My friend got in a pretty serious motorcycle wreck in the mountains. Someone called it in and they sent a helicopter. He had to get up and pretend to be standing, even though his leg was broken, before they agreed not to fly him to the hospital. That saved him a $20k+ ride in the helicopter (NOT covered by insurance). His friends finally got to him an hour later and drove him to the hospital.
So you don't even have the right to refuse the service they're going to charge you a college degree for unless they decide you're physically fit enough to do so?
I'm guessing once they've been called in they are legally bound to provide your assistance if you need it. They can't just let you there to die if you are unable to move.
That’s the case. So- it works like this, medical care in America is expensive- actually in large part BECAUSE of insurance- that’s more complex so if you want to know ask and I’ll reply. To our subject though- medical care is expensive but you can’t be denied critical or stabilizing care even if you can’t pay. Medical professionals are legally obligated to do all they can if they know a patient is in danger, and in some places here even private citizens are required to as well. If you see a person in danger and are able to help without putting yourself in danger, you must or else you can face jail time or be sued for money, more so if they die or are seriously hurt by your lack of help. So once called you CAN refuse transport but not if you are deemed in critical need or possible critical need.
So something like and accident where they can’t easily tell on the spot how hurt you are, you may have severe injury or even be on the verge of death and they might not be able to tell- motorcycles especially as the adrenaline after a crash can make a person walk around in shock without realizing they are badly hurt for several minutes or more. So if there is evidence your injuries are more than minor they won’t take the risk- they can’t, because of you later die or face complications they can be liable. The theory is that a sane person when faced with life and a cost or death will pay anything to keep living. If you’re worried about medical debt it means you’re alive- which by most accounts alive and in debt beats dead and debt free.
Wait .. What??? You have to PAY for a bloody ambulance in the US??? You're JOKING, surely?? What kind of a third-world country do you guys have there, anyway??
We may or may not “pay...” it depends on how good your insurance is- but yes. Ambulances use fuel, cost money to buy, and are crewed by people with homes and a powerful need to eat who get paid money to be there. So ambulances cost money everywhere in the world- it’s just a question of who pays and how. The US tax rate is much lower than many other countries. Developed socialism’s have tax rates well into 50-60%, and the UK has 20% up to about 46k and 40% over that- whereas the US tax rates max out at 37% and that’s for a person making over 446490.89 euro a year- with most people paying around 20% or less, and a majority of people Receiving refunds and credits back so effectively paying less than that.
The difference isn’t that ambulances cost- it’s that they aren’t pre paid in our taxes. Instead of making everyone pay for ambulances, the people who use them pay for them and people who never use one will never pay for one. It’s a system that in principal and practice has advantages and disadvantages- but where it fails most is in the perversion of the idea in the pursuit of maximizing profit instead of charging a “fair” price to cover real costs of services rendered.
But you can’t be denied help- if you can’t pay the government still foots the bill. The problem is that quality of life and preventative care aren’t covered in this- only life threatening or serious conditions. Thusly people without money for regular treatment for things that are small and easy to care for early or maintain, have to suffer and go without treatment until it’s severe enough to be life threatening or serious and then there is a larger bill than there would have been to prevent it.
Likewise, those with low income qualify for government provided medical care, however the income thresholds are such that in many cases it isn’t indexed to the real cost of living- especially geographically given that costs in a small area can vary hugely based on where exactly you live or work. So many who can’t afford medical care in real life while paying basic bills “on paper” make enough that based on inaccurate COL figures SHOULD be able to, are denied help.
Case in point the general figure for rent or housing expenses is a MAXIMUM 30% of household income. However most figures use 30% as the housing budget even though that’s MAXIMUM And doesn’t leave room for savings and cuts other budgets. However where I live, a person making minimum wage would need to budget 95% of their income to rent a studio dwelling, or 60% to board in a rented room. A home mortgage and annual property tax would be about 120% of the income of 2 people making minimum wage,
So all in all there are plenty of flaws in our medical system, but it also offers some of the highest patient scores, highest survival rates, and lowest wait times of any medical system in the world. We just need to find a way to maintain those advantages while bringing them to more people and not just to those of comfortable socioeconomic class.
My mom's Mom had alzheimer's and dementia and if she thought she was home alone she would get scared and call 911. Well in our small town if an elderly calls 911 they send an ambulance to the scene first.
She did this 3 times. And insurance will not pay for an ambulance if it was not needed. So after the 3rd time my uncle took all the phones out of the house. Leaving only one which he placed high on the wall where she never reach. She was short only 5'3. So there was no way she reach it. Plus she was in a wheel chair she couldn't walk anymore.
So yeah they make you pay every time that ambulance shows up.
After the first time they called and my uncle WHO WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME told them it was a false alarm they sent them the bill. The other 2 times they just let them take her to get checked up and than the insurance paid.
https://m.funsubstance.com/fun/527727/mission-report-may-23rd-2019/?last_comment=3161409#comment3161409
Nobody can be denied life-saving aid.
She did this 3 times. And insurance will not pay for an ambulance if it was not needed. So after the 3rd time my uncle took all the phones out of the house. Leaving only one which he placed high on the wall where she never reach. She was short only 5'3. So there was no way she reach it. Plus she was in a wheel chair she couldn't walk anymore.
So yeah they make you pay every time that ambulance shows up.
After the first time they called and my uncle WHO WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME told them it was a false alarm they sent them the bill. The other 2 times they just let them take her to get checked up and than the insurance paid.