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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

#251
post #222

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…

If it's not life-threatening, don't go to the ER. Go to urgent care. They'll charge you $100-$200 for the visit, plus cost of materials. $27 X-Ray kind of cost of materials in my experience. https://www.howmuchisit.org/how-much-does-urgent-care-cost/ Better yet, get direct primary care. It's ideal for tylenol and ace bandage situations. I am completely convinced that even if you have insurance, you are much better of…

Many places don't have urgent care facilities. And you'd still need to use an ambulance (or Uber) to get there otherwise if you aren't well enough to drive.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's mostly football ultras[0] though. They are usually the lowest common denominator, it's like saying the US has issues with education because there are people who believe that the earth is flat. Besides, I did not say there's no racism in Europe, I said it's not institutionalized. I should also add that discrimination in European countries is based more along ethnic and nationalistic lines, not race or color the…

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Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Those are not required procedures, so obviously there is much more of a chance for a real market there. But you can't just compare that with e.g. ER or cancer treatment.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It adds one crucial feature every healthy, functioning market needs: honest feedback. Right now nobody , and I mean literally nobody, makes rational economic decisions for medicine in the US. Neither the hospital, doctor, administrator, insurance company, or patient really has any real idea 1) the cost of the health care being provided 2) the amounts being charged or 3) the dollar amount of benefit gained by the pati…

The root cause tho is that the consumer of the product (patient) is generally different from the payer (employer). Insurance isn’t the real problem. The invaluable argument could be applied to your house too.

Currently though, even if the patient is paying for insurance out of their own pocket, the real decisionmaker is generally still bureaucrats (in the literal sense) at the insurance company + hospital.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#255
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only reason not to call an ambulance here is if you feel it would be unethical I dunno, maybe you just want to avoid the psychological feeling of urgency and gravity that comes with an ambulance. I think there's something to be said for staying calm and keeping self-control and dignity when facing an emergency situation. If you're bleeding profusely or are in-and-out of consciousness or have a deadly virus, obv…

There’s also the question of control. No matter how badly injured, if I’m driving myself or taking a cab, I am still “the boss.” But as soon as EMTs and doctors become involved, that control is lost. In an increasingly authoritarian country/world, where we are expected to give up all rights upon first interaction with persons in a position of power or authority, be it the policeman that graduated yesterday but has th…

I've done nursing work, and my brother is an EMT in paramedic training. From the discussions we've had, you can always leave nursing/hospital care if physically able to express that desire and mentally stable, and the only EMT care you can't decline is if you tell them you're going to kill yourself or are physically unable to decline.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#256
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is something where individual US states need to blaze a trail. California passed a (light-on-details) single-payer healthcare bill through the state Senate, though unfortunately the matter has been tabled for now by the Assembly, and funding it would require creative use of Medicare dollars that a) would require federal approval, and b) may not even exist much longer if the GOP gets its way. I agree that…

> [Medicare dollars] may not even exist much longer if the GOP gets its way. Has the GOP actually suggested eliminating Medicare? That doesn’t seem to be accurate at all.

No, as usual the GOP doesn't remove anything, they just make it as difficult as possible for anything to receive the funding it needs, and then go on TV and moan about how nothing the Government runs works properly.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#257
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's not life-threatening, don't go to the ER. Go to urgent care. They'll charge you $100-$200 for the visit, plus cost of materials. $27 X-Ray kind of cost of materials in my experience. https://www.howmuchisit.org/how-much-does-urgent-care-cost/ Better yet, get direct primary care. It's ideal for tylenol and ace bandage situations. I am completely convinced that even if you have insurance, you are much better of…

Many places don't have urgent care facilities. And you'd still need to use an ambulance (or Uber) to get there otherwise if you aren't well enough to drive.

Many places don't have them, but many people who do have access to them are unaware and don't understand the advantage. OP sounded like someone who thought the only option available was going to a hospital and rolling the dice on insurance. I'm trying to encourage people to learn about urgent care. It can handle a lot of common problems and the price is super predictable. Usually it's listed on the web site. (Come see us with a UTI? $125). It's worth learning about as an option. Google urgent care near you! It doesn't solve everyone's problem, but it solves a lot of people's -- and I want the industry to thrive and expand and hence bring down the cost of urgent medical care for everyone.

Absolutely you still need to get there. Absolutely Uber is a good option when you shouldn't be driving.

Don't take an ambulence unless getting medical care on the way could be lifesaving. Don't go to an ER unless getting medical care in the next couple hours could be lifesaving.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#258
post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's not life-threatening, don't go to the ER. Go to urgent care. They'll charge you $100-$200 for the visit, plus cost of materials. $27 X-Ray kind of cost of materials in my experience. https://www.howmuchisit.org/how-much-does-urgent-care-cost/ Better yet, get direct primary care. It's ideal for tylenol and ace bandage situations. I am completely convinced that even if you have insurance, you are much better of…

Between the hours of 10 to 10.

Depends on the place. Some are 24 hour. Some are just long business hours. See what's available near you before you get hurt.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#259
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all coming from a hardcore capitalist, so know that going in: Health Insurance, as a concept, is disgusting. You "Insure" property. You "Insure" specifically against loss of that property, and the cost of insurance is determined (forgetting an awful lot of math, but the basics are) by: The value of the property in question, the amount of payout required to replace said property in the case of full loss, put u…

The reason you must get car insurance isn't to cover the cost of the car, it's to cover the very high variance in potential payouts to third parties should you cause an accident. Health insurance in principle works on a similar basis: it's a cost smoothing mechanism for unexpected large costs that not everyone is expected to incur. It breaks down if everyone incurs the big costs (old age) or not everyone insures (onl…

GP was referring to the car insurance, not the driver insurance.

Those are separable concepts. If your rear-view mirror is broken off by a punk with a baseball bat while parked on a Chicago street, that is property damage to your car that would be covered by your car insurance. If you t-bone another car, the damage to their vehicle is covered by your driver insurance, while the damage to your own vehicle might be covered by your car insurance, if that possibility is listed in the policy. Generally speaking, if your car insurance doesn't pay for damages incurred by the owner while driving, you-as-car-owner can't file a claim against you-as-car-driver under the driver insurance policy, and end up getting any money out of it.

When the policies are offered by the same insurance company, the actuaries for each can share information, such that the risk of owner-caused damages can be assessed for the car policy, and can therefore be rolled into its premiums. This is why those policies are often combined.

Where states mandate insurance, the mandate is always for driver insurance. So the car insurance then becomes an upsell option for those who already have to buy something from an insurance company.

With health insurance, there is the one big problem that you just can't get around. Everybody dies, eventually. You can sort of predict when and how in a large enough population, but everyone has a very high, statistically predictable likelihood of needing medical care at some time during their lifespan. There is also another big problem. Most people incur their highest medical costs in the year before their death. Obviously, after you die, you can't work off your medical debts.

That's not a good looking model for healthcare providers, and a tough one for healthcare insurance actuaries to squeeze profitable premiums out of. There is a perverse incentive to drop a client or raise their premiums right after a claim is paid, on the presumption that any uptick in medical payments might be a harbinger of greater future medical expenses. There is also perverse incentive to drop customers immediately after the first payment related to chronic disease is made. We paid for an office visit to an oncology specialist and for biopsy lab tests, so our model says that we should drop you right now before your lab results come back. We hope you don't have cancer, so you can prove it before coming back to us as a customer, but otherwise, good luck with your treatment bills....

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes, 5 euros at the registry if you can't wait for your family doctor to make time for you.
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