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Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

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Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#231

Post by jimktrains2 »

autokad wrote: post #214
jimktrains2 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, you're claiming that since certain cancer screenings are ineffective it therefore means that managing issues such as hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and diabetes are also ineffective? That seems like a stretcher to me, and I'm not buying it.

I dont know about the former, but the later two are long term diseases that can be caught when visiting the doctor for other reasons. also, compliance to the drugs and lifestyle is very low. diabetes usually shows itself, hypertension is a silent killer though. i'm not arguing against check ups, but I could imagine why they are not as effective as you might think. i myself do not get checkups, i have insurance, but g…

For your last 3 paragraphs, that's absolutely terrible. I'm in the US and none of that mirrors my experience at all.

> diabetes usually shows itself, hypertension is a silent killer though.

Diabetes does not always or often show itself until a major issue has come up.

> i'm not arguing against check ups, but I could imagine why they are not as effective as you might think.

I have this sense that medicine is in some kind of "PTSD" from ...something...? right now. I don't feel like I can mention things to a doctor without them feeling like they absolutely need to do something about it. For instance, there is this one doctor at my child's pediatrician who will prescribe things (for instance she prescribed a nausea medicine when my kid had a stomach bug) that my wife and I are like really; it doesn't help that she doesn't communicate anything about the meds. (Yes, we've mentioned her to the other doctors at the practice.) But that's an extreme case, but little things in the same vein do annoy me.

I don't think yearly checkups are a cure all, but there are chronic diseases that our socity lends itself too. Changing social patterns (e.g. what we eat, how we get around, &c) would probably do more than any amount of medicine could.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#232

Post by shados »

blhack wrote: post #82
throwaway0255 wrote: post #48

I 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…

To be fair, a lot of stuff work that way. Take an HVAC maintenance plan for example. For some fee (based on the model and age of your HVAC and the condition it's in), you get routine maintenance covered. They do what they can to prevent major hiccups, but if it breaks down, they'll repair it (after trying to weasel their way out of it).

It's pretty darn common across a lot of industries.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#233

Post by endisukaj »

chimeracoder wrote: post #209
endisukaj wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll be hard-pressed to find the sort of systematic racism found in the US (especially by institutions) anywhere in Europe. Sure, you might get the occasional glance if you are black especially in Eastern Europe and it's mostly because out of curiosity since there are not many African immigrants in ex-Communist countries as there are in, say, France. But other than that you'll be fine. I should say though that East…

> You'll be hard-pressed to find the sort of systematic racism found in the US (especially by institutions) anywhere in Europe This ia really common misconception perpetuated by (white) Europeans. It couldn't be more wrong. Systemic racism is pervasive throughout Europe, and in many ways, it's even more institutionalized in Europe than it is in the US. Please stop spreading the myth that Europe is free of institution…

Do you have any proof for that? AFAIK the percentage of black people in prison in the EU is smaller than in the US for example.

I know that this does not prove everything but it's one way to measure institutional racism which is kinda hard to measure in an objective way.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#234

Post by arcanus »

endisukaj wrote: post #233
chimeracoder wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'll be hard-pressed to find the sort of systematic racism found in the US (especially by institutions) anywhere in Europe This ia really common misconception perpetuated by (white) Europeans. It couldn't be more wrong. Systemic racism is pervasive throughout Europe, and in many ways, it's even more institutionalized in Europe than it is in the US. Please stop spreading the myth that Europe is free of institution…

Do you have any proof for that? AFAIK the percentage of black people in prison in the EU is smaller than in the US for example. I know that this does not prove everything but it's one way to measure institutional racism which is kinda hard to measure in an objective way.

https://www.apnews.com/e6ab521552b64a399f79a223d8006e5e/Raci...

European soccer games, for example, have had many examples of widespread racist chants and gestures.

Racism is absolutely a problem in Europe.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#235

Post by notyourday »

Xylakant wrote: post #179
blhack wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It absolutely makes sense to insure routine medical examinations. If they’re not covered, people don’t do them. Many routine examinations uncover conditions that are not critical yet and easy to treat before they turn into a costly nightmare. (e.g. routine skin checks uncover potential cancer before it spreads, tooth checks uncover problems before they require expensive replacement) It’s an investment, not only healt…

It makes no sense.

