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SO this is a long story, but on the second of this month i became the surprise recipient of 4 bone grafts. Only two weeks prior i found out i needed them so its not like i had a lot of time to save up my money. My insurance saved me eight thousand dollars but i still owe $4.5 thousand. I am a student and i only work 3 nights a week for about 12 hours a week. Unemployment here is about 20% so its not like i can just rush out and get another job. So i sold my orks and my nids are scheduled to sell tomarrow evenning on E bay.

Since i have about 18 months to pay my debt before i have to begin paying 26.99% interest on the loan i had to take out, i need to find a way to make sure i can pay most of it off in that time. I want to do something i enjoy and since i have a huge bitz box, and i enjoy sculpting and customizing figs i was thinking that if i can only make some money on my talents that modelling could help dig me out of the hole i am in. So heres the deal. Willl i make more money on custom sculpted figures on Ebay if they are just primered or will it be economically efficient for me to paint them too.

i.e. I have about 40 space marines unassembled and i could sculpt one or two a day into plauge marines and sell them on Ebay would it be worth it to sell them just primered or painted. Should i sell them in squads of 10 or of 7. would you pay alot more for a squad where the srg and the two heavy weapons all were magnetised with multiple weapons or is it not worth the time and effort.

Feedback is appreciated and anyone with other hobby ideas feel free to message them to me or suggest them here. Thanks.

Unpainted figures generally sell more quickly than painted ones, as they afford the purchaser more choice in terms of the final product's appearance, and will generally be of a lower price due to the reduced number of man-hours involved in production. This is important both because you're certainly not going to cover your expenses with a single transaction, and you're essentially working under the gun.

You might also try looking at churches and charities in the vicinity, as they will occasionally pay people to do "volunteer" work if they are in a bad situation.

Good idea. Since I am a full time student there are time constraints however being a student has its up side too. We have a jobs board at school that posts jobs that only we students can get at. Im gonna take advantage of this as well as your suggestion. Thanks.

Yeah, good luck man. That's harsh. I'd say unpainted, and then if there's a way to throw 'will paint to specifications' in there, then you could do that as well, if someone was interested.

Try moving to Canada.

Yeah right. I would probably love it up there. I know that the fishing is AMAZING and school and medical are much cheaper but... I HATE the cold and snow. probably better that i stay here in california where its been 90 for the last two months strait.

Fafnir wrote:Try moving to Canada.

Or the UK. Extremely bad luck. Hope you sort it out soon.

Out of curiosity, why did insurance only pay $8,000 and not the whole lot. Do you have an excess in your policy or something like with cars? Don't entirely understand how your health insurance system works.

Flashman wrote:

Fafnir wrote:Try moving to Canada.

Or the UK. Extremely bad luck. Hope you sort it out soon.

Out of curiosity, why did insurance only pay $8,000 and not the whole lot. Do you have an excess in your policy or something like with cars? Don't entirely understand how your health insurance system works.

He might have a high deductible, that will save you some cash monthly, but it will really hurt when you need a surgery like this.

Yea American Insurance can be a real ball buster. My parents actually cut their insurance off because my mother has to take pills for something, and the insurance was a real douche so wouldnt cover it entirely, same with the office visits and hospital visits, they only covered so much then the rest was on my parents. Bitch part was, they paid a gak load a month for this insurance, and the cost of the insurance plus the copays and whatnot, ended up costing them MORE a month with insurance then without. So now they just pay it in cash and actually save quite alot.

sennacherib wrote:would you pay alot more for a squad where the srg and the two heavy weapons all were magnetised with multiple weapons or is it not worth the time and effort.

IMO, not worth the time and effort. 7 PM sell for $35. Even if you get people to pay retail price for your sculpts, that's only $5 for each marine. If it takes you 2 hours to sculpt a marine, that's $2.50 per hour.

I would look into working more hours at your job or trying to find another one. Fast food and other crappy (minimum wage) jobs aren't usually too difficult to find, even in areas with high unemployment.

Best of luck.

