One morning on July 24th, while our car was still being registered, I was biking to work at a restaurant. I was turning on the bike path as usual. At the turn, a car with a large trailer behind it brazenly cut me off. Or rather, the trailer cut me off, not the car. My bike got caught under the trailer's wheels and was left in pieces. By some miracle, I ended up on the shoulder safe and sound, and at first, I didn't even understand what had happened. And that jerk who hit me just kept driving like nothing happened. It's a good thing a decent citizen was driving behind him who waved him down, like, 'Hey, stop, you hit someone.' So, he stopped, walked over to me, and said, 'Sorry, I didn't see you.' I started yelling at him, 'You could have killed me! What kind of driver are you if you don't look around?' I said, 'That's it, I'm calling the cops.' So I called 911 and told the woman who answered what happened and where I was. She asked if I needed medical help. Like a fool, I said no, just police. The cops arrived, we all wrote down what we saw (me, the jerk who hit me, and the decent citizen who stopped him), the cops gave me the driver's info, and left. So I told the guy, 'Look, we need to settle this, I'm the victim here, you wrecked my bike and tore my shorts.' He said, 'Okay, I'll give you $20 for the shorts and fix the bike.' Just like that... That's Americans for you. The fact that I almost became disabled didn't matter. I agreed, what else could I do? He drove off, and I decided to walk to work slowly. But then Victor (my previous boss from painting) arrived, whom we had already become friends with by then, and told me I needed to go to the hospital and 'squeeze' money out of that a**hole who brazenly cut me off.

At first, I was a bit scared to go to the hospital because of their astronomical medical bills. I thought, who's going to pay for this? But since Victor insisted on going and said he'd help 'squeeze' money out of that jerk, I agreed. Plus, I had my own insurance, I thought. Turns out I was wrong. We arrived at the hospital, went inside, and my friend led me by the arm. I was still 'sick' after all. They registered me and took me to a room where they left me to wait for a nurse. One nurse came, then another, asking me all sorts of things. I answered them, 'Oh, yes, my leg, arm, and head hurt a lot.' Of course, I was exaggerating a bit, but I think I had every right to. In the end, they examined me and took me for X-rays and an MRI. They took about 20 pictures of my whole body and said I didn't have any fractures. That was already good. Then they prescribed me 20 Tramadol pills and sent me home. We went to the pharmacy, and I honestly bought my Tramadol, even though I didn't intend to take it. Victor promised to help with a lawyer who was supposed to help me 'squeeze' money for treatment and moral compensation from the person who hit me. But since it was Saturday, I decided to wait until Monday to call the lawyer.

So, insurance. Waiting until Monday, I called the lawyer Victor recommended and told him what happened. He told me that, unfortunately, he couldn't help because I was only in the hospital for one day. They only help people who were there for at least 3 days. Okay. Fine, I thought. I have my own insurance. I called my insurance company and told them what happened. Their answer just killed me. It turns out that riding a bike is 'engaging in active sports' and is not an insured event. But the woman who spoke to me on the phone promised to ask her manager again about my case. Two days later, I received a response from them:

'Dear Victor, We have received an official response from the Insurance Company stating that the case is considered uninsured. In this regard, we recommend that you pay the bills yourself. Sincerely, Duty Coordinator, Olga Litvinenko.'

Two days later, I got a bill from the hospital for $2,500 and another bill for the X-ray for $300. Since MY insurance company refused to pay, I was left alone with these bills. That's how it is, guys. When a car hits you on a bike path, it's 'engaging in active sports.' And it's so GOOD that nothing serious happened to me and that I didn't get under the wheels of that trailer. That's how much everyone will take care of you in America. Nobody needs you there! It's every man for himself. Don't ride a bike if you're traveling through IEC.Study, your insurance won't cover ANYTHING if something happens to you.

But I still had to do something, so I decided to contact the insurance company of the person who hit me. I called them and told them what happened. They told me they would call back later. Three days later, I received a response by mail saying that no one would pay me anything for some unclear reasons. But I couldn't give up, so I decided to call the same company, but to a different employee. And, oh miracle, this woman agreed to pay for everything. I just had to send her photos of everything damaged + medical bills. So I sent her photos of the torn shorts, the torn T-shirt (I specifically tore an old unnecessary T-shirt for this), photos of the bike, and the medical bills. Whether they paid me or not, more on that later.