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the cost of an accident

jdd

Maximum Pace
Hardest Crash
Jul 26, 2008
3,512
2,058
I wasn't sure where to put this, in my old crash thread, one or another insurance thread, or here in a new one.

Since it's tax time, I'll be taking along all my receipts and a sheet listing it all. Sooo, for 58 days in hospital (maybe 52-53 of those in a private room), plus all treatment, meds and ongoing rehab (both during and after discharge) followup checks, etc., from June 24th thru December 31st...

...the total came to about ¥1,115,000 (=usual 30% of total cost).

I've always carried some supplemental insurance thru work, and subtracting those payments brings it down to about ¥648,000.

Another supplemental policy (my "bike" policy) paid ¥290,000, bringing my final out-of-pocket cost for the crash to about ¥358,000. (for 2015, I'm still going to rehab and have another checkup on the 26th)

Draw your own conclusions, but in hindsight if fate had come to me that morning and said pay me 120-man or you're going to crash, that would've been a no-brainer.
 
You mention the private room and this may or may not apply to you but it is a scam of the grandest order that I try to bring to light at any and every opportunity I get.

If they tell you there is no room on the ward or that you are contagious, or any reason for that matter, if it comes from them (the hospital) and is not a personal request of yours then you are in no way liable for the cost of that private room. They have tried it with me and my family and I have personally heard them tell other patients that there is no option but to go into a room alone. They seem to do it all the time and hope you simply don't know or never ask about payment.

When the accounts guy or gal come around all you have to do is say the hospital said this or that and it was not your choice to go the expensive route (if that is true) and they will quietly back away silently cursing your name.

An insurance expert once told me this many moons ago and as my son spent several months in hospital after he was born I found out it was true.

Their call, their dime.

The UK government is quietly dismantling the NHS and alienating its doctors the result will be shit like this and god forbid the clusterfuck of all clusterfucks that is the US medical insurance system.

Sanders fro President!

Sorry the thread hijack.

Glad you are on the mend.
 
@Musashi13 Thanks for that explanation. The private room was my call/request, and they had one when I was ready to leave the recovery room (kind of an ICU, which was right next to the nurse station). Being in a four person room wouldn't have made much difference the first week or so, after that I was very glad to have it, so I didn't have to follow lights-out times, could have visitors in-room instead of in the commons area, and other things.

This particular hospital only had the choice of 4-person vs private. A couple few years ago, a place my wife was in had three levels of private rooms, from simple/basic to almost a suite.
 
Good info thanks. So the idea is make a whole lot of noise and trouble until they recommend you move to a private room!

And Fyi, Sanders doesn't have a fro!

and also, thanks for the update jdd, and glad to hear you are out and about.


You mention the private room and this may or may not apply to you but it is a scam of the grandest order that I try to bring to light at any and every opportunity I get.

If they tell you there is no room on the ward or that you are contagious, or any reason for that matter, if it comes from them (the hospital) and is not a personal request of yours then you are in no way liable for the cost of that private room. They have tried it with me and my family and I have personally heard them tell other patients that there is no option but to go into a room alone. They seem to do it all the time and hope you simply don't know or never ask about payment.

When the accounts guy or gal come around all you have to do is say the hospital said this or that and it was not your choice to go the expensive route (if that is true) and they will quietly back away silently cursing your name.

An insurance expert once told me this many moons ago and as my son spent several months in hospital after he was born I found out it was true.

Their call, their dime.

The UK government is quietly dismantling the NHS and alienating its doctors the result will be shit like this and god forbid the clusterfuck of all clusterfucks that is the US medical insurance system.

Sanders fro President!

Sorry the thread hijack.

Glad you are on the mend.
 
@theBlob maybe that's what he's missing.

@jdd glad the hear they didn't get one over on you. All too often they do and it's despicable to prey on people when they are often at their weakest.
 
About the same as Japan if one has adequate health insurance, surely? Would have been massively expensive in Japan too, without insurance.

