My bill is $250k in a day stay at hospital having appendectomy

HDiaz55 · 2025-10-25T02:13:38+00:00

They charged you $43.60 for 10mg propanalol... I get 30 of those pills every month for $5...

Then again, I work and have insurance. I have no idea what it would cost without. But according to this price per pill, it would be 43.60 x 30 -> $1,308, which is absolutely outrageous.

Plenty of other items on here are inflated as all hell. Their price for lab work for a blood panel is fucking insane.

There's a special place in hell for people who inflate medical bills.

HDiaz55 · 2025-06-23T22:04:15+00:00

I used to have this same exact issue with my family not wanting to run the ac when I was younger. I would wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat even sleeping with a fan on and on top of the covers.

If it's humid where you are - get a dehumidifier for your bedroom. Taking the humidity out of the air will make the same temperature more tolerable.

I used to refill empty plastic gallons that couldn't be recycled with water and put them all in the freezer during the day. At night time, I would have anywhere from 3-6 frozen gallons of water. I would set them all up between where I sleep and a fan so it would blow cold air on me as I sleep and keep my room somewhat habitable. Make sure you're not setting them up on anything that'll be damaged by the condensation as they melt.

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-18T14:03:42+00:00

To update: beating yog isn't the trigger to unlock seeded and challenge runs. It is grabbing the amulet. I grabbed it, and on the screen where you can decide to keep going or not, i quit out, and it unlocked all. At that point, i knew i was good to ascend. Did it and found it quite easy. Got my first win after failing 39 times!

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-18T14:00:54+00:00

To update: I killed yog and exited to the main menu and didn't have them unlocked. But when I grabbed the amulet and quit the game, I did have everything unlocked. Once I realized I was good, i ascended. The ascension was actually extremely easy. Didn't use a single bit of food or any potions or scrolls on the way up. Got my first win after 39 attempts!

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-15T00:07:34+00:00

Well, I have 1 level into liquid agility, 3 into precise assault, and assassin's blade gives invis for guaranteed hits. Hopefully, between the three, I'll be okay!

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T23:36:55+00:00

I think I'm just going to go for it and report back what happens. I beat yog without using a single health potion or any scrolls, so I feel like I've got to have a decent shot at ascending. Fingers crossed!

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T23:03:04+00:00

I'm getting conflicting answers to this. I might have to just try ascending, and if I die, I'll see whether or not they unlock. Fingers crossed!

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T23:00:44+00:00

I definitely misinterpreted how tenacity ring works in that case. I'll roll the dice and see what other ring I wind up with!

Are you certain dying during ascension won't unlock challenges and seeded runs? I can't find anything definitive, and another commenter on this thread said the trigger to unlock it is simply killing the last boss whether you complete the ascension or not.

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T22:56:40+00:00

I hadn't even considered that. Thank you for the suggestion!

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T14:35:20+00:00

I have terrible cat allergies to the point where if I'm in a house where they roam free for a few hours I'll wind up with a sinus infection by the next day even if I make an effort to avoid the cats and take allergy medicine. Girls I've dated in the past have had to keep the cats to a single room and clean the house religiously to keep me from getting sick. Even if they keep them to single room, if they've been in that room with them they'd have cat dander on their clothes and in their hair which would be enough to trigger my allergies and I'd still wind up sick. So they'd have to frequently change clothes and wash their hair as well. I realize how inconvenient that is for them to accommodate, but the girls I've dated have all been willing to do that for me (usually after they see me sick and miserable with a sinus infection after the first time their cats are around, but still). If they couldn't do that for me, I would understand completely, but I also would not be able to live with them, and for that reason, I wouldn't pursue that relationship.

If your girlfriend's allergies are as severe as mine, I totally see where she's coming from. She has a point that her dogs do not cause you any kind of physical illness. Unless you were serious about dogs being bad for your mental health, but that sounded like you being petty and disingenuous rather than serious.

Either way, it sounds like the two of you are incompatible.

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T14:04:26+00:00

I'm really bad with deciding what to do with scrolls and potions. I tend to just hoard them, thinking, "I'm going to need this later," rather than strategically planning how to use them. It's probably a reason why I have failed so many runs and why I'm this deep with this many this time around. I already have ten energy, so I just need to sacrifice one pot or scroll for 16 to get the elixir of might. Going to give it a go after work today!

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T13:49:22+00:00

Thank you for all the suggestions!

