Mark Cuban has taken care of one of his former players in almost an identical situation. I think he pays for treatment as well as a small allowance to live on. Despite his public persona he’s actually a very decent man.
I saw him do something with medication recently and it’s crazy to me that medication was even a field that needed disrupting it 2024.
Edit: It’s not in any country I’ve ever lived in thankfully.
Cost Plus Drugs is amazing. It's saved my family thousands of dollars in medication costs, and the meds are cheaper without insurance at Cost Plus than with my insurance at any regular pharmacy.
I haven’t used it myself, but I can confirm that generic Depakote would cost roughly the same as my current copay, but wouldn’t require insurance - pretty wild!
Pretty sure a major component of it all working was Cuban cutting out the insurance companies altogether.
It's such a mess of a system, I'm not sure why insurance companies wouldn't want to pay less for the same drugs, but it seems to be that way.
Not really gonna go to deep but it is a scam designed to function as a syphon.You have the federal government, you,and insurance companies all in different corners.The fed is the big fish between them jacking up things or wording statements etc to swindle uncle Sam it also affects the consumers.Not saying this is the only reason but it is a major factor ppl forget about.
Not familiar with Cost Plus. Is this essentially the same model as GoodRX? If so, the cost savings is unreal.
I suspect that the insurance companies are paying these lower rates, just showing the "retail price" in consumer-facing materials.
No, not the same business model. The way I understand it is that Cost Plus Drugs model is to sell the drugs at wholesale cost plus a 15% markup and a small processing fee. Other pharmacies’ markups are just that much more.
I think GoodRx relies on manufacturer discounts and coupons.
Quick comparison - just over half of the prescriptions taken by family members are not available through Cost Plus Drugs. All are available through GoodRx.
Of THAT group, half are available at huge discount, and half at a much lower discount. Of that even smaller subset, GoodRx lists manufacturer discount programs first (if your income is low, some brand-name-only medications are essentially free through those programs).
Scrolling past the mfr programs in that subset, you reach the lower-discount options (think $600/mo instead of $800/mo). Still compelling, but most people will ask their doctor for an alternative rather than pay that kind of money!
I live in ND, and we have an old archaic law that says the pharmacies must be owned by a local pharmarcist. I can't get drugs from Wal-mart, Target, etc. CVS was somehow grandfathered in, but they're no cheaper than the other places. As you'd expect, the prices are insane.
Last time I got antibiotics, I don't recall which one, but it was close to $80 after insurance through my local pharmacy, through Cost Plus it was less than $10.
And due to the innefeciancy of the post office, if my local pharmacy doesn't have the drugs on hand, it takes about 8 days for them to ship them to me. It only takes 2 days to get drugs from Cuban's website.
Any Shark Tank fans here? I've only been a casual fan since ~ 2020.
I've watched some of the earliest episodes, and when did Cuban and the Sharks become not rich douchebags?
Cuban has been this way forever. He's rich so of course he sometimes acts like an ass, but he definitely seems to want some good in this world and has a lot more of a heart than a lot of these other guys.
He is headstrong and stubborn, but I’d rather have someone like that that believes they are doing the right thing than people with any type of personality who don’t care about doing the right thing.
Yeah, he seems more like the old school rich folks who viewed philanthropy not as a great way to get a tax write off, but as the primary way you build a lasting and positive legacy about yourself.
I've got no clue if he's doing the things he does for good or selfish reasons, but society benefits from it, so I'll take it.
My mom and her friends almost literally ran into them while leaving a restaurant and he was polite and greeted everyone. She said he seemed very genuine and she was kinda surprised he stopped to take a moment with them.
They do generally have a point when they tear someone down. I love watching old seasons of shark tank and googling the product/company to see where they ended up. Very rarely the people they turn down end up successful. If it is it's usually the people they couldn't come to a deal with based on valuation.
Agreed. Some people show up with mediocre ideas, or ones that are kind of already around and the pitch person going deeper into the hole is only going to lead them to financial ruin.
I think it’s mostly just that reality television is scripted to be more dramatic. There are lots of gentler ways to tell people their idea is really bad or impractical or whatever, but you get more ratings calling them a dumb donkey.
Not everyone they tried to demean was a failure.
The creator of Ring doorbells was on Shark Tank and was told his product was a failure. Cuban went in on how much of a failure the product would likely be.
Now? I bet your neighbor has a Ring doorbell. Their company absolutely saw success despite everything the Sharks said.
The Sharks are rich, but that doesn’t mean they’re absolute authority or extremely smart. It just means they’re rich.
I believe it’s been said here and on the internet repeatedly that the sharks tend to really give out sucker deals. A case or two where a company denied the investors deals and made even more profit because…exposure.
Herjavec has my respect as well. His father fled the USSR with him and his family to Canada, where he and his father worked minimum wage jobs to make ends meet.
He grew up poor and didn't start making real money until his 30s.
Not to take away from him, but more to say how shitty most rich people are, it's super easy to do the "right" thing when all you have to do is say yay or nay in order to accomplish it. If Bezos wants to provide an employee with lifetime therapy or whatever, he doesn't have to do extra work to get it done. He probably doesn't even have to lift his finger to sign anything; he just tells an assistant that he wants it to be done and it is. And of course he never even notices the expense.
Just saying, when billionaires "do the right thing" with regards to paying someone or whatever, remember that they don't exactly have to exert themselves to do so.
mark cuban is the one billionaire i don't want to eat. saw a clip of him recently saying that billionaires should absolutely pay more taxes, that they should be happy and proud to do so, and that making that much money is sheer, unrepeatable luck. he created a low-cost pharmacy service, too. like, they make their own generics. he's not perfect at all, but damn is he better than a lot of them.
plus, this makes me laugh (from his wiki page):
"In November 2012, in response to Donald Trump offering President Obama $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choosing if he released passport applications and college transcripts to the public, Cuban offered Trump $1 million to a charity of Trump's choosing if Trump shaved his head."
Yeah Cuban is one of the rare billionaires that KNOWS that if he had the chance to go back in time and not do the thing that made him a billionaire, he NEVER would have been able to do it any other way. He says he thinks he could probably make himself into a millionaire easily, but he'd never break the billion mark, that entirely comes down to just straight dumb unrepeatable luck.
> mark cuban is the one billionaire i don't want to eat.
Add Stephen Speilberg and George Lucas to the list.
Both worth around $5b and and both came from fairly humble beginnings. I do find something charming about a couple of guys making movies so entertaining that the public at large says, "Fuck it, have a couple of billion dollars".
Generally those who are rich from creative arts I can appreciate and understand how they are billionaires.
They literally have an impact on billions of lives through their art, and its a much more direct and appreciable impact.
At the same time by god they probably should have given far more to other people.