@ FLashman.... The way it works here is incomprehensible to anyone except the crooks who manage health care and the other crooks who are in government. I pay 212$ a month. And according to the Dr. i have really amazing insurance because it paid for 6000$ that most insurance policy do not cover. My deductible is actually pretty nice but because of the nature of the proceedure and the way the insurance works this is what i have to pay. Since i have had the insurance it has Not paid for the amount of money i have had to shell out to have it so i am going to drop all but the critical care part. Basically that means that i will save 100$ a month but it wont cover anything outside of me racking up 5000$ in medical bills. I hate our system. The Republican minority in congress is really screwing up our nation right now. You have to have certain programs for the people so that your people can live healthy happy productive lives. Taxes are how you pay for these things. Tax the wealthy more. Duh.

Of course, building a nationalised healthcare system in the US would remove these worries from the lives of average working americans, but for some reason they treat the idea like it was sent straight from satan's anus.

Let's provide some more tax cuts for the millionaires instead, I'm sorry, I meant to say 'job creators'...

biccat wrote:
I would look into working more hours at your job or trying to find another one. Fast food and other crappy (minimum wage) jobs aren't usually too difficult to find, even in areas with high unemployment.

Fundraising will net a much greater profit with much less effort, especially in California.

The average NPO fund office will pay you $15/hr for at least the 4-5 day training period, after which most people are fired. However, that 4-5 day training period works out to 32-40 hours at $15/hr, or between $480 and $600 before taxes. Spread this over the, on average, 6 fundraising groups in any major city, and you can net between $2880 and $3600 in roughly 6 weeks.

Personally I would ask for help from family members or great friends and then pay them back accordingly. I know money can complicate relationships but when it comes to unexpected medical bills I'm sure its worth asking for some help.


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Just whatever you do, don't break bad like Walter White

I disagree, Breaking Bad turned this...



...into this...



In short...

In that case hopefully the OP is majoring in chemistry!

dogma wrote:

biccat wrote:
I would look into working more hours at your job or trying to find another one. Fast food and other crappy (minimum wage) jobs aren't usually too difficult to find, even in areas with high unemployment.

Fundraising will net a much greater profit with much less effort, especially in California.

The average NPO fund office will pay you $15/hr for at least the 4-5 day training period, after which most people are fired. However, that 4-5 day training period works out to 32-40 hours at $15/hr, or between $480 and $600 before taxes. Spread this over the, on average, 6 fundraising groups in any major city, and you can net between $2880 and $3600 in roughly 6 weeks.

OK, then do this. Whatever. Get a job, work for a year or so, and pay off your debt before the 26% interest kicks in.

Have you tried talking to the hospital to see if you can get this amount reduced? Tell them you're a poor student, aren't sure if you'll be able to pay off all the bills, etc.

That's a credit-card level interest rate. I highly recommend that if you find that you're not going to get it clear by the interest jump date, you join a credit union (there's probably one associated with your school, if not some category you're in will qualify you for one), and see what kind of loans they can give you - $3.5k is not pocket change, but it's less than a typical car loan, and you have some income, so you can probably get something with a less brutal interest rate and pay it out over time. Obviously if your current loan is 0% until the high rate kicks in, you'd stick with it for 18 months, then switch to the other loan. You can't just get rid of the debt, but it's quite possible to get rid of the specific loan.

sennacherib wrote:@ FLashman.... The way it works here is incomprehensible to anyone except the crooks who manage health care and the other crooks who are in government. I pay 212$ a month. And according to the Dr. i have really amazing insurance because it paid for 6000$ that most insurance policy do not cover. My deductible is actually pretty nice but because of the nature of the proceedure and the way the insurance works this is what i have to pay. Since i have had the insurance it has Not paid for the amount of money i have had to shell out to have it so i am going to drop all but the critical care part. Basically that means that i will save 100$ a month but it wont cover anything outside of me racking up 5000$ in medical bills. I hate our system. The Republican minority in congress is really screwing up our nation right now. You have to have certain programs for the people so that your people can live healthy happy productive lives. Taxes are how you pay for these things. Tax the wealthy more. Duh.

