S02.E08: Beyond Calm

[druzy]

Kayla and Luke have a gender reveal while Stephan takes his girlfriend to Florida. Ashley and Bar are not on the same page about their status. Rachel’s birthday doesn’t go exactly as she plans. Brianna goes to the emergency room.

Airs December 3, 2019

[Andyourlittledog2]

Let me guess. Beyond calm Stephan snaps and becomes violent while on vacation (vacation from what exactly?).  And Bar is That Guy who completely dismisses his girlfriend/fiancee/wife's words and needs and insists that he knows what she thinks/wants regardless.  In his favor, of course. And Rachel's birthday is either forgotten or invaded by a drunk Mallorie and her loser friends. Or something along that theme.

Weirdly, I am looking forward to the episode. At least they aren't just buying houses, starting product lines, and going on vacations.  There is more 'real life' going on with these guys than in the rest of the franchise.

[LibertarianSlut]

Rachel is so awkward and whiny. A trashy Napoleon Dynamite.

Brianna is so thirsty for a storyline. This PSA and the hand wringing over the medical bills can give it a rest. First of all, she'd be insured through the show.  If she wasn't, as an unwed mother, she'd get Medicaid. If she was actually uninsured and indigent, which I don't believe for a second, she'd have gone to urgent care for abdominal pain, not the ER.  She went there to create drama for the cameras.

I've just been in the ER with an uninsured family member, and the staff immediately gave me phone numbers to call for "charity," which is a euphemism for at least 80% of the bill being discharged.  No bill arrived yet.  At an entirely different time, at a different hospital, I had to stay overnight, with no insurance, and what you do with that multi-thousand dollar bill?  You go back to the hospital, walk up to a counter, they reduce it extraordinarily, and they set up a payment plan so that you're paying $30 a month.  I find the storyline insulting, because it's so counter to real life, and she's lying and she knows it, and I find it more distasteful than Malorie.  At least Malorie is genuinely fucked up.

Maybe they need to open this show up to the fourth wall like the other Teen Moms, because it's absurd to hear a woman talk about how worried she is about potentially missing work...while she's at work. 

I enjoy Kiayah more than I thought I would. Arguing about the baby bottle rang true, unlike some other storylines.

Ashley, dont look now, but I think you out-skanked Rachel this episode.  You're not with Bar, but you fuck him because you have a kid together?!?  And she says it with a tone like it makes a modicum of sense!

[Pepper Mostly]

Doesn't Brianna's mother have insurance? She can cover Brianna till she's 26. If she doesn't have any its pretty rich for her to be dragging Brianna for not having any.

15 hours ago, LibertarianSlut said:

 I find the storyline insulting, because it's so counter to real life, and she's lying and she knows it, and I find it more distasteful than Malorie.  At least Malorie is genuinely fucked up.

Yes to this.

Brianna and her mother are working my last nerve anyway. They wring their hands and whinge the day away. They both look so grubby. I don't expect people to always be made up and dressed to the nines or anything. But they should look like they shower regularly. I just keep thinking their house probably reeks.

Ashley and Bar are a train wreck.

Luke's mother is really sweet and I liked her.

Well, we all knew Rachel would stray from the straight and narrow, didn't we? Sigh. And she's full of remorse and regret. Till next time.

That's all I got.

[Oregonrain]

Oregon resident here. Brianna's story line is beyond flake. I find it hard to believe she didn't qualify for the Oregon Health Plan. The hospital they showed her at if that was where she was is Oregon Health and Science University, a public teaching hospital. There is no way they would let her out of there without signing up for a state aid or Medicaid. I was rolling my eyes during that entire segment.

[Soobs]

I wasn't buying Briana's sob story either. I remember being very sick when I was her age and putting off going to the ER because I didn't want to have to pay some crazy amount of money that I didn't have. But that was a long time ago in the 90's or the late 1900's as I recently heard a teenager say, lol!

Rachel saying that she was going to go out and get wasted on her 17th(!) birthday in front of her mom and then her mom sort of shrugging her shoulders, told me a lot about how they all got to where they are today.  Her mom doesn't have any control over those kids and probably never has.

[Quilty]

I loved Luke's mom's comment "we welcome all babies." It sounded sweet.

[ChristmasJones]

OK, so I did a bit of research. Assuming Briana's mother doesn't have her covered....

In order to be eligible for adult Medicaid in Oregon (unless you are pregnant, blind or disabled), you need to make less than 138% of the Federal Poverty Level.  138% of that number for a family of two is $22,335.00

Between her income from the show and her jobs, its possible she makes more than this.  If so, she would have to purchase on the exchange.

So I went to the Oregon Exchange, and I entered a family of two with an income of $25,000/year.

I used a random Portland zipcode, but at that income level, I found several plans with a monthly premium (after subsidy) of around $100/mo or less.... that all had a very low deductible - $100.   The lowest was $71/mo.

But, this plan charges 10% coinsurance for a hospital stay or an ER visit, after deductible, so she could owe $800 (or more) for that.