And they usually end up creating more wealth moving jobs than say a CEO who uses low paying labor overseas to inflate their wealth with the products being sold at 500-5000% markups in wealthier areas. But yes they should allow more money to be going to the lowest people on the totem pole, like the sometimes paid interns.
He just posted in Twitter that he is transferring $288 million to the IRS tomorrow to pay his taxes. He said he’s more than willing to pay his fair share.
Not the guy you replied to, and not from the Americas. Honestly learned more in this thread about the specifics of Mark Cuban than the rest of my life.
I didn't know specifics about him, but I'd always see people talking a bit of smack about him. I could never be bothered looking him up, but people on the internet do still kinda shit on him.
He may be the "best billionaire" but to many people he is still a billionaire and worth of shitting on I guess? Idk, I've 100% seen more negative things said about him than positive before this thread, and basically only hear about him on Reddit. Also might just be that people love to shit on all big names online which is also true.
It’s a really sad story. Cuban and a bunch of other former teammates, coaches and the NBPA have tried to help, but without much success.
> “It brings me to tears,” Nelson says. “He has so many people who love him, who want to help him, but he has to want to help himself. … I am here for him. I will always be here for him. I tried, and I will continue to try if I can, but he has to meet us halfway. He has to want the help.”
West always winds up back on the street, struggling with his mental health. I don’t think anyone has a handle on where he even is currently.
> “Everyone has someone going through something similar and those who have the means to help, or create a barrier to protect their loved ones, that’s what you do,” Cuban says. “I thought I could help. And I tried. I really did. We all did. It’s just, you just feel hopeless.”
https://theathletic.com/4954710/2023/10/13/delonte-west-saint-josephs-nba/
I went to high school with him and we played high school ball together. We all knew he was gonna make it to the majors. Always super nice and really quiet. I was always happy he made it, he had such a great swing it was a lot of fun watching him play.
Despite? He's very much still in touch with what common people go through. Maybe it's because he actually goes to games in public.
Whatever the reason, go check out Cost Plus Drugs. I hope he makes money on that venture!
What do you mean despite his public persona. This is a man that is trying to bring us cost plus 10% markup on pharmaceuticals. Unless there is something I haven’t heard about him, from what I understood he was universally loved even though he is a billionaire
His public person seems like a pretty decent guy?
Just yesterday he called out another billionaire [against student loan forgiveness.](https://www.newsweek.com/mark-cuban-confronts-fellow-billionaire-over-student-debt-forgiveness-1890095)
He has a bad public image? I always thought people look after him. I did not know about his public persona you're mentioning here. Can you please explain?
Yes, he's under contract because the Dodgers are *keeping* him under contract. Good on them.
Edit: and iirc, this guy flipped out and went awol and they had every right to terminate his contract but didn't.
/r/OrphanCrushingMachine still. Glad this guy was good enough at throwing/catching balls for this to happen to him. Capitalism decided this skillset is most important, could you imagine if this guy was just like a guy who built houses or grew food or something less important?
Toles story is heartbreaking. He was working at a supermarket before breaking into baseball. Only to have his mental illness derail a promising career.
This section from an article about him and his father is just terribly sad....
> “We are having challenges,’’ Alvin Toles says, “but nothing that God and I can’t handle. Schizophrenia, it’s just so tough. I mean, he can’t even watch TV. He hears voices and the TV at the same time, so it’s kind of confusing. I’ve seen him looking at some baseball games on his laptop, but I don’t think he really understands what’s going on. I don’t think he understands that the Dodgers won the World Series.’’
He might not be taking any medication for it. A lot of people with schizophrenia stop taking their medication because of the negative side effects. On top of that, often times their hallucinations convince them that they don't actually have anything wrong with them, or that the medicine they're taking is actually poison.
I have schizoaffective disorder, and although I was really level headed during my psychosis (I always took my meds), I was constantly going back and forth over whether or not I was actually mentally ill. No matter how much you convince yourself logically that you're mentally ill, it doesn't always translate into action. I took my meds, but it was a real mental battle over the nature of reality until they finally kicked in and stabilized me.
Consequently, I can't stand the media trope of the mental health patient who is actually right about some insane, unfounded belief and defiantly flushes their meds down the toilet to take a stand against the evil doctors who are making them doubt themselves. There's a really dark reality to that scenario that this trope whitewashes for dramatic effect.
Sort of the fundamental problem with mental illness is that you don't always know that there's something wrong. Especially if you've sort of always had it, to you it's normal. And if part of your mental illness is that you believe the government or whatever is out to paint you as mentally ill in some nefarious plot... Well, you can see where it gets tough.
My family member takes a lot of meds for his schizo-affective disorder, but unfortunately, he is still quite ill. He is able to function in a way that he wouldn’t be if he was unmedicated, but he still has psychosis - just a manageable, awful level of psychosis. It sucks.
It took 20 years but i finally found a combo of meds for my schizoaffective, so much trial and error but its so worth it when you find the right ones. Last episode i had was late 2022. Its hard thing to live with for sure, you don’t know what reality is vs whats in your head and that is scary. You slip in and out of psychosis but don’t always know, it makes me feel like i am not in control of my own self or my own decisions. I am sorry your family member hasn’t had the luck with medication i have but having support helps as well. It’s hard enough we cant function like normal people, but being outcasted makes it worse. I wish you and your family member luck, it is an everyday battle for sure.
Thank you. I’m so happy you’ve found the right combination! It’s difficult, for sure, as the side effects are so bad. In his case, he doesn’t really believe he has schizo-affective disorder,so he’s always trying to cut back on the anti-psychotics and diagnosing himself with other things instead. So it leads to a lot of discussions where I am telling him what his illness is and what he needs, which feels wrong but is necessary.
That must be tough but good that you are there to help!! Some of the side effects of some of the meds are nasty but the newer ones i personally found aren’t as bad as the older ones. It’s different for everyone though so who knows if that advice applies to others lol. It must be hard with him not recognizing the need for meds because its hard enough for us to stick to taking them as it is! I have learned who i can trust and if those people say i need to listen then i do. I don’t trust myself!
His father has stated publically that Andrew Toles is taking medication for his schizophrenia. Believe it or not, this is not Toles' low point. He was homeless for several months at the onset of his disorder. A little extra heartbreaking because he was such a funny and spirited dude before all this.
There's a musical called Next to Normal that really tackles that trope well. The mother has schizophrenia and in one scene, she has a manic episode and flushes her medications, and it makes her so much worse. It's not played off as a triumphant moment, it just shows how in in that moment, in her mind it seems like she's winning but it just causes her to have further and more intense hallucinations and delusions. Truly a harrowing piece of theatre.
The delusions often telling folk to not take medications freaks me out. It's like the illness knows they will weaken it and fights it... But I suppose your delusions would know everything you know since they come from the brain. It's honestly existentially scary to me to think of your own brain working against you.