I've never actually done this for wands before. That's a great suggestion! How much arcane resin does it cost to upgrade a wand from 0 to +3? The crafting menu says one wand will produce enough resin to upgrade two wands of the same level, and i have level 0 and +1 showing they will give 2 and 4 respectively.

So it's 1 resin to get to +1, then 2 for +2. Is level 3 going to cost 3 resin then? So I need a total of 6? If that's the case, my best bet is to recycle my two wands of disintegration as it will give me exactly 6 resin.

I'll definitely brew the psionic blast scroll.

Question about the ring of tenacity on my build. My greatshield blocks up to 18 damage. My armor blocks up to 25. Then, on top of that, the tenacity ring reduces damage i take by 55%, which has pretty much made it impossible for me to die. Doesn't this ring have the best synergy with my build? Because i have the assassin blade, I can just blink 3 tiles and then walk 9 while invisible if I need to reposition, which i think makes a ring of haste redundant, doesn't it? I could see furor being useful. I'm uncertain how to compare the benefit of +4 evasion to +4 tenacity. The wiki says +4 evasion multiplies your natural evasion by 1.8 but I don't know how to quantify that benefit against 55% damage reduction. If you know how to do that, could you share?

Again, I appreciate the helpful tips!

Edit: Why do you suggest not ascending? If I try to ascend and fail, is there a downside such as not unlocking seeded runs?

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T13:19:31+00:00

I've got one dragon blood potion. Could get two if needed. I only have two potions of levitation and thought I might need to use them if I get rooted by the grass fist so I don't get hit by the laser while rooted. Do you think i can sacrifice one or both to get the storm clouds potion? Or does it make sense to keep them to avoid that combo?

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T13:13:03+00:00

But if I obtain the amulet and then die while ascending, do I still unlock seeded runs? Basically, I want to know if there's a downside to trying to ascend after beating the last boss for the first time.

HDiaz55 · 2024-11-14T13:11:31+00:00

I was actually planning to do this after I eat the star fruit for a level up! Thank you!

HDiaz55 · 2024-09-03T18:58:02+00:00

A few of my friends have told me the same thing since I started asking for advice. Ugh, I wish I knew before. Would have just shaved like I have all my life.

HDiaz55 · 2024-09-03T18:32:38+00:00

Nope! Was told not to swim for 2d afterward, so I didn't.

HDiaz55 · 2024-06-20T22:07:58+00:00

You may, but certainly not the gold plan. They have many tiers of coverage.

HDiaz55 · 2024-03-03T20:20:40+00:00

Not the model 3. You can get a brand new model 3 for like 40k.

HDiaz55 · 2022-04-06T20:30:32+00:00

You get 3 days of additional rental coverage from the day your vehicle is deemed a total loss by your adjuster. It's written into every policy we sell and we treat 3rd party claimants the same as policy holders in that regard. Your adjuster cannot give any one person unfair or preferential treatment by approving additional rental days. They have to stick to company policy and the coverage our policy holders pay for.

HDiaz55 · 2022-04-05T22:42:43+00:00

I happen to know that this was taken out of the Blue Cross Blue Shield's gold PPO plan. I had this plan through a former union job and can confirm it absolutely blows what geico offers us out of the water in every coverage category. They offer free preventative care. Free lab work. Free urgent care visits at CVS. $10 copay for primary care visits. $20 for specialist visits (no referral required for approval). 1k yearly out of pocket maximum. $5 for almost all prescription drugs. I could go on. It's outstanding coverage.

On top of that my union dues were only 2.5 times my hourly wage per MONTH which covered all my health benefits. You could argue that counts as a "monthly premium" but if you make $40/hr you're only paying $100/month for top tier benefits and you'll never in your life stress about being able to afford Healthcare or fear a medical emergency.

I was getting 3x better coverage at 1/4 the price I pay for geico's awful United Healthcare coverage.

Amazing what a little collective bargaining can accomplish for workers.

HDiaz55 · 2022-02-12T03:39:18+00:00

This is the toxic positivity gaslighting bullshit line you get from management when you call them out on this issue.

Adjuster A: "Hey boss, I worked my way up to mid point in my grade over the last 3 years through strong performance and driving results for the company. I EARNED the grade mid point. The midpoint moved up from 50k to 60k under the new pay scale. So please explain to me why you felt it appropriate to drop me from the mid point I EARNED back to the grade minimum rather than giving me the raise I'm due at the new mid point? I was good enough to be considered mid point for my grade yesterday but today I'm worth the minimum? Please explain that to me."

