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Mine was in a hospital in Thailand after some minor surgery. The NSAID the doctor originally gave wasn’t doing much, so we switched to IV morphine, which was lovely. After the initial rush, I’d just lie back and listen to music for a couple of hours without a care in the world. 
Definitely the highlight of each day. I only got maybe 5-6 doses before the pleasurable effects had started becoming less intense and the doctor wanted to switch back to NSAIDs (I’d have been happy to keep going a bit longer). I can see why opiates, especially the ones more pleasurable than morphine, are so addictive. I’m not sure I’d trust myself with a button - I feel like I might hit the daily limit before lunchtime. 
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Do you know how the accident happened?
I don’t know exactly. I do know they were descending. Both Alec and the other rider are very quick and competitive on descents. Both are very familiar with the roads and know the limits of their bikes. Seems it was simply too much speed for the conditions. Maybe water, moss, gravel, or just confused the turn for something less sharp.
Good news, Alec is mentally doing well, he’s 3 surgeries in. One for the initial internal bleeding, second for stabilizing his broken leg, and third for straightening out his pelvis. He’s feeling ready to move on to whatever rehab lays ahead.
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Wishing him a quick recovery. 
Still young and, as far as l know, a loving family for support, he will hopefully be up again in no time.
Hey everyone, need a custom bike? You know where to order one!
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I received a picture of both Alec and one of the other riders in the hospital, both with a broad smile. That’s encouraging …
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Big shout-out to Taiwan’s emergency services and health care system where you get excellent medical treatment that doesn’t cost you an arm or a leg. Personally, being a cyclist myself, I’m grateful to be living in Taiwan and having NHI. Here’s an example of what can happen elsewhere.
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Being able to charge their sick, injured, and dying customers anything they want is one reason why the US healthcare system will never work right. The other reason is lawyers driving up the cost of healthcare by milking the healthcare system for lottery-like payouts.
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It reminds me of a certain japanese manga series about a doctor who works miracles but charges huge fees. Oh and he’s unlicensed too. When people complain about the cost he says compared to your life it’s a steal.
The whole US health care concept of network and out of network different charges is ridiculous in this modern day.
Someone’s bleeding out and they yell to the ambulance driver, ‘please no not that hospital, it’s out of network.’
In my case, I got robbed more than $2K because the ambulance was out-of-network…
I don’t understand why Americans aren’t revolting over this. Even freaking third world shitholes aren’t subject to this.
I don’t want to start a debate on this, it’s been discussed before, but I don’t agree at all with the “elsewhere” bit. USA isn’t elsewhere, USA is almost Third World when it comes to welfare issues. And by extension, Taiwan NHI isn’t that great TBH.
Yeah it would be better to have a separate debate on a US dedicated thread for that.
NHI in Taiwan is more relevant for this. BTW as mentioned it doesn’t cover a lot of the better drugs, medical devices etc, it’s just a decent base to start from, but if you get sick and want/need better or more effective treatment you often have to pay a large amount for the newer more effective patented drugs. That ain’t cheap could be 500 USD, 1000 USD a month. Often docs will throw outdated and ineffective cheap generics at you and won’t be even bother telling you there are better but expensive options available until you push them. Well I digress myself now. Suffice to say all the costs added up are still not cheap when you have a serious accident or disease to treat i.e. good idea to get any additional insurance where you can. Some employers provide group insurance.
Sure, my intent was just to remind everyone how good we have it in Taiwan and not to take a functioning healthcare system for granted (especially since discussions on this forum have a tendency to be critical of all things Taiwan). I certainly didn’t intend to turn this thread into a US healthcare bashing thread.
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My understanding is that insurance companies and hospitals are both kinda inflating prices so that people see some benefit (or need) to have an insurance.
I’m 26 and my policy costs 60,000NTD a year
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Seems like quite a bit for your age and for one person (assuming one person)
I’ve never got extra insurance before and have been happy with NHI for all my issues, so far that is. Living life in the edge.
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I’ve been very pleased with the healthcare system here in Taiwan in the 25 years I’ve lived here and I’m a right-wing, less government is better conservative.
Includes income protection, cancer insurance and death and disability benefits of 10 million NTD each
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