$2K is a decent price for an ambulance. I’ve seen $5K years ago. Imagine what the price is now with high gas prices and high priced everything else.
they do this for morbidly obese people, like 600lb plus and if you are so obese, they might have to use scanners meant for large animals.
Bonus points if the fire department has to come and cut a hole in your house to get you out!
Ambulances charge? Like taxis?
Weird America. Weiiiiiird.
I’d rather take a taxi to the hospital because it’ll be cheaper
5k to 10k. So people risk death, drive themselves, find a ride somehow and refuse to get on when it gets called. There have been some new laws about credit scores and medical debt, but before these laws, everyone was on health issue away from a lifetime sentence of poor credit here. And even these new laws are a grey area of helpfulness.
That can’t be real. The ambulance would pay itself off only after 40 or so rides which can happen in 1-2 weeks.
It looks like there was a new law passed in 2022 i wasn’t aware of but billers have found loopholes to bill after the fact for larger amounts.
I’ve taken an ambulance and after whatever insurance covered my bill was over 5k. A few years ago, my sister had a fall outside and was unconscious and an ambulance was called. She had a bill for close to 10k.
There are a lot of private ambulance companies that charge different rates and different hospitals have different rates so a lot of the time it depends on who picks you up.
I think you need to be an uninsured American to really appreciate this joke. Ambulance coverage is $55/year where I’m from (Melbourne Australia), including air transport when needed. I’m in the USA now but ambulance rides are covered as part of the copay for ER visits ($100 on my plan).
It’s really bad in the US. I was a caretaker for both my parents. My mom broke her hip and had to go from the hospital to a rehab nursing facility. The social worker at the hospital coordinating with me asked how she is getting there.
Why don’t you transfer her?
Well we can but it’s not covered. If you can transfer her you’ll need to sign a waiver and she should probably be in a wheelchair during the ride so she doesn’t hurt her hip that is still healing.
So I shouldn’t transfer her?
Well if you can keep her comfortable for the ride you can, you still need to sign a waiver in case, for liability.
Well it’s going to be uncomfortable in my car and it’s high up, she can’t even step up that high and I can’t get a wheelchair in there, I have seats.
Ok well transport is like $1,000 out of pocket. Because insurance doesn’t cover it. Also it’s a third party transportation service.
What the fuck? Also ended up being a rickety old van with shitty shocks. Had a wheelchair lift and such but not exactly a $1,000 experience.
Yeah, I did volunteer EMT for a bit, and folks would call us up to help for this exact situation. Wasn’t super common, was generally folks who knew us or were aware of our existence, which may sound crazy. But we’d help transport people. And they’d usually drop a donation to the squad too, almost like it wasn’t about the money as much as it was about sending the money to some company versus a community organization.
EMTs have volunteers?
I unfortunately know someone who owns a metro company and that twat is rolling in cash, dude took 700k in ppp money and it was forgiven
EMTs having volunteers?!? that makes me beyond pissed
Yeah, the squad I was with is celebrating its 70th anniversary this coming April, so it kinda predates the issues we’re having now. It has remained a valuable community service, except it’s become an unfortunate necessity, or at least a way to help people avoid the massive costs associated with receiving medical care. Or at least in part.
And I volunteered because I liked to do it. We were fortunate enough to have a lot of folks locally who had the extra time to do it on a volunteer basis, and we ran in excess of 1,000 calls a year, which is a massive cost savings for each of those individuals who needed it. We would staff community events, so they wouldn’t need to pay to have an ambulance on-site.
Personally, I found it very rewarding. I backed out during COVID when my wife was pregnant with kid number two, shit was a bit uncertain, and I gotta look out for my family first. I would never want to work the job of an EMT. One 12-hour shift a week, and one 48-hour weekend shift every few months (on top of being treasurer which was a thankless and awful job) was plenty for me.
I’d rather have arranged something myself. But of course she was getting the boot that day, the day after hip surgery. So any additional days “might” not be covered.
This was end of last year maybe into this year. My dad passed a few years ago and dealt with similar issues and it wasn’t as bad. Certainly has gotten way worse since the annoying orange took over.
