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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

#261

Post by nofilter »

dbancajas wrote: post #175
nofilter wrote: post #160

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…

Is it a good place to live? What about racism etc?

As far as I know most people are just curious (I saw my first black person when I was 11 years old, so yeah, mostly white country). There is racism, sure, especially in less-developed parts of the country, but most people just keep to themselves and don't ever express their racism. I also don't know of anyone below 30 to be racist. It's mostly old people from the soviet times (where there were virtually no people other than of colour white around).

As far as is it a good place to live, well, it's cold (but very tech-advanced). Check out https://e-estonia.com/

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#262

Post by nofilter »

endisukaj wrote: post #245
arcanus wrote: post #234

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…

I totally agree that discrimination is done by geographical area of origin instead of colour of skin. Lots of Estonians have an axe to grind with Russians (due to history), but I don't know of any other people that we tend to dislike. Perhaps British guys that come here to get drunk and yell and piss all over the streets, but I'm sure that's a problem most everywhere.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#263

Post by logfromblammo »

ballooney wrote: post #142
an4rchy wrote: post #5

I've been wondering about this for a while but, is there a reason why Uber or an alternative cannot/should not get into the Ambulance space, if it were able to get qualified staff. I feel like Ambulances/Hospitals charge way too much and using the app/tech at a basic level to connect the ambulances with patients addresses may be a good start for everyone and also the increase in supply may reduce costs.

When people criticize 'Silicon-Valley-Types' for only being able to think of technical solutions to social problems, it's exactly this kind of thing they have in mind. Just read this thread - the way medical care is paid for in the US is batshit-insane, injured people not wanting to call an ambulance incase they lose their house - and reads like a history book about european medieval history. The solution is not more…

We fix the largest problems that we are permitted to touch.

We cannot propose a solution to the ultimate cause, because that would require the representative democracy to elect more scientists, technicians, engineers, and mathematicians to the legislature in lieu of the usual professional politicians, lawyers, corporations managers, and educators.

So we work on what we can reach.

We cannot create a proper healthcare system from the top down, but we can issue bugfix patches and hope they get adopted upstream. That keeps the system limping along, but never getting quite bad enough for anyone to demand the complete overhaul that it needs.

It only looks crazy because the biggest problem any motivated individual can solve is limited either by the amount of investment capital they can attract with their solution, or by the amount of campaign funding they can attract with their solution. So any proposals that threaten profit margins cannot be considered.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#264

Post by jdietrich »

jacquesm wrote: post #182
jdietrich wrote: post #134

Here 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…

> Women in the early stages of an uncomplicated labour. That's taking a bit of a shortcut there. You don't know if a labor is uncomplicated until it is done and it can go from 'uncomplicated' to 'life threatening' in the space of a heartbeat.

London Ambulance Service policy states that ambulances should not to be dispatched to women in the early stages of labour unless there are known risk factors. It's a massive waste of resources to send two trained personnel and a fully equipped ambulance to act as a taxi, just in case something goes wrong en route.

http://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/talking_with_us/freedom_of...

Childbirth is not a medical emergency.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#265

Post by [deleted] »

tarboreus wrote: post #242
sitepodmatt wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The numbers still seem extremely high, even if an ambulance only does 3 trips a day on a bad day, that's over 10k USD. A private ambulance ride in Thailand (Im not talking rescue org ambualances) for example is $80-$120. Now I understand the service standard might not be as high, and wages are lower, and so on, but is it really 40x as expensive in USA to cover costs? Actually a better example, might be HKG, where ser…

Note that paramedics make relatively little and are on a volunteer basis in many areas.

[deleted]

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#266

Post by foxyv »

solatic wrote: post #188
Xylakant wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

But that's the difference between buying insurance, which is an actuarial product you buy to guard against unfortunate events, and buying a service or subscription, which is available for your use when you desire to use it. Let's ask a simple question to determine which is which in the US: because attending your annual checkups reduces your risk of needing expensive treatment, somebody who attends their annual checku…

My employer offers a discount on health insurance if I attend a health screening. This is relatively common.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#267

Post by geezerjay »

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 absolutely makes sense to insure routine medical examinations. If they’re not covered, people don’t do them.

Then don't call it insurance. Call it what it is: a subscription to a medical service provider.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#268

Post by notyourday »

skrause wrote: post #253
notyourday wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Because the idea that cancer treatment as well as other exotic treatments needing to be covered by insurance is a pile of horse manure - i'm saying it as someone whose grandmother died from cancer and someone who has a few friends that successful beat down cancer.

Lets engage in an intellectual exercise. 10MM USD (today) and for 1 person cancer is gone. Should we include coverage for cancer into all policies?

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#269

Post by saas_co_de »

qaq wrote: post #223
saas_co_de wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, most people don't tell the stories about how they go to luxuriously built hospitals that make most corporate offices and hotels seem cheap by comparison, with parking lots full of BMW's, Mercedes, and other 6-figure foreign cars, and are treated by teams of highly paid people using millions of dollars of the best equipment in the world ... As long as you have money the US is great.

"As long as you have money the US is great" even if you have money you will still have to go to the local hospital for emergency and will have to wait for specialist appointment some stupid amount of time unless you actively spend time and money donating to the hospital some serious $ so you have direct numbers of people in charge etc.

It depends on where you live. The US tends to be highly segregated by income/wealth. In the high income places they have ERs advertising to get more business because they are underutilized.

Re: Cities with Uber Have Lower Rates of Ambulance Usage

#270

Post by qaq »

saas_co_de wrote: post #269
qaq wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"As long as you have money the US is great" even if you have money you will still have to go to the local hospital for emergency and will have to wait for specialist appointment some stupid amount of time unless you actively spend time and money donating to the hospital some serious $ so you have direct numbers of people in charge etc.

It depends on where you live. The US tends to be highly segregated by income/wealth. In the high income places they have ERs advertising to get more business because they are underutilized.

I live in a third county by per capita income in US and #1 and #2 are right next to me.
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