Silver medalist Greg Foster needs heart transplant

[beebee]

Wow...
One of our state's all-time greats, along with JJK and Mike Conley...

I definitely plan to contribute...A legend here in Illinois.

[guru]

When I saw the GoFundMe for $350,000, I thought that amount was because he was uninsured. But when I saw Willie Banks' post about it (https://www.facebook.com/willie.banks2), I saw that the $350K was the 20% not covered by insurance.

So that's 1.75 million dollars for a 4-hour surgery!

Right. That's why I'm saying he'd be WAAAY better off with an Affordable Care Act policy, even if he were paying more than whatever he is now for the premium.

[Cooter Brown]

That price isn't surprising. I got stents 3 years ago and that 20 minute procedure and a 5-day hospital stay was $210K.

Don't most insurance policies have an annual out-of-pocket maximum that's much, much less than $350K? Insurance refused to pay for my procedure since I shouldn't have been admitted to the hospital with unspecified chest pain and as a result the blockage shouldn't have been discovered. Fantastic insurance logic. Luckily, my insurance's deal with the hospital provider was that any cost they denied, the hospital had to eat the bill so I didn't have to pay anything other than my 20% which was capped at my $3,000/out-of-pocket maximum.

[guru]

Don't most insurance policies have an annual out-of-pocket maximum that's much, much less than $350K? .

Depends on the insurance. I suspect there are policies out there with unlimited copays. At least with the obamacare policies you know the max you'll have to pay out of pocket is the limit of $7900. I have supplemental insurance that would pay me directly $10,000 in the case of heart issue, cancer, or accident. Costs me $30 a month.

[maggot]

Here is a previous story. It took him quite a while to get diagnosed. I was diagnosed with AL amyloidoisis 2 months after the first symptoms occurred and my experience has been quite a bit different than his.
https://arci.org/olympic-athlete-gre...ate-diagnosis/

[AS]

This thread is why the rest of the developed world shakes their head in disbelief at the clusterf#ck that is the US Health System.

With universal healthcare (which is a doddle to design and run - we've had a system of income tax-deducted provision for decades), Australians would get that surgery with almost no out of pocket expenses (and the total cost to the insurers etc would be maybe a fifth). And yes, our per capita income is around the same as yours and medical professionals are still some of the highest paid professions.

[midwestfan]

Foster is old enough to be on Medicare and government pays for heart transplants only at certified medical centers. The "procedure" is more than four hours when you include pre op testing, multiple consults by cardiologists, immunologists, pathologists, radiologists, etc, the heart pump team and equipment, blood saver team in OR, etc
The patient could spend 3-5 or more days in ICu post operatively. There are about 15-20 professionals scrubbed in the OR during the surgical procedure. There may be 20 nurses, therapists, respiratory technicians caring for patient in ICU for 24 hours times 3-5 days. Finally a team of therapists to rehab patient until discharge.
At quoted $75,992 and calculating just 5 X 24 hours of some 20 (modest estimate) personnel. The arithmetic would allow $633.33 per hour fee to be dived up among 20+ professionals comes to paying each $31.67/ hour rate. Does not include hospital overhead costs ( not including professional employees payments)

Medicare pays 80"% and patient would pay 20% which would be $15,000.

I believe Foster would need a GoFundMe gift to pay for all non covered Medicare costs and hope he has a good generous support from friends and former track fans. He is a legend in this area from Proviso East HS (same HS as Doc Rivers of Clippers). I plan to contribute .

[donley2]

Foster is only 61. Medicare eligibility age is 65.

[midwestfan]

Wow, donley 2!! How did Greg Foster get so much younger than me? I thought I was reading and seeing newspaper articles on him when I was in residency which was just blocks away from Proviso East HS. Hope he gets on waiting list and gets a compatable heart soon.

[user4]

Great! We should send you 20 million or so of our poorest citizens. They would immediately receive much better care there, it appears.

I think you misunderstood him, the solution they are proposing is reasonable, they simply nationalize healthcare service, cap costs by law, single payer. The MDs in the world will all flock to the US to replace all the overpaid stooge MD surgeons we have now!.. nationalization of healthcare will drive the best and brightest into the healthcare profession. It's win win!!!

And lets face it, MDs are interchangeable, you know open heart surgery is really kind of like managing the spread of typhoid or dengue fever so no worries there.

What could possibly go wrong?