insane medical costs

A little off topic... but not in view of the 'lifetime' benefits being discussed here...

In my office we have several ex-military air traffic controllers... and I don't know of ANY that aren't getting some sort of monthly disability payment. (5 total)

There are some of us that were military before of after college, or were raised in military families, and to us, this is totally weird. All of these new people they've hired in the last 5-6 years from the military are getting some sort of monthly disability check from Uncle Sam. Stuff like $285 a month for a hearing disability...after 8 years as a ATC in the AirForce, yet the young guy seems to hear better than my 47 year old butt! A girl who recently quit did 8 as a Navy ATC, and was getting enough cash for her 'disorder', that it was paying for her Phoenix online courses and her cute little Audi... she said it was 'like bi-polar disorder'... again, for life.

Is this the new scam? Don't reenlist... get diagnosed with some 'problem', then milk it for life?

Is this the newest benefit of serving our country?
 
Let's see here...

Your post with 'Statist' in it contained 3% hackneyed cold war terms (that being the word Statist itself)

The post to which this is a reply has jacked the percentage all the way up to 50% (here we refer to 'fellow traveller'-but you do get points for dredging that one up out of the depths of, what was it, a transcript of the McCarthy Hearings? )

I have confidence that a reply to this can be composed using 100% paleo-reactionary cliches, and, I think you just might be the man who can do it:hug::p:):thumbsup:;)
 
I don't think

Gee Whiz counts as one of the terms I had in mind-that's more like paleo-TV dialog-maybe from Lassie or Leave It To Beaver ( although I sort of remember it being more "gosh Wally" rather than "gee whiz Wally" but I missed a few episodes)

Could you place a numeber between 37 and 74 on the value I hold of other people's opinions, you are the first to admit they know what that value is. I need the number for a school project-thanks ever so much in advance:thumbsup:
 
ok, that is strange.

I know a few who get some form of diability payment.

Father In Law. Deaf in one ear from mortar rounds. Served active tours on Korea and Vietnam, and stayed out his 30 years... Semper Fi Art!

Friend (32yo) has wierd cancers from cleaning out wing tanks on aircraft. Another has severe ortapedic issues from falling off a frozen C130 wing during winter refueling....

I think these folks earned their disability, but......

I got nothing.
 
One of the guys in my office at the RR spent some time in the Navy post HS. He told me he was 'encouraged' from friends getting out to 'develop a problem' when he got out. He couldn't bring himself to do it. But he said one of his Navy buds got out several months before him, and instead of going back go Colorado where they were both were from, he went and lived for a few months in a differenet state with another ex-Navy friend who'd gotten out a year or two earlier.

Why?

Because that states VA Office was notoriously more liberal than Colorado's when it came to assessing your level of disability. And a higher level of disability means more cash from Uncle Sam each month. My RR co-worker told me his friend was convinced he was getting several hundred a month (for life!) more than he would have gotten had he gone straight to Colorado.

Of course, once a cash amount is set on your disability, you are free to move about the country!:mad2: You can also be reassessed in the future and your level of disability can be raised. I was told that by the young guy in my office with a 'hearing problem' who doens't wear hearing aids and never seems to miss anything being said.
 
It's hard to verify....

but one recent report said that 80% of retiring California Highway Patrol officers 'develop' some disability at about 16 months prior to retirement date:huh::huh::huh:
 
That's very true... being raised around military people, in very military areas, I'm hoping it's totally a statistical aberration. None of the people from my era that I hung with would have done that. (at least I'd be very freaking shocked and bummed if I heard about it) And I feel almost 100% certain that my dad could only come up with 2 or 3 people in general that he disrespects integrity wise from his career to think they might intentionally rip off the country.

This is funny to think of because I know I work with bunches who wouldn't bat an eye if "United HealthCare" screwed something up billing wise and saved them, or wrongfully refunded them a bunch of money... they'd gloat.

And back to the "insane medical cost" of this whole thread... last night I talked to a co-worker who was diagnosed with CML, Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, and his bills have been crazy. Sad part is they will always be crazy it seems and he is in a position to where keeping the job is all important now... he can't jump ship and try to get insurance somewhere else with a 'lifelong' disease like this. Before when we talked about 'what if they moved our jobs to XXXXX?' we could all talk about employment options we thought we might have. Now he's going to follow what the company says regardless... the insurance and expensive life prolonging treatments are too valuable.

With our High Deductible Healthcare Plan at work... he'll get screwed for the High Deductible right off the bat each new year... And right now he is fighting another $2700 that UHC and the hospital say he's responsible for, even though he hit his personal $5500 limit long ago... he said making phone call after call is just getting him shrugs from our companies HR benefits people, customer service reps at UHC, and the people at MD Anderson Hospital... most of them are leaning towards a "why don't you just pay it for right now so we don't have any interruption in your treatment, and we'll work on getting it reversed!" attitude!

Of course he's less than happy with that sort of response...
 
Don't know how to find out....

just how common the 20 year and then defence contractor thing is.
A while back I did read some article about one off the big contractors (can't remeber which now) and the quote that sticks was one executive bragging that they had more generals (retired of course) per square foot than the Pentagon. Of course the Pentagon is a big building, might be THE biggest building, so I suppose the generals could be pretty spread out and you still have a lot of them.:p
 
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