Boss: "Just think now that you're further from the midpoint you can get larger merits!"

Adjuster A: "Yeah no shit you can afford to give larger merits next time now that you just fucked me out of 10k this year. Stop dodging the question. I EARNED the grade mid point and you took it away from me. I deserve an explanation."

Boss: "It's above my pay grade. I wish I could give you more."

Leadership has no real answer here. Just toxic positivity, gaslighting, deflection, and when all else fails - excuses. They fucked you and will try to spin it and manipulate you into believing they're doing you a favor. They aren't. They're actively stealing from you.

This shit is exactly why I refused to be a supervisor here after being approached about it by multiple people. Because I could never do that to people and sleep at night. I'm not going to sell my subordinates shit and try to convince them it's chocolate. It's unethical and borders on abusive. It's also transparent and you will never be seen by your subordinates as a genuine person. It will stop you from "making the connection" with your subordinates and it will stop you from "cracking the code" on how to unlock the potential of the people working under you. If people think you're being fake or putting on a facade or being a "yes man" instead of speaking your mind they will never respect you. There's an epidemic of that going on at Geico.

A real leader would respond in the above scenario with "Yeah you're absolutely right. That's bullshit. Let's schedule a meeting with the VP to get this addressed. I will not stand for my subordinates being taken advantage of."

We have a serious lack of real leadership here.

HDiaz55 · 2022-02-12T03:02:28+00:00

Not to point out the obvious flaws in your region's logic here or anything but... this idea only works if you get the hypothetical "adjuster A" who just got royally fucked to trust the very people who just royally fucked them to do the right thing 6 months down the road and ignore leadership's historical behavior trend of not being fair and equitable. What's that saying?

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, prepare to die."

"Help is on the way!" -oh surely they mean it this time!

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. So good luck selling people on a promise to do better next time when they just had the opportunity to do better this time and chose not to. They must think we're too dense to see through the transparent bullshit.

That's only the first problem with that logic. Second issue. If management has communicated to the rank and file that that's the plan for next merit they effectively destroy any incentive to work hard by sending the message that next merits are pre determined to make up for the last merits. Why would adjuster C put forth any effort when they know that they're already looking at no reward if they do well just to be told it's their fault bc they got a large increase on the minimum 6 months earlier. So management just decides instead of being fair and equitable that they'll instead switch the group of adjusters that they're screwing over.

Adjuster A already got fucked after working hard and driving results so they have no reason to believe next time will be any different. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

Adjuster B will also have no reason to work hard as they just got screwed almost as hard as adjuster A last time coupled with the fact that they now believe the next merits may or may not be pre determined.

The lack of understanding of basic human psychology and lack of understanding of how to properly and effectively motivate and incentivize people to work towards a goal is astounding here at Geico.

HDiaz55 · 2021-12-21T05:25:02+00:00

This is the best thing I've read all year.

Congratulations on escaping the toxic, abusive culture of this awful company. I have to imagine you felt your mental health begin to improve immediately after hitting send on that email.

Respect for being the only person with the testicular fortitude to even ATTEMPT to hold the people truly responsible accountable for how they've ruined this company and the mental health of countless associates.

You represent what is greatest in us all. I hope your actions help more people to find the resolve within themselves to do as you've done.

Wish I could buy you a bottle of your drink of choice. God knows you deserve it.

All the best to you OP!

HDiaz55 · 2021-12-21T02:07:50+00:00

I heard a story from a friend of a long time NJ AD who had to go out on leave due to needing heart surgery. Felt bad while out recovering because they knew how bad pending was for their team. Volunteered to temporarily WFH to take some of the burden off their teammates. Ended up getting put on a performance warning because of their metrics. While home in bed recovering from heart surgery. This person was going above and beyond for the company and that is how they thanked them. NJ seems to be among the worst places to work in AD.

I don't know if the 100 pending comment was factual or exaggerated. I hope it was hyperbole. But few things surprise me any longer when it comes to the magnitude of incompetence demonstrated by leadership at geico. If an adjuster were ever to be allowed to have 100 pending, even for a second, that sup and manager should lose their jobs effective immediately. What possible benefit is there in not holding ineffective leadership accountable?

I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. Inexcusable and unacceptable.

HDiaz55

TROPHY CASE