Sounds like what I have, but you STILL have to be careful of what they consider "Critical Care" I was walking in my yard a couple years ago, apparently some kids (this was just before I moved into my house) thought it would be hilarious to bury nails/gutter spikes in my little strip of land with the pointy ends up. Well I stepped on a gutter spike that then went strait through the bottom of my boot, through my foot and stopped when it was lodged against my bone. So pain/cuss words later I was at the ER. They pulled the boot fragments from inside my foot, made sure the bone wasnt broke, disinfected it and sent me on my way. Did my insurance cover it? NOPE! Best part was I got the bill about a month ago, just long enough for it to go into collections, you know so I couldnt dispute it. So I get to pay an $800 bill though should of other wise been covered.

So yea, make sure your careful when you do use your "critical care" benefits


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BearersOfSalvation wrote:That's a credit-card level interest rate. I highly recommend that if you find that you're not going to get it clear by the interest jump date, you join a credit union (there's probably one associated with your school, if not some category you're in will qualify you for one), and see what kind of loans they can give you - $3.5k is not pocket change, but it's less than a typical car loan, and you have some income, so you can probably get something with a less brutal interest rate and pay it out over time. Obviously if your current loan is 0% until the high rate kicks in, you'd stick with it for 18 months, then switch to the other loan. You can't just get rid of the debt, but it's quite possible to get rid of the specific loan.

This 1000x

BearersOfSalvation wrote:That's a credit-card level interest rate. I highly recommend that if you find that you're not going to get it clear by the interest jump date, you join a credit union (there's probably one associated with your school, if not some category you're in will qualify you for one), and see what kind of loans they can give you - $3.5k is not pocket change, but it's less than a typical car loan, and you have some income, so you can probably get something with a less brutal interest rate and pay it out over time. Obviously if your current loan is 0% until the high rate kicks in, you'd stick with it for 18 months, then switch to the other loan. You can't just get rid of the debt, but it's quite possible to get rid of the specific loan.

Also, look at student loans. You can use them for the purpose of reclassifying debt, especially in the case of private sources.

Thanks all. SO i sold my nids and my orks on ebay. the nids are actually not gone till later tonight but between the two i will have about 900$. I am also selling off a bunch of older board games that are OP and worth some bucks. total i should be able to net about 1000$. I wont miss my nids thanks to Robin Cruddycrap, and my orks were just no fun to play so i am down to only two armies for now. Fast food will be my last resort but i am gonna have to get a second job. In the next year i should be able to drag down the remainder so that the interest dosnt get me.

As for breaking bad. I DO have 5 symesters of chem under my belt and its scary what i could do if i wanted to. However i dont have cancer and i think pulling a breaking bad would be a super stupid move. Also reprehensible beyond belief.

sennacherib wrote:@ FLashman.... The way it works here is incomprehensible to anyone except the crooks who manage health care and the other crooks who are in government. I pay 212$ a month. And according to the Dr. i have really amazing insurance because it paid for 6000$ that most insurance policy do not cover. My deductible is actually pretty nice but because of the nature of the proceedure and the way the insurance works this is what i have to pay. Since i have had the insurance it has Not paid for the amount of money i have had to shell out to have it so i am going to drop all but the critical care part. Basically that means that i will save 100$ a month but it wont cover anything outside of me racking up 5000$ in medical bills. I hate our system. The Republican minority in congress is really screwing up our nation right now. You have to have certain programs for the people so that your people can live healthy happy productive lives. Taxes are how you pay for these things. Tax the wealthy more. Duh.

Where do you live? A lot of state are pretty prohibitive about intrastate competition with in-state Health Insurance Companies (a lot of this being due to lobbying). The premiums would go down if different insurance companies could sell across other state lines.


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MeanGreenStompa wrote:Of course, building a nationalised healthcare system in the US would remove these worries from the lives of average working americans, but for some reason they treat the idea like it was sent straight from satan's anus.