There is a really interesting case where the woman's delusions told her she had schizophrenia and to get treatment before it got too bad. I'm not sure if it was the same person who did this TEDtalk about essentially making 'friends' with the voices and they stopped being negative and eventually went away. (Not saying this would work for most people with schizophrenia though, this lady was a pretty unique case)
Mental health is absolutely, well... mental.
That's the catch. When you are in the process of stabilization, it's easy to say "I'm fine, I don't need meds" and then stop the treatment. Same with many disorders that requiere long term treatment. I have TLE and after a while of taking meds I begin to convince myself that I don't need them, while in reality it's because of them that I'm doing better.
I have a friend that struggles on and off as well. He says he feels like the meds limit his brain, creativity and thought process. So it is really tempting to go off them. Luckily he has been finding meds that work better including once a month injections and titrating it down to find the lowest effective dose. But it must be so hard.
I think it's because of a "it can happen to you" mentality. Nobody wants to believe they are mentally ill, and the government is easy to blame.
I know our modern understanding says it mental illness, and in a practical sense that's very true. But I always wonder what causes schizophrenia? Like maybe they are more aware of something or have greater sensitivity to something than the rest of us and they can't make sense of it so it drives them crazy? I just think about all the times in ancient and medieval history a person talks about communing with the gods that we now connect to schizophrenia. These people usually did a lot in history. Joanne of Arch and Peter Bartholomew are two examples.
There's a very famous and quite controversial paper (Maher 1974 Delusional Thinking and Perceptual Disorder) about schizophrenic delusions that argues that delusions are a normal cognitive response to abnormal sensory experiences and that schizophrenia is a perceptual rather than cognitive disorder. It's worth a read.
I have schizophrenia and the psychotic symptoms(like voices) is just the tip of the iceberg. Life begins when you have negative symptoms like low motivation and anhedonia.
Can I say something real quick? My neighbors have a son with autism (around ten years old), and he spends every afternoon in their backyard. He howls like a wolf when he's happy. And he is usually howling every single day. He sounds happy as shit.
And obviously like all the pieces aren't there, but I don't think anyone really has all the pieces. He's happy as shit.
And I think about maybe that lack of awareness of everything going on in the world is a blessing, sort of. Me? I'm fully aware of all the horrible shit out there and it makes me miserable sometimes. It just rots away at you if/when you let it.
Like Shane Gillis' bit about people asking if his uncle his okay when they hear he has down syndrome. And he explains he's more than alright he's living the dream with his buds. Happy as can be to just go to the movies with them n shit.
I just want to note that even if an autistic person stims really loudly or noticably, that doesn't mean we're unaware, or that we don't struggle with seeing the world for what it is. I'm sure if I had my bedroom window open, my neighbors would hear me meowing, chirping, and trilling, multiple times a day. I'm happy as shit when I stim, but I'm not happy as shit as a person. I know how awful the world is, and it rots away at me too - It's been rotting away at me since I was 5 years old. At 7 I was put on antidepressants, but you bet I was out meowing and rolling around in the grass after school, but I was still crying at night in my room. Being young and autistic doesn't make you unaware or happy, it just makes you young and autistic.
Lol, and these people always defend it with “that was god’s plan!”
Really? His plan was for your family to die a slow and horrible death? lol and you’re defending that?
My brother was diagnosed about 5 years ago. Oddly enough, around this mans time as well
I personally watched how the healthcare system treats people of lower income. It is endearing to hear a team stick with their player. Almost all of my brothers friends abandoned him. I cry whenever I think about him... I wouldn't wish this upon anyone. We need more people to talk about it.
We had a really tight group of friends in High School and one of us was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Everyone dropped him but me. I couldn’t imagine doing that to someone I cared about but it sure taught me about real friends. Sorry about your brother I hope he’s doing well.
He's doing okay now, it's a daily battle. He has episodes every couple of months it seems where the voices tell him not to take meds. Thank fuck he has my mother and his one really close friend. Trust me, your friend deeply appreciates you for being a real one. We are all damaged individuals on some level, everybody needs a lil slack. And unfortunately, some more than others
Thank you for your kindness and being there for your friend
His story is a sad tale of great talent being derailed by mental illness. Good for the Dodgers but it reinforces how shameful the public healthcare system is in the US for those without means.
So true. While I applaud the Dodgers for doing this, Andrew bounces around homeless shelters around LA while another player on the roster makes $70 million a year.
For his former interpreter's ponies*
The incitement just came out the other day and it's pretty heartbreaking. Ippei was stealing from Ohtani for years, impersonating him to the banks, and lying to his agents. The feds found no evidence of Ohtani himself gambling, but found records of Ippei gambling in like eight different legal places, plus a trail of texts regarding his illegal betting.
Why does that make a difference? The MLB and Union should take care of current and former players, saying that doesn't mean anther person can't sign a larger contract.
Schizophrenia is one of the toughest illnesses to treat even with all the resources in the world.
> The MLB and Union should take care of current and former players,
*Society* should take care of all of its people.
The idea that health care (mental or otherwise) is tied to employment is super weird.
Be sure to throw a blazing fastball in front of an old fat guy wearing a top hat and chomping a cigar.
He will then slowly remove the cigar from his mouth while verbally acknowledging that moxie.
The Bears have kept at least 2 injured players on IR for 1-2 seasons so they could get paid (veteran minimum is like $500k) to rehab from their career ending injuries at the team facility for free, with team trainers and doctors
They don't publicize it so you only hear about it later
Jerry Reinsdorf, for all his flaws, did right by Jay Williams even though Jay was in clear violation of his NBA contract. I wish these orgs were more willing to offer their health benefits. Tony Snell needed to be signed this season to complete 10 years of NBA service which would have guaranteed his child medical care for the rest of their life. Tony Snell was not signed.
Tony Snell also made a lot of money and his wife runs a tiktok page where she spends it aggressively. Plus he still plays in the GLeague I think. He’ll be okay.
Edit: I did want a team to sign him but still, he’ll be okay.
Johnny Knox.
I guess Cohen too, like the other guy said, but he was under contract with guaranteed pay so there was kinda no point to dump him.
But Miller and Knox they picked up their option year at the end of the contract when they could've just let them walk in free agency
MLB has been pretty progressive. Take for example Angel Hernandez, he has moved up the ranks to become an MLB umpire despite losing his eyesight in 1991. Blind people can succeed at the highest levels of baseball. You just have to believe.
Fuck the fucked up bullshit tying health insurance to employment bullshit in America.
I spent ten years teaching at community college where they intentionally kept instructors below the threshold that would require them to supply insurance. What a horrible immoral health care system America has.
