Medical stories from the US always sound like from third world countries to me...
Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
131–140 of 305 posts
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#132I injured myself and needed to go to the ER. The injury wasn't life threatening, but I definitely needed to go to the hospital immediately. I called an Uber. I don't have the time or expertise to do the months of legalese and calculus it would take me to understand my insurance policy, so I have no idea how much an ambulance ride would have cost me. $0? $400? $15000? None of those numbers would surprise me. As best I…
My wife was in a car accident, and surprisingly, the ambulance bill (perhaps 5 miles, "night" surcharge (7pm), private ambulance in the bay area) was "only" ~$3400. I seem to recall an ambulance ride when I was a kid (20 years ago) costing something like $5k plus when I crashed my bicycle. Funny thing, though, the ambulance bill was the only thing NOT covered 100% initially. The hospital and surgeons bill your insura…
3.4k and 5k. I would expect the keys to ambulance after the ride for that price. How can that cost be justified, did you get any treatment in the ambulance other than oxygen and maybe some morphine?
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#133I injured myself and needed to go to the ER. The injury wasn't life threatening, but I definitely needed to go to the hospital immediately. I called an Uber. I don't have the time or expertise to do the months of legalese and calculus it would take me to understand my insurance policy, so I have no idea how much an ambulance ride would have cost me. $0? $400? $15000? None of those numbers would surprise me. As best I…
Why did you need a throwaway for this comment?
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#134Here in the UK, there has been a major campaign to try and reduce the usage of ambulances and emergency departments. Many of our ambulances literally have "this is not a taxi" written on them.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/ff/1e/5cff1eac4bef3b52f76d...
Because it's free to use, a lot of people call ambulances when they really don't need them. Women in the early stages of an uncomplicated labour. Young people with minor injuries. Elderly people who want a repeat prescription. Discouraging these people from abusing the service without putting off people who are genuinely in need of an ambulance is a complex and delicate task.
The US healthcare system is clearly an unmitigated disaster, but our single-payer utopia has a different set of problems.
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not just x-rays. I'm currently on holiday in New Zealand and had to take my infant daughter to the urgent care. The total cost was $21 USD (including the prescription). Back in the US it's $330 for a 15 minute appointment with her GP. There is no way it costs $1,300/hour to run a GP clinic. Between my employer and I, the cost of family insurance is > $20,000/year and we pay the first $6,000 in expenses. That's s…
These are sticker prices, used for anchoring expectations during negotiations with insurance companies. i.e. if your initial offer to the insurance company was $330, you'd get an actual rate of $25; whereas if your initial offer to the insurance company was $25, you'd get $20. The problem is that if you don't have insurance, you are charged these total fantasy prices - which is part of why being uninsured in the US i…
Sure, it's $330 because I have a high deductible plan (it's all my employer offers and they do provide a generous HSA).
Of course the clinic knows I have insurance so only offers the "insured rate".
It's insane.
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#136I injured myself and needed to go to the ER. The injury wasn't life threatening, but I definitely needed to go to the hospital immediately. I called an Uber. I don't have the time or expertise to do the months of legalese and calculus it would take me to understand my insurance policy, so I have no idea how much an ambulance ride would have cost me. $0? $400? $15000? None of those numbers would surprise me. As best I…
There is pretty much nothing that infuriates me more than the health insurance system. Here is just one example (other than your ambulance example, which is like some trolley-car problem come real): We use "insurance" for routine medical examinations which are supposedly to be done regardless of health. We use "insurance" for YEARLY checkups. The absurdity of this is on par with insuring yourself against getting hung…
Insurance should be used for what it is — an financial instrument to protect against unforeseen and catastrophic financial loss.
Car insurance doesn’t pay for tires or oil while it could be argued that bad tires increase the risk of accident. However tires and oil are an inextricable requirements to owning a car.
This idea that health care should be paid for by someone else has always puzzled me. It’s the equivalent of food being “free.”
For the legitimately poor, there is definitely a role for government just as governments don’t let people starve to death, but for everyone else — its just wacky that the government ought to be involved at all beyond safety regulation. We went wrong when some groups started claiming health care as a right — nobody has a “right” to the labor of other people. In other words — I don’t have a right to make you produce something for me.
Health care costs have spiraled out of control because of the detachment of who is paying from who is receiving the service — much like higher education.
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone, but about 8 years ago I got gastro and thought I was dying because I was in so much pain. I was a Kiwi living in Australia l, called myself an ambulance and I don’t have Medicare so figured I had to pay the bill. After being discharged I gave them my passport and the hospital bill was $0 while the ambulance bill was around $950 Aud. When I moved to singapore to live I got a…
So Aussies and Kiwis can live/work in the other country without visas (instant residence) but whoever drafted that agreement really fucked up. Aussies get instant ACC in NZ but Kiwis don't get Medicare in Australia. I remember there were discussions about it on Radio NZ a few years back. There is a big private health care industry in Australia (for better or worse) that's not employer based (you see adverts on TV), s…
Oh I could get Medicare, but because I was never in the country for 6 consecutive months at a time over the 5 years I lived there (traveling for short holidays) they wouldn't grant for me.
Doctor + Prescription in Australia is expensive! Would cost me like ~200 give or take.
In Singapore, consultation is like $15 and the medicine is prescribed by the clinic so no need to go to a pharmacy, total is like $50.
So I don't even bother seeing my insurance doctor where it costs me like ~$5 total, I just go see my normal doctor cos I trust him. (been to same doctor for 6 years)
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#138Can't you pay directly for private insurance in the US?
I pay directly to the insurance company. It costs me about 145 usd/month and includes health insurance (with urgent care), long term care insurance, life insurance (about 500k usd) and some more.
I could have done it through my employer, but when I leave for another place I'll have to renegotiate the price with the insurance company, and also this option has less good of coverage IMO. It is cheaper by 70% tough.
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#139I'm happy that in Lithuania (northern Europe) you can call ambulance even if you have fever and it's free (paid by you with taxes). Of course it's not perfect, medical personal don't earn much, and yes, it could take longer than Uber (except might be rush hours when ambulances can skip the congestions).
Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage
#140Here in the UK, there has been a major campaign to try and reduce the usage of ambulances and emergency departments. Many of our ambulances literally have "this is not a taxi" written on them. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/ff/1e/5cff1eac4bef3b52f76d... Because it's free to use, a lot of people call ambulances when they really don't need them. Women in the early stages of an uncomplicated labour. Young people with…
Your example is the result of years of government failure to provide adequate funding and support to the health system, not some kind of fantastical moocher, using ambulances for no reason.