TDF Viewing Party / Dan Zmolik Fundraiser

bridesmaids get more action

Willie Payton: Always a bridesmaid never a bride. That guys podiumed about a dozen times this year.

The hospital fee schedule is remarkably higher for a "self-pay" patient compared to a patient with insurance. When you get your next EOB in the mail, take a look at the write-off portion - you will be shocked at the mark-up for the uninsured.

Willie Payton 2nd in the 3's.

top 5 at the Freedom Tour anybody?

When negotiating use the term "reasonable and customary" as much as possible. It's code for "insurance company rates".

thanks alot for the suggestions, will def. do that.

this is most useful thread on nyvc in ages!

and godspeed for quick and successful recovery for mr. zmolik.

Biopace - just call the hospital/doctor's office and tell them that you can't afford that and want to see if they can lower their rate. I have done that in the past too. They will.

All hospitals will negotiate medical bills....after all that's what the insurance co's do....they pay less than you will be billed as an individual. just call the billing department, ask for a financial aid form, they'll ask for some info. Twice i've done this when my kids were hospitalized and the deductible + coinsurance ran into the thousands. both times they reduced the bill to less than 50% payable over a year...

the folks at lucarelli and castaldi are helping Dan out with that, and they've helped many cyclists in our community in the past

Paolo-how did you do that? Am in similar boat on non-cycling medical bills.

cycling is dangerous, but so is inactivity. we rationalize the risk by comparing it to other activities or a sedentary lifestyle. we've all either wrecked in a race, or while training, and hopefully walked away relatively unscathed. that risk is the price of this amazing obsession. dan is one one the best we have and has always been eager to share his considerable knowledge. what the hell, i say help a brother out

as i've been in that boat before, i hate to see this happen to any one--be it a sand-bagger, doper, wheel sucker, or any other nyvelocity scallawag.

dan, if you don't already know, be aware that a lot of the bills you can negotiate a lower fee on what the insurance won't cover. in my case, i worked them down 50% on a 12K bill.

Planning to show up to support Dan. Don't know him but appreciate the effort by this site and our community.

Whats a safer sport? Walking? Yeah, I guess it would be. Cycling has a share of serious injuries, but is by no means high on a list of "dangerous" sports. Look at the number of people in the world who ride bikes - add up the miles ridden - and then count the number of accidents requiring large medical attention/bills. I'm sure its not even on the radar. How about Football, hockey, boxing, and assorted other mainstream sports. Most of our young people in the US are participating in regular sports with serious, if not inevitable, risk of concussions. We need to go tell all those Texans and others who worship football to go get their kids to start riding bikes. Its safer, better for health overall, and a lifelong fitness pursuit with great benefits that far outweigh risks. Unfortunately, accidents do happen, but Dan's accident is not a reason for all of us to go sit and watch TV instead of going outside for a ride.

Time to pick a safer sport to get your adrenalin rush.

Why are you folks trying to emulate drugged up professional riders? Television coverage is making these druggies into heroes. It is all about selling and image and a product to the unsuspecting fool.

I love those adverts, "hi I am so and so and I ride SRAM". Give me a break, it should be more like "hi I am so and so and I take EPO"!!!

we will show up. we know how to take take of each other.
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I feel very sorry for Dan. I used to race in the states but am now in Europe and its just shocking that you have to end up with debts from a crash. In France you turn up they fix you, follow up etc and not a penny. Insurence in the states is a massive scam.

We all need to support this cause. It is the time to come thru and show we are a family.

"Daniel has health insurance but it did not cover all of the hospital
charges and so far his medical bills are already over $18K."

what's wrong with these insurance people? how is that even possible? the purpose of insurance is to insure against catastrophic events like this. Unfortunately I know other many other stories just like this.

Private health insurance is legalized theft and their CEOs need to be lined up against a wall and shot.

Single payer NOW.

Poor guy, I had no idea. That's rough.

"On Tuesday June 1st Daniel Zmolik was on a training ride in NJ when
his front wheel got lodged in a deep pothole sending him flying over
his bike into a rock wall."

What happened on river road?