MovieChat Forums > The Wrestler (2009) Discussion > Heart Operation? How does he pay?

Heart Operation? How does he pay?


He can't pay his rent, he sleeps in his car, he wrestles, he collapses, he has a big heart op and he walks out of the hospital with a scar.

Theories?

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Lifetime health insurance from his time with the big show?

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Pro wrestling companies don't give health insurance. None ever has to my knowledge. I know WWF/E never has.

Joseph Chastainme
www.twitter.com/sinnersbible

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In many hospitals, if you are in dire condition they will do what is needed to keep you alive. In his case, he needed a bypass. Wether he could pay for it at the time is not in question. Sure, he couldn't pay for it, but the hospital isn't going to let him die, and isn't going to act as a prison so he can't leave. He, like many other people in the US, will have to declare bankruptcy IF HE CAN, as hospital bills aren't always included. Still, they would do the surgery regardless.

What I really had a question with was how he paid for his prescriptions. The only thing I can guess is medicaid or some other type of low income prescription insurance, and it's possible that this will also help pay his hospital bills.

If your nose runs and your feet smell, you were built upside down.

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[deleted]


I know people who are dirt poor and have perscriptions to pain meds.

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I imagine his promoter probably paid the 50 bucks or so it costs for the ER. If you're taken to the hospital in an ER situation, it's not going to cost more than that. But yeah.. the promoter probably picked up the tab since they also left a wad of money for him after the surgery.

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$50? You are blithering. You've never experienced a hospital with a catastrophic illeness. And what I totally hated about this film is that neither the writer or the director had a clue. Wrestler putz had a coronary bypass which averages $350,000 at U.S. hospitals. Even if the hospital agreed to take a lower fee (which they do for those covered) and charge the insurance provider merely ten per cent, that's 35 grand; further no surgeons work for free, their fees average $5000 to $10,000 for cornary bypass. Promoters work for a few benhamins for each fight. NO ONE is covering his hospital and surgeon. Nor is an end of career wrestler covered by "lifetime insurance" which doesn't exist on this planet. Further it appears that Wrestler putz is signed out a day or so later (after open heart surgery -- the most traumatically invasive of any --) and hops in his truck. With a coronary bypass, whether single, double or quadruple, even someone "athletic" would need a minimum of ten days recuperation, you do not walk steadily and can not lift up into a truck. Moronic and offensive.

Overrated by a group of idiots but since they were dealing with the audience of wrestling fans they determined they were morons anyway so reality played no part.

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Legally, they cannot turn you down in a life threatening situation. They can stick you with a huge bill and screw up your credit for life, but not let you die.

imdb.com/name/nm2056893/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1me

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[deleted]

In America, it is illegal to deny someone who is in a life threatening situation such as that medical care. THEY HAVE TO TREAT YOU regardless if you have insurance or not.

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Tell that to the doctors at the hospital in the film John Q

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John Q was one retarded movie. Go watch Dog Day Afternoon

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That was a very unrealistic film. And a completely different story. If I remember correctly, that was a chronic condition and NO hospital, especially those in the UK and Canada, where they ration care, would have done it.

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Healthcare is free on the NHS here in the UK, as i think it should be everywhere

I've no need for a sig

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NHS has a bad reputation. Also the budget gets reduced more and more. I wonder why.
I think UK also gets more elderly ppl in the near future. Means the costs will rise.


http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/16/jeremy-hunt-raises-doubts-about-long-term-future-of-free-nhs

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Wrong. In the US it's illegal to reject a patient who has a life-threatening condition. In Canada it isn't. People talk about 'universal' health care in Canada, but not everyone is covered and if you aren't they'll let you die in the waiting room if you don't pay. I know because I wasn't covered when I lived in British Columbia, and one day I went to emergency with what I think was a heart attack. They left me sitting there because I didn't have $150 to have a doctor look at me.


"I'll book you. I'll book you on something. I'll find something in the book to book you on."

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TheManInOil, that is BS. I live in BC - was born and raised here.

I've NEVER had to pay to see a doctor, or to go to the ER. I've stayed overnight in the ER and did not have to pay one cent.

Everyone in BC has BC MSP and that covers you for medical. Nobody dies here if you don't have money. People die here waiting for surgery because the wait lists are so long NOT because doctor's won't look at you if you don't have extended healthcare.

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Tell that to the doctor in Requiem For A Dream

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exactly. they'll treat you first and bill you later. if one has low income and can't afford the hospital bills, they can apply for medicare or SSI etc...

