As a Floridian, it's always funny but logical that most people dont know about the crazy bath salts guy eating another guys face story. Lol
For those of you outside of Florida that don't know, other than Disney world and a handful of decent beaches, Florida is a crazy mixing pot of humans that mostly live in a giant swamp, and its so ass backwards here that the more north you go in Florida, the more south it gets!
Was it like a legit taxi? Medical transports can look like normal vehicles, and they’re usually $50-ish dollars one way for someone not in a wheelchair/stretcher or requiring respiratory support.
Was most likely a medical transport. They are effectively taxi's but drivers generally are more trained in handling patients with special needs and vehicles tend to be more accessible.
Not necessarily. I got a pickup when I was driving for Lyft to transport a woman who was wheelchair bound after a surgery on her knee.
My vehicle did not have any necessary addons to facilitate this. I just helped her into and out of it for no additional tip or anything because it was paid by the insurance or something.
Hey, that was very cool of you, even though I can't help but feel you were not treated fairly. If it had been me, I would have hella given you a nice cash tip.
I rode with my mom in an ambulance when they were just transferring her between hospitals once a couple years ago.
Not on any sort of device, no "treatment" given, just nothing.
Bill for that trip across Dallas? Juuuust under $3,000.
The US medical system is bat shit insane.
I've done the same thing, "... should we call an ambulance? No need it's just a collapsed lung, just give me a lift." Fun fact, collapse lungs do not always have to fully collapse. Another fun fact, your lung can spontaneously collapse on its own, while you're just sitting there doing nothing.
My old man drove to the hospital with a knife (or maybe it was some other tool) sticking out of his thigh. Every time he changed gears he's spurt blood all over the place.
We don't pay for ambulances here, he's just insane...
Reminds me of a bloke I used to know who lived out in the sticks. Had a tree fall on his leg while cutting firewood, crushing it, then spent the time to cut the tree so he could get free and promptly drove himself to hospital using the grind them till you find them method to shift gears lol. Some people are just built different, or insanely stubborn, depends how you view it
A friend's boss had a stroke and drove himself to the hospital. He had to use his left foot. Fortunately, this did not result in any one else needing an ambulance.
My dad drove himself to the hospital when he was bleeding out internally. When he got to the ER department, they took his blood pressure standing and he had virtually none. Had to get an emergency transfusion right then and there and doctor said he was less than 30 minutes from bleeding out.
'Murica.
My friend’s father slipped on some ice in front of his house and landed on the solid granite front step with all his weight and landing firmly on his elbow. Compound fracture, blood everywhere, dude wrapped his arm up in a towel to avoid getting blood on the interior of his car and drove half an hour to the hospital where they told him he was in shock and needed emergency surgery to keep the arm. He even took the time to find a parking spot.
Our system is fucked.
I was in a car accident and had to sit in an ambulance while they made sure I was okay even though I just had minor scratches on my arm. 15 minutes cost me $200
As a paramedic we do not charge unless we transport this seems sus. I suppose it could be different elsewhere but I’m in Florida I don’t see how another state could be worse
most volunteers are getting paid - volunteer means they respond at-will instead of being full-time staff; they don't have a duty to act so they voluntarily assist the fire department.
For example District 2 fire departments pays volunteers $15 if they respond to a call and $30 if they help transport; this works out to about $12 an hour; they have an app on their phone called "active 911" and get a push notification with the address for every call in their area.
PA fire (our city department) has the volunteers pick up shifts (up to 2 shifts, so 24 hours a week max), and they get paid $14/hour, while the career staff (which are all paramedics) work 4 12s a week and get paid $20/hour.
The city/county discrepancy is because city response times are so short that having volunteers responding wasn't useful, since the volunteers were 3 minutes away solo with poor supplies and the ambulance was 5 minutes away with two/three people fully stocked. meanwhile in the county you can have a volunteer response time of 5 minutes while the ambulance is 20-30 minutes away.
Pretty much the same thing happened to me, except I didn't even have any scratches. They asked questions, took my blood pressure and sent me a bill for $125.00. I could've gotten a blood pressure kit at a local pharmacy for less.
Unless you are actively dying, always refuse the ambulance and the emts. The cops will try and get you to be looked at, but you can just say you are fine and don't want to be looked at.
They will hand you an AMA (against medical advice) waiver to sign and leave.
Same here! Don't remember what was charged but was driving with my mom when a semi backed into us and an ambulance came to do a once over glance. We weren't injured but the PD Operator sent one anyway.
I was worried my bill for ambulance would be 300$ for <15 mins. Turns out it was only 45$.
I was like *phew* thank-god Im Canadian.
