Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke dies at age 29

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by fotze

I don't even know the policy on things like this.

Does the government normally cover bills when you travel out of Canada and are hurt. Is it a time out of the country thing?

I don't think that the Canadian Government or Provincial Governments are responsible for your health care outside of Canada, especially if you don't have your own insurance.

Most sporting programs have their own insurance arrangements to cover their athletes, its kind of henious that there doesn't seem to be any insurance coverage for this event sanctioned or not. You're literally taking your life into your hands if your competing in what I see as a dangerous sport without ensuring your coverage.

I think that the only time that the government is going to cover our of country health care is if the procedure or treatment is not available in Canada.

For the government to cover her care even out of the goodness of their heart would be setting a dangerous precidence so they can't do it.

I feel tremendously bad for her family, they just lost their daughter and they are facing a half million dollar charge (Trauma and brain injury treatment is hugely expensive).

I guess their best option is to sue the sponsering company and to raise funds.

I would think that the hospital has programs for incidences like this one.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I guess the arguement was that she was in the US training to represent Canada in the Olympics. It was mentioned earlier that it may have been harder for her to get insurance seeing as the purpose of her trip was to participate in a sport.

Does anybody work in the insurance business that could comment? I know before I had coverage from work if I got insurance it was really cheap- like $20 per trip. Would the policy have been that much more?

For athletes competing in an extreme sport absolutely. An old colleague of mine used to be a professional BMX rider, but he said he got out of it because the insurance premiums to go compete in the states took such a big bite out of his sponsorship deals & prize money that he was basically broke.

Mind you he did this in his late teens/early 20's, but he basically said it was impossible to make a living at it unless you were a Cory Hart type celebrity simply because the insurance cost were so high.

[freedogger]

Mods, would it be possible to split the insurance discussion into another thread from the sympathies and rememberances posts? Seems appropriate if possible...

I'm surprised that the event sponsor and organizers let them train on the course without insurance. You would think that this would be a condition of participation.

Easy PR win for them if they pick up the tab. If they are worried about setting a precedent, maybe they should do it this one time and then move to a model like above.

[carom]

The flag at COP is at half mast today. I would guess it is in respect/remembrance of Sarah Burke.

[Slava]

Well first let me say RIP and I do think that this is a loss for Canadian sport in general. Its a terrible shame and tragedy to see someone so young lose their life.

As an aside though, there are a lot of ways she could've been insured. A general travel policy doesn't ask why you're going where you're going at that age. They wouldn't have asked what her occupation is/was. Would they have paid at the end of the day? I couldn't say. They would have likely offered coverage though.

She also could've had life insurance coverage (and maybe she did). She would've had to answer questions regarding her occupation and the nature of her skiing. I can tell you that one major insurer doesn't have a questionnaire that would pertain to this though (they do for things such as car racing, and other hazardous activities).

Bottom line, is that one would hope she and her family had looked into getting some kind of coverage. That isn't to belittle the loss or call anyone out for this after the fact.

[Bertuzzied]

What sad news, and to hear it was just from a routine fall is even more sad.

How on earth can a medical facility have the guts to charge someone $550k for 8 days in a hospital. How much money would they make from that? ridiculous.

[mrbanffgirl]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I'd be amazed (and disgusted) if Monster didn't step up and cover the rest of the bills.




Most people usually just have blanket travel insurance (through work), or they get supplemental insurance for any trip out of the country for any reasonable amount of time. A lot of people don't think of this on shorter trips, but the lack of coverage is the same. I never buy it when I make trips of a couple days since Im usually close to the border and figure at worst I can wheel myself to the border on a gurney.

Monster would have to have blanket insurance for an event like this. If not the irresponsibility of holding an event like it would be HUGE! Insurance aside, the good PR that would come from the stepping up for one of their premiere athletes would be massive. As of yet, nothing on their website (aside from a small message) to prove that they are willing to help out! Imagine if Travis Pastrana rolled and died at a Red Bull Event!! better to embrace tragedy and step up than to leave it at arms length and pretend it didn't happen...

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

What sad news, and to hear it was just from a routine fall is even more sad.

How on earth can a medical facility have the guts to charge someone $550k for 8 days in a hospital. How much money would they make from that? ridiculous.

I don't know if I can blast the hospital for this. It wasn't like it was an appendix attack. She was intensive care for those 8 days, with a lot of specialists, and I believe there was at least one major surgury plus trauma treatment.