Heard stories of uninsured elderly patients without the ability to pay just being dropped off at homeless shelters with IV bags still attached. Skilled nursing facilities getting denies for coverage.
Shortly after she got there I had to do two appeals. She got denied as soon as she arrived. I ended up paying a portion out of pocket at like $300 a day. The rehab team wrote letters, I had them do a home inspection to prove it was unsafe. Still got denied over and over. They wear you down by denying first than hoping you don’t appeal.
Finally gave in even though she wasn’t as safe. Had to send her back to the hospital again in 2-days because she couldn’t get up to even pee and got a UTI.
Anyhow it was royally fucked. She ended up dying from cancer in the next few months. They found that came back very aggressively during her UTI stay.
Still have collectors asking for that nursing home stay and transportation. They can eat my ass, that’ll come out of her estate if anything is actually leftover.
Sorry this is long, just venting.
It’s disgusting, dude. I just can’t understand it. Recently got denied myself, nothing remotely life threatening, but it’s just frustrating, because they are banking on me not appealing. And I won’t, it’s $160, and I know I’d waste hours of my time appealing. So you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Obviously just makes me more sympathetic toward men of action. Just doesn’t need to be this way, but hey, some people need yachts and private jets.
I had no idea this was a thing, got a link for donation?
www.bridgewaterems.org/donate.htm. I’m not sure I’ve ever been on the website. Despite the donation link still working, it seems outdated.
Thanks!
No, thank you.
I’m sure they still do it, but at monthly meetings they would go through donations and basically read any notes that folks attached. It was generally a card with a check in it, but also PayPal and the like. I’m confident they’d have no idea what the Fediverse is if it was mentioned in a donation.
I am an insured American with reasonably good insurance, still received 3000 dollar bills each for the two times my son had to take an ambulance to the ER, one was literally transported from one facility to a different facility on the same medical campus, without my presence so I couldn’t decline and just take him myself. I wish my insurance would’ve covered those transports.
I have a friend in the US and he has insurance and also paid 3k for an ambulance. It’s insane.
It’s 0,- here (germany) 😁
(Or, if privately insured: more, but you get it back anyway)
That’s cheaper than uber.
Dunno, i don’t use destructive us-american companies :)
But “0” is cheaper than A LOT of things. E.g. DDR5-RAM
ambulance coverage? am i too european to understand this?
Maybe. Australia has universal health care, but ambulances aren’t included for some reason.
It doesn’t include dentists either… I guess teeth aren’t important.
$55 is too much, I’ll take an Uber if I need to go to hospital.
Your charge will exceed that easily when you bleed out all over their car.
“Riders are responsible for damage they cause to the interior or exterior of a vehicle, such as damage to upholstery or body components.”
https://help.uber.com/riders/article/vehicle-damage?nodeId=0e102bc9-9310-4e1c-9456-0510f410eb7b
*snicker* “body components” *snicker*
Does Uber have cleaning fees like AirB&B now?
Drivers have been pushing back on that because patients spew fluids in their cars often, just FYI.
Had to look up what ambulances cost where I live in Ontario, Canada. Looks like it’s $45 if the trip is deemed to have been medically necessary by hospital physicians and you have a valid health card. Otherwise it’s $240. There are certain exemptions for the $45 as well. Like when my daughter had to be transferred to a different hospital, I don’t remember being charged for that ambulance ride?
I couldn’t imagine them billing hospital shuttle traffic the same as an EMT response.
OK, American here. But what is the cost of you get hit by a car in a county different than the one you reside in?
I think in that scenario you would be covered? I seem to recall emergency hospital visits are covered for Ontario residents travelling abroad and also students in temporary residence.
That said, coverage for more mundane problems is generally lacking, and Canadians who travel a lot will typically have some supplemental coverage to fill the gaps. I’m in a group plan at work, for example. I think I pay around $70/mo?
I’m envious of how reasonable that all sounds.
Where you getting such a cheap tow?
They know a guy
I want to know that why ambulance is charging at all?
This is America.
B…but nevermind.