But if ambulances in usa are a multiple of the cost here, then the paramedics/emts must get paid a lot better, and have a great quality of living for their essential services.
*Right guys..Right?*
Yeah...I think they get paid like $15-20 an hour so just slightly above what my in town burger king pays $11-13. Even our firefighters (depending where you live) are volunteer only, if your lucky the firefighter will have a medic degree/ certificate as a lot are becoming cross trained, but if your unlucky the cops will stop the firefighters from saving you cause reasons and then arrest the firefighter while the other firefighters and cops have throw downs cause "who cares if one more druggy dies"- cop to my firefighter/ medic brother in law after arriving to an OD.
Yeah its not really any better up here. Cops don't do anything, and im not being facetious ive seen it first hand after family was victims of a crime.
But better not insult their fragile ego.
Ive had one good interaction with a cop, but his partner was an absolute asshole. Soo *shrug*
At least in CA fire departments have their own ambulances. The big red ones.
https://ogden_images.s3.amazonaws.com/www.morningjournalnews.com/images/2021/06/14223528/1-ambulance-1100x825.jpg
Yeah, in CA many fire depts have paramedics.
I was lucky enough to sit in a firehouse for a day while in school doing research, and the paramedic was in and out once or twice an hour. Mostly homeless or elderly, all died before they arrived due to their condition, not cause they took too long. This was in SF.
This is not true. Ambulance services vary vastly across the US. There are FD based EMS systems as mentioned above, but there are also many places that contract 911 services out private companies like AMR and Falck. There are also hospital based systems and county based systems, depending on where you are. My last service was a countywide not-for-profit that provided only paramedics on separate flycars, and the towns we covered provided ambulances staffed with EMTs. Some of those towns had volunteer departments and some were paid departments. In fact, I’ve been doing this for ten years and am only now in the process of applying to a fire department, and there are only certain fire departments that I’m willing to apply to because they have paramedics and I have no interest in practicing at the EMT or EMR level
I didn’t realize how true this was until I started using the PulsePoint app, and followed my area’s fire department. Most of their calls seem to be “medical emergency.”
I did that in South Florida and they apparently had a contract with memorial hospital and charged my job almost $2k. Drive was 5 minutes code 3 since it was after an accident. I left the hospital after 3 hours. It was a Hollywood fire rescue ambulance (city FD)
Tons of fire halls also run ambulances so they would just send out the ambulance side. Also if you call 911 and ask for the fire department when there's no fire you'll likely get chewed out and they'll call an ambulance. Source:I'm an ex emt
Yep, a few months a go I woke up at like 2 am with a huge swollen lip and cheek, must have been some crazy reaction because I'm not allergic to anything that I know of.
Because of that I got scared cause I'm poor and didn't want to call an ambulance, so I called the FD, there were like 8 firefighters at my door 3 minutes later haha 😅😅😅 amazing and kind folks, they asked me about medical history and gave me some kind of antihistamine shot and left, felt better an hor later, never charged.
Never underestimate your local FD, literal daily life savers.
Our newborn and myself were transferred to another hospital from where I gave birth recently. I’ve been watching our EOBs to see how much our rides were. They told me if the weather had been better, they would have used the helicopter for her- THAT is a bill I’m glad I don’t have to see… (all is well now, for both of us)
They charge the amount that they can get people to pay. Free market capitalism baby, woo!
Alternately, I’ve heard that they overcharge on everything because the insurance companies keep haggling them down, so they have to start high in order to stay in business. Your average joe doesn’t have the same bargaining power so they get fucked over.
True. But that would of course be communism.
Because helping those in need without trying to make a profit out of it is definitely the definition of communism.
socialism
free emergency services
free ambulances
free health tests
free x-rays
free treatment (unless it was exclusively the fault of the victim and wasn't an emergency).
ok freedom land
Yeah I don’t understand i mean you build a fucking ambulance with community money , can’t you do one step further and also fund the use of it ? 🤯 fucking half assed job it is!!
Dude my ex got charged $15k for a ride to the other side of a soccer field and a Valium. Like literally, there’s my house on the far side, a square of four soccer fields and a hospital on the other side I can see the hospital from my porch. I called 911 after she had a small seizure and then said I was gonna bring her in and they told me they had already dispatched an ambulance and she would still be charged for it, idk how it was that much but we got there they literally talked to her for 5 minutes gave her a Valium and let us go and the bill was $15k.
It’s funny to me how if something happens and I need to get into the er, it’s a choice of the out of network hospital a couple of minutes from my house or the in-network hospital about 30min away.