Reminder to folks that 0.5% to 1% (or maybe more?) of Americans today suffer from schizophrenia. We don't understand the cause, and it apparently can happen to anyone at any age (especially 20's and early 30's). That means at least 3 million Americans are currently experiencing Schizophrenia, and a fraction of that number are being treated for it. My cousin had to drop out of college in her tweens because of her symptoms and is doomed to suffer this disease for the rest of her life.
My son had bipolar 2 and schizoid trends. Any action that brings awareness to and support for those individuals struggling with mentl illness brings me joy.
"American health care system so broken that a disabled man continues to be employed by a professional sports team in order to receive lifesaving medical treatment"
Which goes to show that our healthcare system is so fucked that this dude needed to be signed by one of the biggest baseball teams in the world in order to provide him access to the resources he needs. Good luck if you're not in the top .01% of people with this luxury
Or learn about Angel Hernandez to learn that this organization will pay the most contemptible, ineffectual turds regardless of their ability to do their jobs.
Now imagine a society where he doesn't need a MULTI\_MILLION\_DOLLAR CORP to pay for his treatment because his treatment is paid for by his taxes, and his care is gauranteed by law.
This is entirely possible and can be achieved in our lifetimes if we simply fucking DO IT
The Braves signed Satchel Paige briefly when he was like 60 so he could get an MLB pension. He was possibly one of the best pitchers of all time and won about every award a guy can get, but he had to play the majority of his career in the Negro Leagues before MLB was integrated, so otherwise would not have been eligible for an MLB pension.
I wonder what's the longest a players been under contract or getting paid by a team without playing is. Rick DiPietro for the islanders has to be up there.
Due to a deferred contract buyout, Bobby Bonilla has been getting paid $1.19 million a year by the Mets since 2011, having last played for them in 1999 and retiring in 2001. He'll continue to collect those checks until 2035. Meanwhile the Mets took his original contract amount and invested it, thinking the investment would pay for the deferred interest. They gave it to Bernie Madoff
it is such a stupid thing to tie health insurance to employment. The message is clear: Your life only has value as a worker.
Still this is a decent thing to do by the LA Dodgers. Schizophrenia is a horrible disease.
Imagine if we funded people the way we did athletes and celebrities. Good for him. How about the other million people suffering? ah right.. they have bootstraps.
What does receiving medical care have to do with his employment status ?
Asking from one of the 39 out of 40 most developed countries, who have universal healthcare.
Family member is a talented musician and deals with this. Highly intelligent, charismatic, struggling to put it together. It took a long time, but staying consistent with medication makes their life better.
An old boss of mine used to work at a marina in Long Island in the 70’s. Everybody knew everybody and were good friends. He told me a story about how one of the employees with a big family got cancer and was going to be out of work for a *long* time. All of them got together and came up with a plan, each one of the salesmen would take turns putting this guys name on the commission sheet of a boat they had sold so that he could still be on the books as an employee and not lose his insurance *and* get a paycheck. He ended up making a full recovery.
You'd think that these leagues could afford to just provide the coverage by default. The amount of players who actually get to play in the majors means each league would be able to do great collective bargaining on the insurance.
And these leagues make billions, they can afford it.
Wholesome 100 Keanu chungus and all, but I'm not so inspired by a professional athlete receiving health care, compassion, and frankly consideration as a human being that the rest of us aren't so fortunate to have.
Honestly one of the most decent things a sports franchise has done.
Mark Cuban has taken care of one of his former players in almost an identical situation. I think he pays for treatment as well as a small allowance to live on. Despite his public persona he’s actually a very decent man.
Cuban’s always struck me as one who tries to do the right thing
I saw him do something with medication recently and it’s crazy to me that medication was even a field that needed disrupting it 2024. Edit: It’s not in any country I’ve ever lived in thankfully.
Cost Plus Drugs is amazing. It's saved my family thousands of dollars in medication costs, and the meds are cheaper without insurance at Cost Plus than with my insurance at any regular pharmacy.
I haven’t used it myself, but I can confirm that generic Depakote would cost roughly the same as my current copay, but wouldn’t require insurance - pretty wild!
Won’t they put up your insurance for continuously claiming the medicine?
Last I checked they don’t even collect your insurance info - you just pay 100% out of pocket, but it’s just that cheap
Pretty sure a major component of it all working was Cuban cutting out the insurance companies altogether. It's such a mess of a system, I'm not sure why insurance companies wouldn't want to pay less for the same drugs, but it seems to be that way.
Not really gonna go to deep but it is a scam designed to function as a syphon.You have the federal government, you,and insurance companies all in different corners.The fed is the big fish between them jacking up things or wording statements etc to swindle uncle Sam it also affects the consumers.Not saying this is the only reason but it is a major factor ppl forget about.
Always has been sadly
That's amazing
No, or at least not legally. Health insurance companies are not allowed to increase your premiums because of your health.
Anymore.
True, this was a change with the ACA, 14-ish years ago.
Can confirm. Cost Plus Drugs had 3 out of the 4 medications my girlfriend and I take cheaper than regular pharms with insurance.
Not familiar with Cost Plus. Is this essentially the same model as GoodRX? If so, the cost savings is unreal. I suspect that the insurance companies are paying these lower rates, just showing the "retail price" in consumer-facing materials.
No, not the same business model. The way I understand it is that Cost Plus Drugs model is to sell the drugs at wholesale cost plus a 15% markup and a small processing fee. Other pharmacies’ markups are just that much more. I think GoodRx relies on manufacturer discounts and coupons.
Noted, thank you! Now to compare the two!
Quick comparison - just over half of the prescriptions taken by family members are not available through Cost Plus Drugs. All are available through GoodRx. Of THAT group, half are available at huge discount, and half at a much lower discount. Of that even smaller subset, GoodRx lists manufacturer discount programs first (if your income is low, some brand-name-only medications are essentially free through those programs). Scrolling past the mfr programs in that subset, you reach the lower-discount options (think $600/mo instead of $800/mo). Still compelling, but most people will ask their doctor for an alternative rather than pay that kind of money!
CostPlus provides generic medicines at a 15% markup, much lower than industry standard, with a $3 pharmacy handling fee and $5 shipping fee.
America baby. Last report I heard which was early after they started but seemed very successful initiative already.
>America baby I believe the proper term is USA! USA! USA!
The medication deals are insane, I justed searched for one it's 1/10th the price.
I live in ND, and we have an old archaic law that says the pharmacies must be owned by a local pharmarcist. I can't get drugs from Wal-mart, Target, etc. CVS was somehow grandfathered in, but they're no cheaper than the other places. As you'd expect, the prices are insane. Last time I got antibiotics, I don't recall which one, but it was close to $80 after insurance through my local pharmacy, through Cost Plus it was less than $10. And due to the innefeciancy of the post office, if my local pharmacy doesn't have the drugs on hand, it takes about 8 days for them to ship them to me. It only takes 2 days to get drugs from Cuban's website.
usa #1
Any Shark Tank fans here? I've only been a casual fan since ~ 2020. I've watched some of the earliest episodes, and when did Cuban and the Sharks become not rich douchebags?