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Probably more like MediCAID, not mediCARE, as he is not disabled or old enough to retire. They would say that he is not disabled. He's probably on Welfare or some other similar partial assistance which would come with Medicaid or some other supplemental health care.

If your nose runs and your feet smell, you were built upside down.

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doubt he's on welfare. The only child he has is over 18.

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That doesn't necessarily mean anything. He could still be on welfare even if he had no kid at all. Welfare is dictated from state to state now, not the federal government like it used to be. In my state, which is NY, you don't have to have children. I don't remember what state he was in and I wouldn't know the law there if I did...LOL.

If your nose runs and your feet smell, you were built upside down.

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He was In NJ (I know you're not likely to look at this but that's the answer)

Joseph Chastainme
www.twitter.com/sinnersbible

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Are you saying that NJ allows him to be on welfare and Medicaid, and that's likely what paid for the it, or are you saying that he wouldn't be eligible for those services in NJ, because of his situation. I'm not familiar with NJ and their state aid system, and their website isn't exactly clear on the situation.



"Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too."

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Not 100% sure of NJ law, but it doesn't really matter because in life and death situations they HAVE to give you medical care it's federal law. I'm studying medical billing, so I'm 100% sure this is true. Plus many hospitals have payment plans and charities help you pay for it some of the time too.

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I understand that sometimes people don't read the entire thread. With that said, we were not discussing whether they would do it or not, only who would pay for it.

Secondly, the fact that they would do it anyway was alluded to in my first reply, on the first page.



If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. - George W. Bush

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So there are several options for you:

1. He didn't pay (As he would not have been required to until afterward, only thing that would have happened to him would be negative credit rating and I have a feeling his credit score was already bad to begin with)
2. He had medicaid
3. A charity paid for him
4. He paid with payment plans to the hospital
5. The hospital had a forgiveness plan for low income people

So it's probably one of those. It's even possible (though unlikely) that the grocery store he worked at offered insurance. Some grocery stores actually do, even if they are low paying.

So there are several options there. Answer your question?

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Good answers, though I think your answers would have been better given to those who asked the question (I'm not bagging on you, it's just that they won't receive a notice of your answers. Only I will).

As for the grocery store, it's possible, though doubtful, as he was only part time. Normally health insurance is only offered to full time people, unless the store REALLY likes their employees. LOL.

I would bet that the most likely answer is Medicaid, which would also explain his ease at getting his prescriptions. The type of meds he was getting aren't exactly cheap. It was obvious he was pretty broke, though he had money for beer, dancers and roids (I guess those are more important to him than paying his rent and/or lot fee and buying a new jacket), though I think most of that money came from being paid under the table at his wrestling gigs, plus his heart attack "gift" from the guys.



If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. - George W. Bush

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Someone else said that the job he worked at was at a REAL grocery store that's union and offers insurance even to part time employees. I don't know if that's true, but that might be the final answer on it.

Anyway I don't even know if the OP even has IMDB any more let alone checks this thread.

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Anything's possible.



If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. - George W. Bush

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Emergency medical surgery is ALWAYS performed in the US-it's the law.

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You can't compare a bypass (The Wrestler) to a heart transplant (John Q) as the latter requires a donor heart.

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^ this. Organ transplant = limited supply available. Bypass = routine surgery. Also, John Q was nothing but anvil-dropping with a ridiculous half-assed plot thrown in anyway.

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Yes, limited supply... unless you're someone like Dick Cheney, who jumped the line and got his heart right away (and who knows what else since then).

How many have died so he could live?

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[deleted]

Maybe he went through the charity ward.

There are ways to get free emergency health care in the US.

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The number one enemy of progress is question.
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Shut the *beep* up
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It is possible that he could have Medicaid, which does cover emergency heart operations. Also, the film takes place in New Jersey. New Jersey has a uncompensated care program called Charity Care, in which health care is given at zero or low cost to low-income patients.

It is quite possible that Ram qualifies for Charity Care, and was able to simply walk out of the hospital. If anything, he may have had to fill out an application and other paperwork before leaving.

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It's not like he has NO money. Clearly he makes something from working two jobs, even if they are low-paying jobs. He has enough money to buy booze and drugs and go to strip shows, so why not money for medical expenses? He just divides his money up differently than most people. He lives in a craphole because his money goes to all of those other things.

Silencio...

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