micro apartment/RV/cabin can run on a car battery and a bbq sized tank of propane for a weekend if you run LED lighting, good insulation, etc. running on smaller tanks means you could grab one from a neighbor or gas station in a pinch and power the grill.

I like the comfort food and beer idea. not sure how to go about the legal aspect of that but I bet nobody would bother you just filling solo cups with whiskey for everyone.

oh if anyone wants to help me build micro homes to rent out, let me know... it's a side-hustle idea I've had for a while now. think AirBnB but dropped off for you when you need it.

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11594 on: December 30, 2015, 03:06:46 PM »
Just for lulz, local truck pics.

frances

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11595 on: December 31, 2015, 11:21:32 AM »
About a month after I started working at my current job a coworker and I were eating lunch together and she said, "So you eat leftovers for lunch like every day, huh?"

My SO and I meal plan and bring lunches to work every day. It was particularly funny because this coworker's lunches usually consist of a pack of crackers and a can of tuna, or something similarly prepackaged and boring, whereas I bring homemade curries and the like, yet my lunches are "gross" because they're "leftovers"....

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11596 on: December 31, 2015, 11:40:21 AM »
About a month after I started working at my current job a coworker and I were eating lunch together and she said, "So you eat leftovers for lunch like every day, huh?"

My SO and I meal plan and bring lunches to work every day. It was particularly funny because this coworker's lunches usually consist of a pack of crackers and a can of tuna, or something similarly prepackaged and boring, whereas I bring homemade curries and the like, yet my lunches are "gross" because they're "leftovers"....
If you planned to bring it to work, it's not really leftovers. Call it home manufacturing if you want ;)

Hunny156

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11597 on: December 31, 2015, 12:05:13 PM »
About a month after I started working at my current job a coworker and I were eating lunch together and she said, "So you eat leftovers for lunch like every day, huh?"

My SO and I meal plan and bring lunches to work every day. It was particularly funny because this coworker's lunches usually consist of a pack of crackers and a can of tuna, or something similarly prepackaged and boring, whereas I bring homemade curries and the like, yet my lunches are "gross" because they're "leftovers"....

I've been working from home this week, and I still made sure to make a big batch of soup and Lentil curry, just so I can easily grab a bowl a nuke it while working.  When I go to work, I tend to just eat baked potatoes, carrot sticks and some bananas, so these "leftovers" have been a big treat for me this week!

On another note, the in-laws moved to town this week.  While they are getting settled, I've gone ahead and cooked dinner several times this week, and brought it over to their new place.  Nothing incredibly special, a veggie soup, rice and beans, mashed potatoes, etc.  I'm not sure what they have been eating their entire lives, but it must be a bunch of packaged food.  They have asked me what brand of potatoes and soup I use, or where I got the food from.  These two are now living 100% of SSA, scary thought that they waste so much money on take out and nutritionally deficient crap like potato flakes....

Pooperman

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11598 on: December 31, 2015, 12:13:28 PM »
Potato brand? Tell them you use the one with the red skin sometimes, and other times the one with the gold/brown skin. Maybe they'll understand about using the actual potato.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #11599 on: December 31, 2015, 12:30:18 PM »
We need to fix the language, I started with your post.  Good work doing this.  Tasty, healthy, good value.

About a month after I started working at my current job a coworker and I were eating lunch together and she said, "So you eat leftovers planned-overs for lunch like every day, huh?"

My SO and I meal plan and bring lunches to work every day. It was particularly funny because this coworker's lunches usually consist of a pack of crackers and a can of tuna, or something similarly prepackaged and boring, whereas I bring homemade curries and the like, yet my lunches are "gross" because they're "leftovers"....