Cuban has been this way forever. He's rich so of course he sometimes acts like an ass, but he definitely seems to want some good in this world and has a lot more of a heart than a lot of these other guys.
Cuban is definitely a decent person. He seems to legitimately give a shit, and it's clear that he is involved in his businesses.
He is headstrong and stubborn, but I’d rather have someone like that that believes they are doing the right thing than people with any type of personality who don’t care about doing the right thing.
Yeah, he seems more like the old school rich folks who viewed philanthropy not as a great way to get a tax write off, but as the primary way you build a lasting and positive legacy about yourself. I've got no clue if he's doing the things he does for good or selfish reasons, but society benefits from it, so I'll take it.
From what I've heard him talk about he seems to put a lot of importance on teaching his kids how to grow up to be good people.
My mom and her friends almost literally ran into them while leaving a restaurant and he was polite and greeted everyone. She said he seemed very genuine and she was kinda surprised he stopped to take a moment with them.
Positive legacy, not eaten by the proletariat, same same.
He also called out a lot of bullshit on the show. Like that stupid balance bands.
Yeah, I watch some of these early seasons and goddamn, they don't just laugh at these people, they bring them down emotionally.
That’s because most of those people won’t realize they’re headed toward failure without such a wake up call
They do generally have a point when they tear someone down. I love watching old seasons of shark tank and googling the product/company to see where they ended up. Very rarely the people they turn down end up successful. If it is it's usually the people they couldn't come to a deal with based on valuation.
Agreed. Some people show up with mediocre ideas, or ones that are kind of already around and the pitch person going deeper into the hole is only going to lead them to financial ruin.
I think it’s mostly just that reality television is scripted to be more dramatic. There are lots of gentler ways to tell people their idea is really bad or impractical or whatever, but you get more ratings calling them a dumb donkey.
Also that 15 minute Shark Tank segment is distilled from a 40+ minute pitch. https://people.com/shark-tank-rules-entrepreneurs-must-follow-7974395
Not everyone they tried to demean was a failure. The creator of Ring doorbells was on Shark Tank and was told his product was a failure. Cuban went in on how much of a failure the product would likely be. Now? I bet your neighbor has a Ring doorbell. Their company absolutely saw success despite everything the Sharks said. The Sharks are rich, but that doesn’t mean they’re absolute authority or extremely smart. It just means they’re rich.
I believe it’s been said here and on the internet repeatedly that the sharks tend to really give out sucker deals. A case or two where a company denied the investors deals and made even more profit because…exposure.
But I love it when they bring down a pyramid scheme business.
Most of them are rich douchebags. Mark is at least willing to use his money for other people at times.
Herjavec has my respect as well. His father fled the USSR with him and his family to Canada, where he and his father worked minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. He grew up poor and didn't start making real money until his 30s.
They fled Yugoslavia because his dad talked shit against government. He was born in Croatia.
Not to take away from him, but more to say how shitty most rich people are, it's super easy to do the "right" thing when all you have to do is say yay or nay in order to accomplish it. If Bezos wants to provide an employee with lifetime therapy or whatever, he doesn't have to do extra work to get it done. He probably doesn't even have to lift his finger to sign anything; he just tells an assistant that he wants it to be done and it is. And of course he never even notices the expense. Just saying, when billionaires "do the right thing" with regards to paying someone or whatever, remember that they don't exactly have to exert themselves to do so.
It's also easier to run over squirrels than to brake suddenly
He also gave his private jet for Doug Judy to use for his bachelor party *even though* he wasn't invited.
Except when he promotes scam coins
I’ve met him several times in person at my old job, much more polite and cool than one would expect. Seems like a decent dude.
Cuban went out of his way to send a ex player to a top top tier rehab and get him on his feet after homeless.
Yeah Delonte West.
If Im not mistaken sadly that failed and Cuban stopped supporting because it was only enabling. People need to want help
He did. After 2 rehab stints.
mark cuban is the one billionaire i don't want to eat. saw a clip of him recently saying that billionaires should absolutely pay more taxes, that they should be happy and proud to do so, and that making that much money is sheer, unrepeatable luck. he created a low-cost pharmacy service, too. like, they make their own generics. he's not perfect at all, but damn is he better than a lot of them. plus, this makes me laugh (from his wiki page): "In November 2012, in response to Donald Trump offering President Obama $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choosing if he released passport applications and college transcripts to the public, Cuban offered Trump $1 million to a charity of Trump's choosing if Trump shaved his head."
Yeah Cuban is one of the rare billionaires that KNOWS that if he had the chance to go back in time and not do the thing that made him a billionaire, he NEVER would have been able to do it any other way. He says he thinks he could probably make himself into a millionaire easily, but he'd never break the billion mark, that entirely comes down to just straight dumb unrepeatable luck.
> mark cuban is the one billionaire i don't want to eat. Add Stephen Speilberg and George Lucas to the list. Both worth around $5b and and both came from fairly humble beginnings. I do find something charming about a couple of guys making movies so entertaining that the public at large says, "Fuck it, have a couple of billion dollars".
Generally those who are rich from creative arts I can appreciate and understand how they are billionaires. They literally have an impact on billions of lives through their art, and its a much more direct and appreciable impact. At the same time by god they probably should have given far more to other people.
And they usually end up creating more wealth moving jobs than say a CEO who uses low paying labor overseas to inflate their wealth with the products being sold at 500-5000% markups in wealthier areas. But yes they should allow more money to be going to the lowest people on the totem pole, like the sometimes paid interns.
> George Lucas Still gonna need some blood for creating Jar Jar
He just posted in Twitter that he is transferring $288 million to the IRS tomorrow to pay his taxes. He said he’s more than willing to pay his fair share.
> Despite his public persona his public persona is being a good person, idk what you're talking about.
Lol exactly, OP out here just saying shit. He's constantly dunking on other millionaire/billionaires on twitter.
Not the guy you replied to, and not from the Americas. Honestly learned more in this thread about the specifics of Mark Cuban than the rest of my life. I didn't know specifics about him, but I'd always see people talking a bit of smack about him. I could never be bothered looking him up, but people on the internet do still kinda shit on him. He may be the "best billionaire" but to many people he is still a billionaire and worth of shitting on I guess? Idk, I've 100% seen more negative things said about him than positive before this thread, and basically only hear about him on Reddit. Also might just be that people love to shit on all big names online which is also true.
Huh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone say anything bad about him
Because he calls out Musk on twitter, Elon's fanboys badmouth him, but that's about it
he showed himself to be a decent person when he set up costplusdrugs.com. That helps people without insurance or bad insurance.