One insures for what one cannot covers himself or herself. Regular risk (maintenance) one simply absorbs. That's why the mandatory health insurance especially as defined by ACA is a total garbage - it forces insurance companies to cover regular risk.

I only want to carry catastrophic insurance. If I could, I would have had a policy that kicked in at $50,000 and covered to some absurd amount.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#236

Post by notyourday »

skrause wrote: post #157
briandear wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. No, they have spiralled out of control because health care is something where no real market can exists, so you need good regulation (which the USA doesn't have). If you have an urgent and life-threatening health problem you can't shop around for a cheaper hospita…

Lasik surgeons disagree.

Cosmetic surgeons disagree.

They are all medical procedures that are not covered by insurance. As the number of providers increases and the technology advances, prices drop and quality increases.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#237

Post by dullgiulio »

nofilter wrote: post #160
throwaway0255 wrote: post #48

I 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…

Yeah, never moving to America. Never. I value my life more than that. In Estonia (and I'd imagine most of Europe), the ambulance ride is free (unless you prank call them, then you get a fine). The healthcare is free (paid by your employer), doesn't matter how badly you're injured. The only thing that's not free is dental care, but you can insure that, so you pay a monthly fee and they cover the actual cost if somethi…

In Estonia you have to pay for non-serious visits to the ER. How much was it, 5 euro?

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#238

Post by chimeracoder »

endisukaj wrote: post #233
chimeracoder wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'll be hard-pressed to find the sort of systematic racism found in the US (especially by institutions) anywhere in Europe This ia really common misconception perpetuated by (white) Europeans. It couldn't be more wrong. Systemic racism is pervasive throughout Europe, and in many ways, it's even more institutionalized in Europe than it is in the US. Please stop spreading the myth that Europe is free of institution…

Do you have any proof for that? AFAIK the percentage of black people in prison in the EU is smaller than in the US for example. I know that this does not prove everything but it's one way to measure institutional racism which is kinda hard to measure in an objective way.

> I know that this does not prove everything but it's one way to measure institutional racism which is kinda hard to measure in an objective way.

It's a lot harder to collect data when you expunge all references to race from the law, and also prohibit public institutions from collecting data on race and ethnicity, as five European countries have already done. Heck, you'll be hard-pressed to find reliable statistics for how many black people even live in (e.g.) France. That doesn't mean racism doesn't exist there; it just means it's impossible to separate out the effects of racism in analyses. The racism has become fully integrated.

This is exactly what institutionalization of racism looks like - racism becoming part and parcel of the society, so tightly integrated that it's actually hard to disentangle the racism from the rest of society.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#239

Post by dmichulke »

mjburgess wrote: post #174
dmichulke wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not hard to see that it is in short-term self interest to form cartels Cartels are only a problem if no new suppliers can enter the market. > lobby for regulation This is a problem of any representative system. Convince them and you're set. No capitalism involved. > crush competition Just a consequence of the abovementioned. Summary: step 2 is the crucial problem, it's usually corruption or idiocy and a govern…

really-existing capitalism involves co-opting local power structures (parliaments, legislatures, dictatorships, puppets, etc.) to protect your cartel. If capitalism is only capitalism when there is no conglomerated power structure then capitalism is impossible. Often enough today its the left who are defenders of capitalism (ie., of disentangling power structures from coporate control) whereas the right seems possess…

> really-existing capitalism involves co-opting local power structures (parliaments, legislatures, dictatorships, puppets, etc.) to protect your cartel.

I grew up in a communist country and guess what: politicians co-opted local power structures for their personal benefit. They drove the good cars, had the nice houses at the lakes and hard (= Western) currency. This is the case for (AFAIK) every single "socialist" state.

The only difference was that in socialism, corruption was not done for the benefit of a company but for an individual.

Do you really think that once the economic system changes, they (= we) are all suddenly better people?

It's the power itself that is corrupted and it doesn't matter how or by whom or in what system, the end result is the same.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#240

Post by formerchamp »

Good, former EMT and Paramedic for busy metropolitan city here. Your exorbitant costs are subsidizing the homeless, system abusers, and illegals who can't be billed. 90% of the calls we were dispatched to were not acute emergencies. And 90% of those calls were people of the lower socioeconomic demographic systematically abusing medicaid.
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