If anything compare to other medical bills that I've heard about this seems low.

I'm saying this from a thorough lack of knowledge.

But I doubt its out of line with the costs incurred in a Canadian Hospital.

[Zevo]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I don't know if I can blast the hospital for this. It wasn't like it was an appendix attack. She was intensive care for those 8 days, with a lot of specialists, and I believe there was at least one major surgury plus trauma treatment.

If anything compare to other medical bills that I've heard about this seems low.

I'm saying this from a thorough lack of knowledge.

But I doubt its out of line with the costs incurred in a Canadian Hospital.

It doesn't seem that outrageous to me either considering everything and everyone involved.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by freedogger

I'm surprised that the event sponsor and organizers let them train on the course without insurance. You would think that this would be a condition of participation.

Easy PR win for them if they pick up the tab. If they are worried about setting a precedent, maybe they should do it this one time and then move to a model like above.

A half million dollar tab isn't exactly easy.

I think the lesson we can all take from this is how important insurance is, particularly in high-risk vocations. I don't agree with looking for reasons why it is somebody else's fault she wasn't properly insured.

That aside, it's always sad when somebody dies like this. Personally, it doesn't make me feel any better that she died doing what she loved. I'm sure she would have loved being a mother as well. And a grandmother. And whatever else she could have become.

[bossy22]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I don't know if I can blast the hospital for this. It wasn't like it was an appendix attack. She was intensive care for those 8 days, with a lot of specialists, and I believe there was at least one major surgury plus trauma treatment.

If anything compare to other medical bills that I've heard about this seems low.

I'm saying this from a thorough lack of knowledge.

But I doubt its out of line with the costs incurred in a Canadian Hospital.

She was also airlifted from park city and flown to Salt Lake.

[Locke]

It almost smacks of insult to injury.

"We're so sorry for your loss....*cough* uh, heres your bill...."

How greasy must that have felt to give her husband a half a million dollar hospital bill just after he loses his wife. Not to mention, being Canadian, he may not have expected it, and almost certainly couldnt have anticipated the amount.

I understand that my Canadian sense of entitlement to free health care is kicking in, but it still just feels wrong.

[IGGYRULES]

Originally Posted by Locke

It almost smacks of insult to injury.

"We're so sorry for your loss....*cough* uh, heres your bill...."

How greasy must that have felt to give her husband a half a million dollar hospital bill just after he loses his wife. Not to mention, being Canadian, he may not have expected it, and almost certainly couldnt have anticipated the amount.

I understand that my Canadian sense of entitlement to free health care is kicking in, but it still just feels wrong.

Hold on now...

They haven't even received the bill yet. Her agent picked a pie in the sky number and asked for donations to cover the medical costs prior to knowing.

1. How much the tab will be for the medical costs
2. If the sponsor is willing to pick up some or all of the tab
3. If Health Canada will pick up some of the tab (looks like that is a possibility)

Of course the sponsor of the event is holding out until the last minute since the agent is asking for donations from the public. Looks like all has been covered by recent donations and Monster is off the hook. Hopefully they (Monster) have it in them to create a scholarship fund or something in her name instead.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...ical-fees.html

[ken0042]

I don't have a link, but 660 News is reporting the bill was only $200k; and they have enough donations already to cover it.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I don't have a link, but 660 News is reporting the bill was only $200k; and they have enough donations already to cover it.

Ah. Well, there you go, no outrage required.

[Azure]

$200k is extremely reasonable.

Not sure what many of you are thinking, but health care isn't free. 8 days of intensive care costs a lot of money.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Locke

It almost smacks of insult to injury.

"We're so sorry for your loss....*cough* uh, heres your bill...."

How greasy must that have felt to give her husband a half a million dollar hospital bill just after he loses his wife. Not to mention, being Canadian, he may not have expected it, and almost certainly couldnt have anticipated the amount.

I understand that my Canadian sense of entitlement to free health care is kicking in, but it still just feels wrong.

Yeah, but the same thing happens to a non resident who's uninsured in Canada. If an American was training in Canada and got injured they'd face a hefty hospital bill as well.

[calgarybornnraised]

Good on Sarah for being an organ donor,She saved many lives today.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Locke

Ah. Well, there you go, no outrage required.

your outrage is always required

[Drake]

A nice piece by Alyssa Roenigk who covers action sports for ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary/...ted-remembered