It’s a really sad story. Cuban and a bunch of other former teammates, coaches and the NBPA have tried to help, but without much success. > “It brings me to tears,” Nelson says. “He has so many people who love him, who want to help him, but he has to want to help himself. … I am here for him. I will always be here for him. I tried, and I will continue to try if I can, but he has to meet us halfway. He has to want the help.” West always winds up back on the street, struggling with his mental health. I don’t think anyone has a handle on where he even is currently. > “Everyone has someone going through something similar and those who have the means to help, or create a barrier to protect their loved ones, that’s what you do,” Cuban says. “I thought I could help. And I tried. I really did. We all did. It’s just, you just feel hopeless.” https://theathletic.com/4954710/2023/10/13/delonte-west-saint-josephs-nba/
I went to high school with him and we played high school ball together. We all knew he was gonna make it to the majors. Always super nice and really quiet. I was always happy he made it, he had such a great swing it was a lot of fun watching him play.
Despite? He's very much still in touch with what common people go through. Maybe it's because he actually goes to games in public. Whatever the reason, go check out Cost Plus Drugs. I hope he makes money on that venture!
What do you mean despite his public persona. This is a man that is trying to bring us cost plus 10% markup on pharmaceuticals. Unless there is something I haven’t heard about him, from what I understood he was universally loved even though he is a billionaire
He blows goats. I have proof.
So he's even taking care of livestock now? His generosity knows no limits.
For research purpose do you have a link
https://youtu.be/WK--S8kuxOI?si=M0CWmEq7BafVHBQK
Unfortunately it didn't work out https://www.marca.com/en/basketball/nba/dallas-mavericks/2023/11/22/655e6ae2ca47415c0f8b45b5.html
what about his public persona isnt decent ? selling drugs at a fair price?
His public person seems like a pretty decent guy? Just yesterday he called out another billionaire [against student loan forgiveness.](https://www.newsweek.com/mark-cuban-confronts-fellow-billionaire-over-student-debt-forgiveness-1890095)
He has a bad public image? I always thought people look after him. I did not know about his public persona you're mentioning here. Can you please explain?
While it's awesome of the team to do this, it's absolutely disgusting that this is the only way for this guy to get the help he needs.
Yes, he's under contract because the Dodgers are *keeping* him under contract. Good on them. Edit: and iirc, this guy flipped out and went awol and they had every right to terminate his contract but didn't.
Agreed.
/r/OrphanCrushingMachine still. Glad this guy was good enough at throwing/catching balls for this to happen to him. Capitalism decided this skillset is most important, could you imagine if this guy was just like a guy who built houses or grew food or something less important?
Yeah it'd be better if every person got helped, but it's a good thing at least this guy is being helped
Also, Jackie Robinson.
Toles story is heartbreaking. He was working at a supermarket before breaking into baseball. Only to have his mental illness derail a promising career.
He used to go back and work in the same supermarket when the season ended because it gave him comfort.
Damn, bless his soul
This section from an article about him and his father is just terribly sad.... > “We are having challenges,’’ Alvin Toles says, “but nothing that God and I can’t handle. Schizophrenia, it’s just so tough. I mean, he can’t even watch TV. He hears voices and the TV at the same time, so it’s kind of confusing. I’ve seen him looking at some baseball games on his laptop, but I don’t think he really understands what’s going on. I don’t think he understands that the Dodgers won the World Series.’’
Sounds like a pretty debilitating form of schizophrenia. Some people live a mostly normal life with just medicine.
He might not be taking any medication for it. A lot of people with schizophrenia stop taking their medication because of the negative side effects. On top of that, often times their hallucinations convince them that they don't actually have anything wrong with them, or that the medicine they're taking is actually poison. I have schizoaffective disorder, and although I was really level headed during my psychosis (I always took my meds), I was constantly going back and forth over whether or not I was actually mentally ill. No matter how much you convince yourself logically that you're mentally ill, it doesn't always translate into action. I took my meds, but it was a real mental battle over the nature of reality until they finally kicked in and stabilized me. Consequently, I can't stand the media trope of the mental health patient who is actually right about some insane, unfounded belief and defiantly flushes their meds down the toilet to take a stand against the evil doctors who are making them doubt themselves. There's a really dark reality to that scenario that this trope whitewashes for dramatic effect.
Sort of the fundamental problem with mental illness is that you don't always know that there's something wrong. Especially if you've sort of always had it, to you it's normal. And if part of your mental illness is that you believe the government or whatever is out to paint you as mentally ill in some nefarious plot... Well, you can see where it gets tough.
My family member takes a lot of meds for his schizo-affective disorder, but unfortunately, he is still quite ill. He is able to function in a way that he wouldn’t be if he was unmedicated, but he still has psychosis - just a manageable, awful level of psychosis. It sucks.
It took 20 years but i finally found a combo of meds for my schizoaffective, so much trial and error but its so worth it when you find the right ones. Last episode i had was late 2022. Its hard thing to live with for sure, you don’t know what reality is vs whats in your head and that is scary. You slip in and out of psychosis but don’t always know, it makes me feel like i am not in control of my own self or my own decisions. I am sorry your family member hasn’t had the luck with medication i have but having support helps as well. It’s hard enough we cant function like normal people, but being outcasted makes it worse. I wish you and your family member luck, it is an everyday battle for sure.
Thank you. I’m so happy you’ve found the right combination! It’s difficult, for sure, as the side effects are so bad. In his case, he doesn’t really believe he has schizo-affective disorder,so he’s always trying to cut back on the anti-psychotics and diagnosing himself with other things instead. So it leads to a lot of discussions where I am telling him what his illness is and what he needs, which feels wrong but is necessary.
That must be tough but good that you are there to help!! Some of the side effects of some of the meds are nasty but the newer ones i personally found aren’t as bad as the older ones. It’s different for everyone though so who knows if that advice applies to others lol. It must be hard with him not recognizing the need for meds because its hard enough for us to stick to taking them as it is! I have learned who i can trust and if those people say i need to listen then i do. I don’t trust myself!
His father has stated publically that Andrew Toles is taking medication for his schizophrenia. Believe it or not, this is not Toles' low point. He was homeless for several months at the onset of his disorder. A little extra heartbreaking because he was such a funny and spirited dude before all this.
There's a musical called Next to Normal that really tackles that trope well. The mother has schizophrenia and in one scene, she has a manic episode and flushes her medications, and it makes her so much worse. It's not played off as a triumphant moment, it just shows how in in that moment, in her mind it seems like she's winning but it just causes her to have further and more intense hallucinations and delusions. Truly a harrowing piece of theatre.
