# Get a bus, you freeloading bints.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-a-bus-you-freeloading-bints/153051>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [February 5, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-a-bus-you-freeloading-bints/153051 "2003-02-05T21:47:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-a-bus-you-freeloading-bints/153051/41 "2003-02-07T10:31:40Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \*  
> \*\*No idea why I should have written **Beer** rather than **UncleBeer** , very ungracious and I apologise **UncleBeer**. Must have been strangely distracted. Sorry! \*\*

Probably because you were hit up the arse last week by some skunk-freak at a considerable lick.

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**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-a-bus-you-freeloading-bints/153051/42 "2003-02-07T22:53:19Z")

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I’ve had numerous run-ins with Blue Cross in the past 6months.  
They keep trying to reclassify bills associated with my wife’s recent cancer treatment as “routine examinations”–subject to a paltry $150/yr. limit-- rather than as “acute care”–subject to $300 deductible, a 70%/30% split therafter to a stop-loss of $1600, and 100% covered thereafter.

The premiums, deductibles, and copays I pay are a greater burden than a 20% sales tax dedicated to a no-bill/no-hassle system modeled on a European, British or Canadian plan would be.

One anomaly of conservative Nebraska is that we have state-wide publicly-owned power production and distribution. We pay a lot less for electricity than people who buy from investor-owned utilities. Why couldn’t socialized medicine be as efficiently run?

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-a-bus-you-freeloading-bints/153051/43 "2003-02-07T23:22:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by zenith \*  
> \*\*I’ve had numerous run-ins with Blue Cross in the past 6months.  
> They keep trying to reclassify bills associated with my wife’s recent cancer treatment as “routine examinations”–subject to a paltry $150/yr. limit-- rather than as “acute care”–subject to $300 deductible, a 70%/30% split therafter to a stop-loss of $1600, and 100% covered thereafter.
> 
> The premiums, deductibles, and copays I pay are a greater burden than a 20% sales tax dedicated to a no-bill/no-hassle system modeled on a European, British or Canadian plan would be.
> 
> One anomaly of conservative Nebraska is that we have state-wide publicly-owned power production and distribution. We pay a lot less for electricity than people who buy from investor-owned utilities. Why couldn’t socialized medicine be as efficiently run? \*\*

Interesting. I had cancer treatment in Nebraska, and was covered under Blue Cross under much the same plan (stop-loss was at $1000, but this was eight or nine years ago). I had no problems at all, but this may be because I had my insurance through my employer (UNL).

Nevertheless, I now pay nothing (zero, zilch, nada) for my annual checkups, and you can’t beat that.

And I use public transport to get there. 😉

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