Let's provide some more tax cuts for the millionaires instead, I'm sorry, I meant to say 'job creators'...

Yes, that will work with a population of 308 million people with wildly fluctuating demographics and a shrinking tax base...

You collectivist ideal disturbs me as it will never work here. It puts far too much power in the hands of a malfeasant and an unaccountable bureaucracy in DC instead of the American people. The Government does such a smashing job of creating jobs, let's let them take over healthcare too.

I hate the NHS over here, but man, that really sucks. And you had insurance too?

I feel bad for you.. that sucks.

Come over here and get it done for free as a health tourist.

Ive heard the wait for you Brits is like 8 hours or something? I saw it on a news show but damned if I can remember what it was

KingCracker wrote:Ive heard the wait for you Brits is like 8 hours or something? I saw it on a news show but damned if I can remember what it was

Depends on a lot of factors. On a basic level though, if you tip up to the Accident & Emergency department of the local hospital with a severed hand and blood pumping out your wrist, then no, you won't have to wait too long

Of course, if you are one of these idiots that go to A & E because you have stubbed your toe, then you can expect to be given a low priority.

Obviously, it all depends on the hospital in question, where it is located and what day of the week it is (UK hospitals get inordinately busy at the weekend patching up stupid drunk and lairy people)

KingCracker wrote:Ive heard the wait for you Brits is like 8 hours or something? I saw it on a news show but damned if I can remember what it was

The interesting thing to me is that I've heard a lot of horror stories from people opposed to UHC in the US, but every time I've talked to someone from the UK or Canada it's always either positive or less negative than what I'd expect in the US (like 'you have to wait 3 months' instead of 'you have to wait 2 months and come up with $50,000).

KingCracker wrote:Ive heard the wait for you Brits is like 8 hours or something? I saw it on a news show but damned if I can remember what it was

I fell in the ice during Jan 2010 and broke the radial head of my arm. I went to Bristol A&E, it was packed to capacity as it was full of people, old and young, who had fallen in the sudden and unusual ice. I was initially seen for assessment within 20mins of arrival by a junior doctor, more serious falls and those of the elderly were seen instantly.

I then waited for 1hour 30mins to go for an X-ray, then a further 1hour before being seen by a senior doctor and the assessment and treatment given.

The hospital was totally packed with people and they still did an excellent job.

And it didn't cost me a penny.


My mother in law over here in the US is dying of terminal cancer, my grandmother in the UK is suffering ongoing massive angina attacks which could verywell prove fatal. The difference between the levels of treatment and care is marked. The inability of the various private medical bodies here to share information is terrible. The cost is crippling.

Brits, if anyone tries to take away the NHS you should burn them at the stake. It is disgusting how they conduct health care as a business over here, the notion you'd rather trust a profit driven insurance firm over the state to provide your medical care is boggling.

I worked for insurance for 6 years, they are designed to not pay, that's how they make a profit.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:

I worked for insurance for 6 years, they are designed to not pay, that's how they make a profit.

Anyone who has ever quibbled over a car insurance claim will know just how much these companies like to wriggle out of paying

I find it baffling (and this isn't an attack on the US by the way, merely an observation on the health system) that with something like a car, my policy with n insurance company is almost a gamble; effectively, I am betting that it wont get damaged or stolen. If I am careful and a considerate driver then the odds are quite good and I can get away with not having to claim. This is good for the insurers as they know I will pay my premium for umpteen years but they might not have to pay out a single penny.

When it comes to health though, surely we are all guaranteed to get sick at one point or another? Then it becomes less of a gamble with the insurance company and more of a certainty that something will happen at some point in your life. I guess at that stage, the last thing you want is the insurance company to wriggle out of paying. Problem is, in order to make money the insurance company have to come up with so many terms, conditions and clauses that you know they will try and find some loophole to not to pay out or to pay less; its the only way they can make a profit on a policy.