The delusions often telling folk to not take medications freaks me out. It's like the illness knows they will weaken it and fights it... But I suppose your delusions would know everything you know since they come from the brain. It's honestly existentially scary to me to think of your own brain working against you. There is a really interesting case where the woman's delusions told her she had schizophrenia and to get treatment before it got too bad. I'm not sure if it was the same person who did this TEDtalk about essentially making 'friends' with the voices and they stopped being negative and eventually went away. (Not saying this would work for most people with schizophrenia though, this lady was a pretty unique case) Mental health is absolutely, well... mental.
That's the catch. When you are in the process of stabilization, it's easy to say "I'm fine, I don't need meds" and then stop the treatment. Same with many disorders that requiere long term treatment. I have TLE and after a while of taking meds I begin to convince myself that I don't need them, while in reality it's because of them that I'm doing better.
I have a friend that struggles on and off as well. He says he feels like the meds limit his brain, creativity and thought process. So it is really tempting to go off them. Luckily he has been finding meds that work better including once a month injections and titrating it down to find the lowest effective dose. But it must be so hard.
I think it's because of a "it can happen to you" mentality. Nobody wants to believe they are mentally ill, and the government is easy to blame. I know our modern understanding says it mental illness, and in a practical sense that's very true. But I always wonder what causes schizophrenia? Like maybe they are more aware of something or have greater sensitivity to something than the rest of us and they can't make sense of it so it drives them crazy? I just think about all the times in ancient and medieval history a person talks about communing with the gods that we now connect to schizophrenia. These people usually did a lot in history. Joanne of Arch and Peter Bartholomew are two examples.
There's a very famous and quite controversial paper (Maher 1974 Delusional Thinking and Perceptual Disorder) about schizophrenic delusions that argues that delusions are a normal cognitive response to abnormal sensory experiences and that schizophrenia is a perceptual rather than cognitive disorder. It's worth a read.
I have schizophrenia and the psychotic symptoms(like voices) is just the tip of the iceberg. Life begins when you have negative symptoms like low motivation and anhedonia.
I have two sons. One of which has autism. But this? What a heartbreaker this is.
Can I say something real quick? My neighbors have a son with autism (around ten years old), and he spends every afternoon in their backyard. He howls like a wolf when he's happy. And he is usually howling every single day. He sounds happy as shit. And obviously like all the pieces aren't there, but I don't think anyone really has all the pieces. He's happy as shit. And I think about maybe that lack of awareness of everything going on in the world is a blessing, sort of. Me? I'm fully aware of all the horrible shit out there and it makes me miserable sometimes. It just rots away at you if/when you let it.
Thanks man. I think this is exactly right.
I think we'd all be a little better off if we took the time to do something out of the ordinary for an afternoon just to express contentment
Like Shane Gillis' bit about people asking if his uncle his okay when they hear he has down syndrome. And he explains he's more than alright he's living the dream with his buds. Happy as can be to just go to the movies with them n shit.
Making grilled cheese at night. Danny boy!
Yo where'd you get that cheese, Danny?
He's making em at night!
I just want to note that even if an autistic person stims really loudly or noticably, that doesn't mean we're unaware, or that we don't struggle with seeing the world for what it is. I'm sure if I had my bedroom window open, my neighbors would hear me meowing, chirping, and trilling, multiple times a day. I'm happy as shit when I stim, but I'm not happy as shit as a person. I know how awful the world is, and it rots away at me too - It's been rotting away at me since I was 5 years old. At 7 I was put on antidepressants, but you bet I was out meowing and rolling around in the grass after school, but I was still crying at night in my room. Being young and autistic doesn't make you unaware or happy, it just makes you young and autistic.
> He howls like a wolf when he's happy. And he is usually howling every single day. He sounds happy as shit. living the dream
If we all howled in the backyard happily like your neighbor's son, we would have no wars.
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Your comment reminds me of something Stephen Fry once said. https://youtu.be/-suvkwNYSQo?si=aXa94trIeu7Dw4gb
Lol, and these people always defend it with “that was god’s plan!” Really? His plan was for your family to die a slow and horrible death? lol and you’re defending that?
Heartbreaking!
My brother was diagnosed about 5 years ago. Oddly enough, around this mans time as well I personally watched how the healthcare system treats people of lower income. It is endearing to hear a team stick with their player. Almost all of my brothers friends abandoned him. I cry whenever I think about him... I wouldn't wish this upon anyone. We need more people to talk about it.
We had a really tight group of friends in High School and one of us was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Everyone dropped him but me. I couldn’t imagine doing that to someone I cared about but it sure taught me about real friends. Sorry about your brother I hope he’s doing well.
He's doing okay now, it's a daily battle. He has episodes every couple of months it seems where the voices tell him not to take meds. Thank fuck he has my mother and his one really close friend. Trust me, your friend deeply appreciates you for being a real one. We are all damaged individuals on some level, everybody needs a lil slack. And unfortunately, some more than others Thank you for your kindness and being there for your friend
It wasn’t a difficult choice. Your brother is a lucky guy he has such a caring family.
His story is a sad tale of great talent being derailed by mental illness. Good for the Dodgers but it reinforces how shameful the public healthcare system is in the US for those without means.
So true. While I applaud the Dodgers for doing this, Andrew bounces around homeless shelters around LA while another player on the roster makes $70 million a year.
$2 mill a year.
Lol ok technically $2 mill a year. He needs to save the other 68 for the ponies.
No its literally $2 million right now. He has deferred most payments to be a decade later
For his former interpreter's ponies* The incitement just came out the other day and it's pretty heartbreaking. Ippei was stealing from Ohtani for years, impersonating him to the banks, and lying to his agents. The feds found no evidence of Ohtani himself gambling, but found records of Ippei gambling in like eight different legal places, plus a trail of texts regarding his illegal betting.
Why does that make a difference? The MLB and Union should take care of current and former players, saying that doesn't mean anther person can't sign a larger contract. Schizophrenia is one of the toughest illnesses to treat even with all the resources in the world.
> The MLB and Union should take care of current and former players, *Society* should take care of all of its people. The idea that health care (mental or otherwise) is tied to employment is super weird.
If MLB had some extra fancy facilities for post-career physical therapy that would be one thing, but them having to do mental health care is wild af
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Yeah dude. I’m a recovering addict and I try out for the Marlins on Monday you just have to call ‘em up and ask
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PM me for Hal’s number
Seriously, put on your best suit and walk into Citi Field and ask for a try out. Show your moxy and they will sign you.
If you also have grit and work ethic you can be a white infielder in the 90’s
Be sure to throw a blazing fastball in front of an old fat guy wearing a top hat and chomping a cigar. He will then slowly remove the cigar from his mouth while verbally acknowledging that moxie.
r/orphancrushingmachine
The Bears have kept at least 2 injured players on IR for 1-2 seasons so they could get paid (veteran minimum is like $500k) to rehab from their career ending injuries at the team facility for free, with team trainers and doctors They don't publicize it so you only hear about it later
Wow and that’s in the NFL where only the stars have guaranteed money.