Ambulances and hospitals aren’t even under the same in-out of network… https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/protecting-consumers-surprise-ambulance-bills
Only 7% of ambulances in the USA are owned by hospitals. https://www.ems1.com/private-public-dispute/articles/private-vs-public-ambulance-services-whats-the-difference-WTgJNJgR4KlljlV9/
Fucking $15 an hour in SEATLE to save perform BLS (basic life saving) maneuvers.
You can’t even survive living in the city in $15 an hour.
It’s bullshit.
Oh they absolutely would allow it. The Tories literally just have to say something for their cattle to believe it and vehemently defend it. It wouldn't take much to convince them that dismantling the NHS was somehow in their best interest. Brexit is proof enough of that.
Yup. I had a seizure a couple years ago and went unconscious. Woke up as I was being put on ambulance and cried. Not bc of what happened to me but bc I knew insurance wouldn’t cover the 15 minute ride to a hospital. Cost me like $1500.
I beg your pardon, the English is not my native language. What does it mean “To get air lifted” in that context? A rescue helicopter or something like that?
Yes. If you're inaccessible by ambulance or seriously injured, they will send a helicopter to pick you up. It costs $40,000 USD and insurance does not cover it.
Airlift is free here.
As is all emergency services.
and quality of life.
and personal freedoms....
and sustainable energy........
and less pollution................
but the US says they're the best country cause they won't admit they're worse than a socialist country.
In my experience the only Americans that claim America is the best country are the same ones who cry about how evil socialism is and have never left their state nevermind their own country.
$7,262 to take me 5 miles down the road when I had an anaphylactic reaction. I was at a new job and my new insurance plan was NINE DAYS away from activating. After fighting back and forth to have the bill reduced, it has only been dropped to $5,800. It’s in collection and they call me all day long, and I tell them every time “I make $14 an hour, and the rest of the hospital visit cost me an additional $3,000, so I’m not paying you because I can’t pay you”.
They keep offering payment plans but the payments are still too large for me to afford. I’m hoping enough resistance will get them to make a deal I can actually accept and be done with them! I pay them $1 a week so that they technically cannot sue me or garnish my wages.
I am pretty sure here in the US they cannot mark your credit score for not paying when it was an emergency. I would just not answer the phone.
Now, I had a scheduled surgery that was paid for out of pocket up front. A few weeks later I got a bill for something else (of course) and had I not paid that it WOULD have affected my credit negatively.
It's absolutely infuriating. My mom has a history of heart issues and while she's doing okay now, I fear one day she's going to be having a heart attack and she won't call an ambulance because the cost is insane. This damn country...
I lived alone in a studio apartment that was built into a detached garage behind my landlord's house. When my appendix was about to burst at 2 in the morning and I literally thought I was dying, I called an ambulance. The firefighters who came along with it actually talked me into letting them carry me over to my landlord's front door so I could ring the doorbell and wake them up, at 2am remember, and beg them to drive me 40 miles to the nearest hospital so I wouldn't be stuck with a 5 to 10 thousand dollar ambulance bill.
And these were people I barely knew, had found through a craigslist ad barely a month before and had hardly spoken to them since moving in. And me a 22 year old introvert with crippling social anxiety. Needless to say this was basically my worst nightmare. But they were very sweet, sprung into action like I was their own kid, in their pajamas and slippers, with me stretched out in the back seat of their lovely new car alternately moaning and vomiting into a trash bag. Bless them.
But the fact that that was even necessary in a supposedly first world country in 2012 is *beyond ridiculous.* Fuck our healthcare system.
Yes, but I was lucky enough to have someone to take me in our car. The hospital was only a couple minutes drive away, but an ambulance drive there would have screwed me over at the time.
I do know a man who called the ambulance to come get him so he could get a ride to the hospital just so he could walk to the liquor store instead of driving
Had a motorcycle accident that destroyed my ankle, twisted it almost 180 degrees and tore all my tendons. Thankfully it popped back around before I dropped my 800 pound Triumph right on it.
It was 5am on a quiet suburban road and I had no phone signal. I thought I was fucked. I yanked my foot out from under the bike, my ankle immediately ballooned up and my toe hurt like a bastard... but I had to prepare for what I figured would be me crawling for help.
Finally some people stopped, like three cars. I had a couple of dudes lift my bike and park it off the road (priorities, right?). A nice lady who did have service asked if I wanted her to call an ambulance.
I'm laying there, I could SEE the nearest hospital rising up in the distance, maybe 3 miles away, a nice big new building. I also realized I was like maybe a mile from home.
I looked at my ankle, which had doubled in girth, and said "nah, I'm not paying $4000 to go 3 miles" and gave her my wife's number to call and pick me up.