I think you're biased MeanGreen, but in the interests of full disclosure, I am too. My wife is an employee of an insurance company, so I tend to take attacks on those 'evil insurance folk' kind of personal. I generally like you, so I went back and edited this to make it less caustic. If it still comes across that way, then I apologize.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:I fell in the ice during Jan 2010 and broke the radial head of my arm. I went to Bristol A&E, it was packed to capacity as it was full of people, old and young, who had fallen in the sudden and unusual ice. I was initially seen for assessment within 20mins of arrival by a junior doctor, more serious falls and those of the elderly were seen instantly.

I then waited for 1hour 30mins to go for an X-ray, then a further 1hour before being seen by a senior doctor and the assessment and treatment given.

The hospital was totally packed with people and they still did an excellent job.

Huh. When I broke my arm after a drunken argument over the coolness of Batman, the private hospital I went to here in America got me through and out in far less than the nearly three hours you sat there.

The inability of the various private medical bodies here to share information is terrible. The cost is crippling.

I concur. Our medical system is flawed, and the blame is pretty squarely at the feet of the doctors. But of course the inability of anyone in this country to share medical information is crippling. Have you read the Hippa Act? The level of secrecy medical personnel are subject to, and the potential penalties for breaking it are obscene. And the Hippa Act isn't some political ploy, but rather a privacy act the people demanded be put into place.

It is disgusting how they conduct health care as a business over here, the notion you'd rather trust a profit driven insurance firm over the state to provide your medical care is boggling.

Wait, so the state 'provided your health care?' So, a government employee came into your hospital room and diagnosed you? Some federal paper pusher comes in to take care of your loved ones? Or was it a doctor who you saw? I don't go into Blue Cross whenever I have a medical problem. You know why? They are an insurance company, not a hospital! They don't provide medical care, they provide a service which can offset the financial costs of medical or dental expenses.

You can't blame the insurance companies for every problem in the system. One of my loved ones was charged eight hundred dollars for an exam which could not yield a diagnosis. 800 bucks, just to learn nothing. If my mechanic couldn't find out what was wrong with my car, I wouldn't be expected to pay him, but the doctor still wants his money. Now, do I blame the insurance company for that? Heck no. The doctor is the one who set the charge, and it's his fault that the charge is ridiculous.

I worked for insurance for 6 years, they are designed to not pay, that's how they make a profit.

This just isn't true. Well, okay, you might have worked there for six years, but the part about them being designed to screw us isn't. It's false. I don't know if you're just saying what everyone else says, or if you've got an axe to grind against your former employer, but it's just not true.

Insurance companies aren't 'designed not to pay,' that's just the sour-grapes cry of the lazy schlub who didn't bother to read his policy. If you get into business, you better damn well understand what you're getting into. The same applies to any kind of contract, be it a lease agreement, a mortgage, or getting insurance.

Is the system here in America flawed? Yes. Hell yes. But you can't blame the insurance companies for that. It's silly. Blame the doctors, the hospitals, and the pharmaceutical companies first. Then we can look at the insurance companies.

Also, OP: You lose money doing the models on eBay thing. I mean, do it in your spare time if you can, but you should seek out some other kind of employment in the meantime. Also, while I've never done it, and it is always a last ditch move, many people declare bankruptcy to get out of debt. You'd have a few years of hardship afterwards, but some folks manage to get through it with a fresh start.

filbert wrote:Problem is, in order to make money the insurance company have to come up with so many terms, conditions and clauses that you know they will try and find some loophole to not to pay out or to pay less; its the only way they can make a profit on a policy.

That's not true. They make a profit by charging more than you are likely to need in medical services.

If in a given year you're 1% likely to get sick and cost them $1 million, they will charge you $10,000 for insurance + whatever their profit margin. If you get sick, well crap, they're out of pocket $990,000. But they'll make it up on the 99 other people who didn't get sick.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:the notion you'd rather trust a profit driven insurance firm over the state to provide your medical care is boggling.

I feel exactly the opposite. The idea of trusing a 'free' medical system is completely boggling to me. Maybe it's a cultural thing.