61–70 of 536 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
the reverse side of that medal is that in 'most of the world' EMS quality is ass.
If you limit it to say the top 20 developed countries how does it look?
> The most efficient way to fund ambulance services would simply be to pay for the option the way that options are normally paid for: with a premium, collected from everyone the service stands ready to rescue. That’s how it’s done in the rest of the rich world. Some places, like the United Kingdom or Japan, simply fund ambulance services directly out of taxes; others, like the Australian state of Victoria, sell membe…
But that’s socialism!
> The most efficient way to fund ambulance services would simply be to pay for the option the way that options are normally paid for: with a premium, collected from everyone the service stands ready to rescue. That’s how it’s done in the rest of the rich world. Some places, like the United Kingdom or Japan, simply fund ambulance services directly out of taxes; others, like the Australian state of Victoria, sell membe…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very much so. We could fix this. We continue to choose not to, and will for some time into the future. Tangentially (think in systems), much of the US exists off of volunteer emergency services (fire and emt), which is rapidly evaporating. Average age of these volunteers is mid 50s. https://www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-articles/nfpa-journal/20... > For generations, volunteers have formed the backbone of the nation’s e…
I don’t think it is reasonable to expect to have ambulance coverage across the entire United States. There is a lot of land with very few people. Choosing to live far away from others is also choosing to live far away from help. If a service is highly variable cost dependent and is unaffordable for the average individual to pay out-of-pocket it is unaffordable for the aggregate individual as well. There _should_ be s…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haven't yet seen a developed nation do worse than the US. If you prefer to compare against developing countries only, sure, winning by lowering the bar to the ground is an option.
UK has had some atrocious response times.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would absolutely not tolerate and unregulated ambulance responding to my emergency.
You don’t have to. You do what you want. I’d prefer to hire a company where the workers make more money. Right now they make a pittance.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But do they really? Can you point a real, evil villain saying that?
See everyone who decries student loan forgiveness as an example.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Medicare pays too little" is based on the "fee for service" model; it only makes sense if you believe the group of people who actually use the ambulance should pay its full cost. The options model matters: if you model an ambulance ride as a roulette wheel, you only expect to pay if you get very unlucky. If you model it as an option, you expect to pay even if you never use it. The former doesn't imply "everyone else…
>The options model matters: if you model an ambulance ride as a roulette wheel, you only expect to pay if you get very unlucky. If you model it as an option, you expect to pay even if you never use it. There are plenty of services that have high fixed costs but low marginal costs, but we don't use the "options" framing. A movie costs tens to hundreds of millions to make, but otherwise costs very little to deliver. Th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very much so. We could fix this. We continue to choose not to, and will for some time into the future. Tangentially (think in systems), much of the US exists off of volunteer emergency services (fire and emt), which is rapidly evaporating. Average age of these volunteers is mid 50s. https://www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-articles/nfpa-journal/20... > For generations, volunteers have formed the backbone of the nation’s e…
I don’t think it is reasonable to expect to have ambulance coverage across the entire United States. There is a lot of land with very few people. Choosing to live far away from others is also choosing to live far away from help. If a service is highly variable cost dependent and is unaffordable for the average individual to pay out-of-pocket it is unaffordable for the aggregate individual as well. There _should_ be s…
Trying to frame it as a choice also misses a lot. It technically is, but you have to recognize there's a huge cost in uprooting your entire life and moving to a new location.
We’re all pretending this is an unsolvable problem when really most of the world has solved it by making ambulance (EMS) funding similar to fire and police departments. Somehow in any emergency I’ve seen, all three show up, often EMS before police or fire dept, and somehow that’s a service that has to be supplemented by insurance billings. The blog mentions it, but it’s one of those obvious things that somehow isn’t…
the reverse side of that medal is that in 'most of the world' EMS quality is ass.
- If you’re comparing to developed nations (or some non developed ones with functioning agencies), the argument doesn’t hold true.
- If you’re comparing to the bottom of the barrel EMS (quality being ass like you said), you’re still not going bankrupt for an ambulance ride.