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Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

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Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#301

Post by martheen »

geoffmunn wrote: post #249
thayne wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had an accident where I had a concussion and other injuries that put me in a lot of, and the people I was with called an ambulance for me, and I wasn't really in a state to decline, but if I had been, and knew how much it would cost, I would have. The ambulance ride was, of course, out of network. As were some of the doctors that treated me once I got to the hospital. It was the first time I dealt with a major medi…

As someone who is not American, $10,000!!!!!! That's hard to conceive where I live. We even have a specifically free ambulance service here.

I can literally buy a nice house with that just outside the city. And we somehow have universal healthcare despite the average salary is not even one-tenth of American.

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#302

Post by tumdum_ »

altern8 wrote: post #261
tumdum_ wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they don't have socialized healthcare You have free healthcare for children (up to 18 years old), pregnant women and registered unemployed. Moreover, any working person can (for free) add their spouse and parents. Plus people can apply for free health insurance if they have very low income.

Not sure, that's why I specified "from what I understand". BUT, most people aren't children, pregnant, or registered unemployed/very low income, so from that point of view to me it's still an insurance-centric system. I pay a hefty amount each month and I was sick in the past and the system was so inefficient that I had to go to private doctors and clinics just to figure out what was wrong with me. I see the public i…

Here is a nice summary of Polish health care: https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/report...

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#303

Post by sehansen »

failbuffer wrote: post #168
indoorfish wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"My LLM of choice" is like when the news reporter says "confirmed by someone not authorized to speak publicly". It's not a meaningful report.

Your point about LLMs aside, I'd trust the inside source over whatever carefully baked misrepresentation the PR department doles out.

Unfortunately that inside source is often coached by the PR department and are just there to say things they can't get away with saying publicly or don't want to have their exact words on record. I.e. just as much a misrepresentation as the official press releases. Or sometimes even more of a misrepresentation since nobody can actually be held accountable for their words.

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#304

Post by pshirshov »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #251
onion2k wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the question is "Should ambulances be a thing?" though. It's a question of "Should someone in a situation where they need an ambulance have to balance the potentially life-threatening impact of saying no versus the potentially financially ruinous impact of saying yes?" The (fairly obvious) answer to that no one should be in that situation. It's horrible. Society should find a better way to pay for ambul…

[flagged]

Well, you don't know how rotten the industry is. Your moral social-darwinism just enriches a couple of suits, nothing more, instead of spreading the costs you could very well start by making sure the costs are not inflated.

x2..x5 multiplier is always applied to any ambulance bill as far as I'm aware. I worked in that industry.

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#306

Post by alistairSH »

Freedom2 wrote: post #97
alistairSH wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This applies to other things as well - retirement and education come to mind. Anecdote: my uncle and BIL are auto mechanics. One in the US, the other in Scotland. Similar lifestyles - both own homes, have mechanical hobbies (vintage cars for one, Harleys for the other) - typical working class lives. The uncle in the UK just has much less mental overhead when it comes to major life planning.

Many here will say that that's the cost of the freedom of choice and speech in the US.

And yet we have ICE and the FBI harassing “dissidents” every day, medical choices dictated by insurance companies, and on and on. They’ve been sold a bill of goods and just haven’t realized it yet, IMO.

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#307

Post by shusaku »

gruez wrote: post #9

As much as I like articles that tries to use economics or finance to explain stuff, the "options" analogy is a bit hamfisted. The article starts off by noting about how ambulance is an "option" for a rescue, but even though the analogy might vaguely work, it's not really needed to answer the question. That can be answered far more simply: "medicare and insurance companies pay them too little, so they have to charge e…

I completely lost interest at the options part, it’s not that complicated of a concept. But substack writers have their type

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#308

Post by x______________ »

otherme123 wrote: post #212
onion2k wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the question is "Should ambulances be a thing?" though. It's a question of "Should someone in a situation where they need an ambulance have to balance the potentially life-threatening impact of saying no versus the potentially financially ruinous impact of saying yes?" The (fairly obvious) answer to that no one should be in that situation. It's horrible. Society should find a better way to pay for ambul…

> Society should find a better way to pay for ambulances Society has this figured out, at least a decent solution that works until we find a perfect one. Only the US society seems to be unable to find a solution.

> Only the US society seems to be unable to find a solution.

Unwilling. It's absolutely feasible to find a solution, as seen everywhere else in the world.

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#309

Post by cucumber3732842 »

wisty wrote: post #240
otherme123 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Society should find a better way to pay for ambulances Society has this figured out, at least a decent solution that works until we find a perfect one. Only the US society seems to be unable to find a solution.

And the US also pays a TON of tax dollars to a broken, overregulated system. IIRC if you look at the cost of Medicaide, Medicare, VA, and other federal and state spending it's the same as most other countries per capita or as a percent of GDP. The US taxpayer pays about as much as Canadians to fund their public system, then pays the same amount again for private cover since it's not universal. No I'm not making a typ…

>But no one wants to fix it. US doctors are overpaid. US nurses are over paid. Dug companies. Admin. Lawyers. Everyone who makes the system work, and everyone who makes the system a mess are paid a fortune for it.

17% of GDP is healthcare. So between 1:10 and 2:10 people in this country are making more than they otherwise would (note I did not say wealthier) because the system is screwed up and hoovers up more of everyone else's wealth than it ought to.

Slavery was 12% and (while obviously geographic concentration of industry plays a lot into it) it took a war for them to take a haircut.

Re: Why American ambulance rides are so expensive

#310

Post by natebc »

bestouff wrote: post #296
master-lincoln wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what a government would be for. You vote neo-liberal, you get it... (I consider both the US democrats and republicans neo-liberal)

I think only the US consider the US Democrats as leftists.

Only the rightists do and among them really only the loud redfaced ones.
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