I mean- the ambulance generally doesn’t ask for the money- the billing department of the organization that operates it does. Regardless outside of usually special circumstances the crew of the ambulance does ask for money even in places with “universal health care” as they are paid employees who collect a wage unless they are unpaid volunteers for a relief effort or something like that. In other words the crew is getting paid either way and it is just a question of who pays them. If the government provides healthcare you just have a government sending you a bill in the form of taxes as opposed to a company sending you a bill as an invoice. You’re still likely paying for the ambulance and it is still costing money.
and it's an insane amount of money, the one time i needed an ambulance it cost roughly 11k. That's pure price gouging. There's no way a stabilizer, their pay and a 20 min drive costs that much... I mean hell, i could still fucking walk when i needed it, just wasn't gonna risk driving. I didn't even need any drugs. When i got to the hospital they just stapled where i split my head open back together and let my sleep in the hallway on a bed.
Oh yeah. No, American medical pricing is insane. It’s a combination of things but goes to insurance and insurance law. Ultimately they can’t say it’s $5 to you but charge insurance $20; but when insurance gets a bill for $5 they’ll argue it to $2 and the hospital loses money. So to get the $5 they have to charge the $20 which means without insurance you get charged the $20 and most people don’t realize or have the necessary stuff to haggle that $20 down to $5. Then the whole debt and credit system steps in. You don’t have the leverage of the insurance company and the hospital knows they can ding your credit and get a kick back from debt collectors if they send your account over. So they hold your credit rating hostage as well as your possible employment and ability to get a home and they won’t give you the $5 because they have the leverage to get $6 and the debt collectors will pay a guaranteed $3 and they can collect the rest from tax kick backs on lost payments and bank it as profit.
It’s crooked as a politician doing double limbo in a house of mirrors. And it’s not just legal but now mandatory and government endorsed. So don’t get me wrong- the US medical system is abusive as all hell. That’s before we talk about the doctors (I know- waaah. Poor doctors.. hear me out..) insurance has them on the back end. Their malpractice can be astronomically high and a single suit can cost millions- potentially decades of wages even for a doctor- so the insurance guys get it on the backend from the hospitals and manufacturers. Higher insurance for doctors means pay has to be higher to offset it which means patients get charged more and…. It’s a giant web of graft before we even involve reps and drug companies and all the other sludge that’s scum floating on top of decent folks trying to help and get by.
So yeah- call an ambulance when you make literally $10k a year and just to show up for a “false alarm” it can easily cost $1000 even with shit insurance.
A baby costs as much as a car or in some places a house by the time you even get to see it’s face the first time. I have no idea how people afford kids anymore- or maybe that’s why kids don’t “play outside like we used to.” I hardly had a year of childhood that didn’t involve a break or sprain or twist or strain or stitches- if I was a kid today my medical bills from 4-10 could buy you a super yacht. When I had home care for a health issue for a year, the bill was over a million dollars including surgeries. This was a couple decades ago now. I had good insurance so my part was basically nothing- but I imagine someone with worse insurance would have been pretty screwed. It’s a mess, I’m not saying it isn’t.
I have no problem with the doctors, all I'm saying is it took 5 min, which i'd be happy to pay 50 dollars for and ignore the insurance. An 11k ambulance ride is ridiculous, i'da happily given those guys a grand each cuz i know they get paid shit.... giving up that much to an insurance company is badshit insane, as it defeats why paying for health insurance is a thing.
as for an ambulance costing 1k here, won't happen.. it was 11k after insurance, so before it would have been 19k min... which is even crazier. I guess the 8k savings is nice, but it's still fucking ridiculous
as for the kids, yeah i loved my childhood, but at this point i'd rather get snipped than have one in this fucked up world... even if I tripled my worth... i know what a shithead I was as a kid and i can't deal with that.
Lol. I don’t know the details, I just know that recently a friends mother had to have an ambulance sent out and it cost them $1000. The mother isn’t well off and just has whatever government insurance plan/subsidy. Though I don’t doubt a bill could be $11k or more since providers are for the most part free to change what they like since the system is so screwed up.
The world is pretty screwed up but it always has been- but likewise I struggle to comprehend how people manage to afford kids anymore. If I tripped or quadrupled my income I’d still feel under financed for modern parenthood based on the prices for everything now.
A baby costs as much as a car or in some places a house by the time you even get to see it’s face the first time. I have no idea how people afford kids anymore- or maybe that’s why kids don’t “play outside like we used to.” I hardly had a year of childhood that didn’t involve a break or sprain or twist or strain or stitches- if I was a kid today my medical bills from 4-10 could buy you a super yacht. When I had home care for a health issue for a year, the bill was over a million dollars including surgeries. This was a couple decades ago now. I had good insurance so my part was basically nothing- but I imagine someone with worse insurance would have been pretty screwed. It’s a mess, I’m not saying it isn’t.
The world is pretty screwed up but it always has been- but likewise I struggle to comprehend how people manage to afford kids anymore. If I tripped or quadrupled my income I’d still feel under financed for modern parenthood based on the prices for everything now.