If she does shop on the exchange, I really hope there is someone helping her, because there are a lot of plans that have very low monthly premiums (like $5, $8, etc)... but they all have very large deductibles - usually in the $6K+ range... so if she had one of those, she'd owe most of her hospital bill before anything is covered. 

----

For anyone, though, who thinks that insurance makes it so no one has problems paying bills or managing debt from medical bills, The Daily, a podcast from the NYT which features a short news topic each day, just did a recent episode about hospital suing patients - you can listen here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/podcasts/the-daily/medicare.html  

(why can't I get links to work on this site anymore?)  - if you want to listen through a podcast app, its the episode that played on 12/2/19 titled "Why so many hospitals are suing patients"

Edited December 5, 2019 by ChristmasJones

[MaggieG]

On 12/4/2019 at 8:42 PM, Soobs said:

Rachel saying that she was going to go out and get wasted on her 17th(!) birthday in front of her mom and then her mom sort of shrugging her shoulders, told me a lot about how they all got to where they are today.  Her mom doesn't have any control over those kids and probably never has.

I know right! I lost count of how many times she said she wanted to get "fucked up" in front of her mom. And then later her grandma.

I think gender reveals are a bit silly but I did like Luke and Kayla's since it incorporated Luke's basketball playing and it wasn't ridiculously over the top.

LOL at Stephan's mom saying he should go for 50/50 custody. 

[LibertarianSlut]

On 12/5/2019 at 1:04 AM, ChristmasJones said:

OK, so I did a bit of research. Assuming Briana's mother doesn't have her covered....

In order to be eligible for adult Medicaid in Oregon (unless you are pregnant, blind or disabled), you need to make less than 138% of the Federal Poverty Level.  138% of that number for a family of two is $22,335.00

Between her income from the show and her jobs, its possible she makes more than this.  If so, she would have to purchase on the exchange.

So I went to the Oregon Exchange, and I entered a family of two with an income of $25,000/year.

I used a random Portland zipcode, but at that income level, I found several plans with a monthly premium (after subsidy) of around $100/mo or less.... that all had a very low deductible - $100.   The lowest was $71/mo.

But, this plan charges 10% coinsurance for a hospital stay or an ER visit, after deductible, so she could owe $800 (or more) for that.

If she does shop on the exchange, I really hope there is someone helping her, because there are a lot of plans that have very low monthly premiums (like $5, $8, etc)... but they all have very large deductibles - usually in the $6K+ range... so if she had one of those, she'd owe most of her hospital bill before anything is covered. 

----

For anyone, though, who thinks that insurance makes it so no one has problems paying bills or managing debt from medical bills, The Daily, a podcast from the NYT which features a short news topic each day, just did a recent episode about hospital suing patients - you can listen here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/podcasts/the-daily/medicare.html  

(why can't I get links to work on this site anymore?)  - if you want to listen through a podcast app, its the episode that played on 12/2/19 titled "Why so many hospitals are suing patients"

That wasn't a little, that was a lot, of research!  

I hate to point out the obvious, but you found a way for Brianna to pay $800, not $8,000, which kind of puts the lie to her story.

Plus, urgent care could have likely staved off the need to go to the ER, but the TV show doesn't want to show urgent care.  (They probably footed the bill, which they will write off, even if she's not insured under them).

I looked at the NYT article to which I think you're referring (I know you mentioned a podcast, but I'm at work, so I had to read the article) and, through my own experience as an attorney who files suits on behalf of hospitals, I'll just say:

--The vast majority of the people being sued have had a big problem, like a baby in the NICU, not abdominal pain

--if people respond, they don't get sued.  If a law firm sends a demand letter (and this is long after the hospital has given up its own collection efforts, to which she could have also responded), and she calls up and responds like a responsible person, they will set up manageable payments with her.

--If she does get sued, and she's an indigent single mother?  The judge is going to set up a manageable payment system for her.  He or she needs to get re-elected after all.

Worst case scenario--someone declares medical bankruptcy.  It happens all the time, every day, and when all is said and done, you still have your home and your car and you can work and repair your credit score.

I'm not saying there is not a story to tell here.  I have had doctors come to me and say there is a problem with people who fall in the gap that you mentioned above, where they make too much to get assistance, but not enough to pay their medical bills.

My whole argument is that this is not Brianna's story to tell.  MTV, if it wanted to, could have done a profile on people actually in this situation.  Hell, I'm in the early processes of this situation--they could interview me!

Brianna is being untruthful, because she needs a storyline, which makes all of my sympathy disappear.  Just tell the truth, hun.  We all already feel bad for you for completely separate reasons!

[MissFeatherbottom]

8 hours ago, MaggieG said:

I know right! I lost count of how many times she said she wanted to get "fucked up" in front of her mom. And then later her grandma.

I was just sitting with my jaw dropped the whole time. If I had ever talked like that around my mom at that age, well let's just say I wouldn't have been allowed to leave the house to even get the chance to be "fucked up"  🙈😱 ...Oh how times have changed!

Edited December 6, 2019 by MissFeatherbottom