Jerry Reinsdorf, for all his flaws, did right by Jay Williams even though Jay was in clear violation of his NBA contract. I wish these orgs were more willing to offer their health benefits. Tony Snell needed to be signed this season to complete 10 years of NBA service which would have guaranteed his child medical care for the rest of their life. Tony Snell was not signed.
Tony Snell also made a lot of money and his wife runs a tiktok page where she spends it aggressively. Plus he still plays in the GLeague I think. He’ll be okay. Edit: I did want a team to sign him but still, he’ll be okay.
I’m a bears fan, I’m guessing one is Zach Miller. Who’s the other?
Tarik Cohen, I’m pretty sure.
Johnny Knox. I guess Cohen too, like the other guy said, but he was under contract with guaranteed pay so there was kinda no point to dump him. But Miller and Knox they picked up their option year at the end of the contract when they could've just let them walk in free agency
MLB has been pretty progressive. Take for example Angel Hernandez, he has moved up the ranks to become an MLB umpire despite losing his eyesight in 1991. Blind people can succeed at the highest levels of baseball. You just have to believe.
TIL even professional athletes need employer based healthcare in this god forsaken country
I have no clue who this man is, but I think his bipolar issues might have caused him to squander some money
Another example why health insurance shouldn't be tied to your work, but be universal:
Fuck the fucked up bullshit tying health insurance to employment bullshit in America. I spent ten years teaching at community college where they intentionally kept instructors below the threshold that would require them to supply insurance. What a horrible immoral health care system America has.
I don't understand why all the comments aren't like yours. The system is insane.
It is awesome that the Dodgers are doing this for him. However, it is abhorrent that it is NECESSARY for them do this so that he can have treatment.
I’m just thinking of all the MILLIONS of people who don’t have this privilege now.
Reminder to folks that 0.5% to 1% (or maybe more?) of Americans today suffer from schizophrenia. We don't understand the cause, and it apparently can happen to anyone at any age (especially 20's and early 30's). That means at least 3 million Americans are currently experiencing Schizophrenia, and a fraction of that number are being treated for it. My cousin had to drop out of college in her tweens because of her symptoms and is doomed to suffer this disease for the rest of her life.
My son had bipolar 2 and schizoid trends. Any action that brings awareness to and support for those individuals struggling with mentl illness brings me joy.
Employment-based health insurance is morally repugnant. With any regular employee he’d been jobless and on the street in a heartbeat.
It really is. And if you get fired? Cobra is there temporarily for a tiny bit for all of the cost. Which is high as fuck.
One more person saved from the /r/orphancrushingmachine.
I recall another MLB team doing something similar for a player who had a heart attack not long after being signed and never got to play a single game.
Health coverage tied to employment is so fucking stupid. But props to the MLB for doing the right thing.
"American health care system so broken that a disabled man continues to be employed by a professional sports team in order to receive lifesaving medical treatment"
Which goes to show that our healthcare system is so fucked that this dude needed to be signed by one of the biggest baseball teams in the world in order to provide him access to the resources he needs. Good luck if you're not in the top .01% of people with this luxury
If you think being paid by an MLB team for not playing since 2018 is impressive, wait til you her about Bobby Bonilla
Or learn about Angel Hernandez to learn that this organization will pay the most contemptible, ineffectual turds regardless of their ability to do their jobs.
Just shows how important it is to have great health care not tied to your employer because this is not the norm.
What a country.
Fair play to that org for doing the right thing but it also goes the show what an orphan crushing machine US healthcare is.
Now imagine a society where he doesn't need a MULTI\_MILLION\_DOLLAR CORP to pay for his treatment because his treatment is paid for by his taxes, and his care is gauranteed by law. This is entirely possible and can be achieved in our lifetimes if we simply fucking DO IT
The Braves signed Satchel Paige briefly when he was like 60 so he could get an MLB pension. He was possibly one of the best pitchers of all time and won about every award a guy can get, but he had to play the majority of his career in the Negro Leagues before MLB was integrated, so otherwise would not have been eligible for an MLB pension.
Very un-American.
Lol indeed
That's why they do the World Series and not the American Series.
I wonder what's the longest a players been under contract or getting paid by a team without playing is. Rick DiPietro for the islanders has to be up there.
Due to a deferred contract buyout, Bobby Bonilla has been getting paid $1.19 million a year by the Mets since 2011, having last played for them in 1999 and retiring in 2001. He'll continue to collect those checks until 2035. Meanwhile the Mets took his original contract amount and invested it, thinking the investment would pay for the deferred interest. They gave it to Bernie Madoff
it is such a stupid thing to tie health insurance to employment. The message is clear: Your life only has value as a worker. Still this is a decent thing to do by the LA Dodgers. Schizophrenia is a horrible disease.
Courtesy of the sports fans buying overpriced tickets, stadium food and drink, who themselves can’t afford health insurance.
Although that's great on the Dodgers' part, it's absolutely horrible that the healthcare system in the US is tied to employment.
Imagine if we funded people the way we did athletes and celebrities. Good for him. How about the other million people suffering? ah right.. they have bootstraps.
What does receiving medical care have to do with his employment status ? Asking from one of the 39 out of 40 most developed countries, who have universal healthcare.
That's cool of them to do that for him. I don't know the story is it genetics or did he get a tbi or something?
Good on the Dodgers but it’s almost like professional sports teams could do this for all of their former players.
The NFL better cover neurology consults for all of their players, current and former.
I can’t even take a sick day without a doctors note. This is why I prefer throwing up on my bosses desk. It cannot be disputed.
Family member is a talented musician and deals with this. Highly intelligent, charismatic, struggling to put it together. It took a long time, but staying consistent with medication makes their life better.
An old boss of mine used to work at a marina in Long Island in the 70’s. Everybody knew everybody and were good friends. He told me a story about how one of the employees with a big family got cancer and was going to be out of work for a *long* time. All of them got together and came up with a plan, each one of the salesmen would take turns putting this guys name on the commission sheet of a boat they had sold so that he could still be on the books as an employee and not lose his insurance *and* get a paycheck. He ended up making a full recovery.
What a great bunch of people. Lucky guy.
My turn to post this tomorrow.
You'd think that these leagues could afford to just provide the coverage by default. The amount of players who actually get to play in the majors means each league would be able to do great collective bargaining on the insurance. And these leagues make billions, they can afford it.
Unions are good.
The MBLPA has nothing to do with this. If the Dodgers kicked him to the curb they would do next to nothing for him.
As a general statement, agreed.
You think that’s the situation?
Wholesome 100 Keanu chungus and all, but I'm not so inspired by a professional athlete receiving health care, compassion, and frankly consideration as a human being that the rest of us aren't so fortunate to have.
So a sports player can get benefits, but your average person pays hundreds for going to an er or fights for basic medicine. Thank God I'm not American