Hahaha...no. It could have been upwards of half a million dollars if he had been ambulanced to a hospital that wasn't in his HMO. You can easily be bankrupted in the states even if you have insurance.
 
@jdd was able to enjoy his bike before the accident and up until now it doesn't seem like he has that back yet. That's priceless :-( I do hope you get back out there @jdd.
 
@jdd was able to enjoy his bike before the accident and up until now it doesn't seem like he has that back yet. That's priceless :-( I do hope you get back out there @jdd.

No, I don't have that back yet...

Unfortunate, but that's the reality. And yes, I've lost something priceless. So be careful out there, and learn and remember from both my experience and @xDOMx 's even worse crash that truly bad stuff can happen on the roads. Being able to ride is priceless, please value it that way when you're out riding. Respect your able-bodied-ness.

Early on, and then later thru the fall, I was still in my mind a cyclist--but long story short, I've kind of given up on that. Twenty some years ago, when I had a bad fall on the other side, it was two years before I started riding again, and I now try to be patient and keep that in mind. But I was in my early 40s then, a time when I had no doubt that I would ever get eaten by the fish. Now, I'm not so sure.

Something about the socket on my hip joint has not closed up or healed as hoped, so there's still some pain, and range of movement sucks--daily stuff like getting my pants on on the right side, and then a sock, = a challenge. My doc has recently said an artificial hip is in the cards, but that he'd prefer that I put up with some more 'recovery' or time with my hip joint as it is, rather than jumping into that right away. (As a teacher, my next 'off' time is Aug/Sept, so that's my early goal for that.)

It's not just riding that I've lost or that's been back-burnered. I'm all but retired (a year to go), and stuff that I was thinking to do post-retirement..., well let's just say that some items on that list now have some parentheses, asterisks, or question marks that weren't there before.

Thankfully, I didn't smash my head, or break my neck, and my hands and fingers work as well as they ever did. And to repeat, being able to ride is priceless, please value it that way when you're out riding. Respect your able-bodied-ness.
 
Man,I wish you all the best for your recovery.
A very thought provoking posting.
 
I thought I'd chime in with my experience of the cost of an incident over here (where no culpable party is found).

I was in hospital for 23 days, had skull & brain surgery, and had arm surgery. In addition to all of this, I had daily rehab, was in the most serious ICU for a good while (at 100,000 yen a day), and had a number of other expenses.

As I have mandatory health insurance, this covered 70% as usual. However, this left with me with a hefty 30%.

This left me with a bill, on discharge, of 1.1m JPY.

Luckily, I was eligible for a means-tested grant from my local ward (tested on 2014's earnings as 2015's earnings tax hadn't been dealt with yet; I was only hear for 3 months in 2014), and so this brought down the payment to 90,000 JPY.

In addition to this, I have all of the rehab, medicine, dental care (I will need an implant as my front tooth was knocked out), and additional regular checkups.

The last cost was my bike frame and forks (the rest of the components, except the bars, appear broadly fine. I will sell these soon (with full disclosure about the crash) and, if anyone is interested in these, please contact me separately.

I also have 'bike insurance' which covers 6,500 JPY per day when I was in hospital (23 x 6,500 JPY) but, given that an implant usually costs upwards of 200,000 JPY and my post-discharge appointments/travel are over 50,000 JPY already, I will be firmly out of pocket by the time I am recovered.

Away from all of this, the psychological consequences have been tough but, as with the phyiscal injuries, these will heal with time.

As I have said elsewhere, however, I am fully grateful for being alive and able to type this email as, ultimately, it is our health that is the most important thing.
 
@xDOMx Thanks for the ¥¥ info!

In contrast, apart from heavy scratches on the right pedal, and a bit on the bar end, my bike seems to be okay. (steel ...tho I haven't ridden it yet, and there could be something like a bent crank arm, or poss. damage to the pedal)
 
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