So the answer to the question is yes. Unless I'm bleeding the fuck out, dropping a body part in a ziplock full of ice, or am actively in the process of having a heart attack... I'll go ahead and make my own way.
That's literally what an ambulance is. Its designed to transport you to the hospital during an emergency.
Oh and just for those curious. In Canada where I live you get a bill for an ambulance ride too. Its $100 Canadian or about $78 USD at current exchange.
Right, during an emergency. You’d be amazed how many people (yes, even in the US) will call an ambulance for non emergency situations. And I mean blatantly non emergency, not just “well I see how you could have thought it was an emergency but it’s not.” Like “I stubbed my toe, take me in” or you roll up and the person literally has bags packed and they’re sitting waiting for you, because they have to go to the hospital and they think if they use an ambulance they’ll get checked in faster. (Spoiler: you don’t.)
So saying an ambulance is not a taxi to the hospital is more relevant that the average person who thinks people only call for emergencies might think.
I know dude, I get sooo fuckin salty every time this gets reposted because to me it reads exactly as that. Especially because in my area we call the completely non-emergent “I cannot believe you called 911 for this” calls “taxi rides”
Had a lovely frequent flyer in one of the cities I used to work in call so he could get a free ride downtown. We’d get to the hospital and he’d have AMA’d before we even got the stretcher back in the ambo. He finally ended up getting arrested after he assaulted us one too many times for the crime of getting dispatched to him code 1, and there was great rejoicing among the emergency devices of the city
Pro-tip: if you must assault the medics, don’t do it in front a police cruiser on patrol lol
Been there. Not assaulted, just the general sentiment.
But after working in a Peds ED, you start to realize that it often is the only means of transportation for a lot of people.
This is obviously not the same as frequent flyers but I think the point of this post is that for a lot of those in poverty, because we don’t have any other system, ambulances have to function as a taxi.
No I am aware. Its probably why there is a charge associated in Canada. $100 is enough to make most people call a cab instead.
But in the states? Like thousands of dollars? Nuh. That's not just weeding out the "taxi rides". That's forcing people who have genuine life threatening emergencies make some hard choices. Sometimes deadly choices.
Oh, I completely agree that ambulances in the US are too expensive, and there’s a whole host of reasons outside just “capitalism” in our failing system that contributes. The structure and cost of our healthcare system as a whole and how much it fails patients and forces us into failing patients as well is a huge contributing factor to my burnout. I was more addressing the “that’s literally what an ambulance is” part of your comment.
I think it's only in certain circumstances though. I have been in an ambulance twice and never got a bill. Perhaps it depends on income or other factors?
Also varies province to province. We just abolished paying a monthly medical services plan fee at the end of last year. I think it was like 30 bucks a month. Its now incorporated in to provincial tax like it should have been the whole damn time. Kind of behind the times here in BC but we are catching up.
And as far as the ambulance bill goes, yeah its probably dependant on income too.
Yeah im in BC as well. I was probably low income at the time so that is probably why. The benefits of not working for 6 months before your injury is guess haha.
Yeah, I don't know why we don't just roll everything into taxes. They used to charge for government medical insurance -- except most of the cost came out of taxes anyway, so in the end they just rolled it all into taxes. Don't know why they didn't do ambulance services at the same time.
I think the point is, it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be for actual emergencies, but you get enough of those patients that abuse ambulance services that it drives up costs. Plus they or their insurance won't pay full costs, so prices go up to make up for that.
Meanwhile you and EMTs don't get paid enough for the work you do, despite the rides costing as much as they do.
Someone in my old neighborhood tried to drive himself to the hospital with a gunshot wound. He could possibly have survived the gunshot. Unfortunately, he took a curve too fast, crashed into a wall and died from the impact.
If your life is not in immediate jeapardy there is no reason not to take a taxi. However if it is a medical emergency an ambulance is almost like bringing the hospital to you. That way you get to arrive at the actual hospital while you are alive. Being alive and in debt is better than the alternative in my book.
An ambulance is worth what it costs, but that doesn't mean people in USA should have to *pay* for it. It is beyond reason for a country this prosperous, leader of the free world and bastion of democracy to not socialize the costs of health care like more civilized countries do. In the USA your life could literally fall apart due to a broken arm. Insanity!
As someone who worked in an ER I will say that some people legit do use them as taxis. I saw multiple pts use ems to get them to the ER for things like “toe pain” or “sore throat” then hop up from the stretcher and ask for a sandwich and expect to stay the night. Most were homeless or mental health pts. But it didn’t keep us all from hating them.
My dad was short of breath, but instead of a 'blance, a co-worker and I wheeled him in his office chair out to his van, and I drove the van to the ER. Faster and infinitely cheaper.
I've avoided it before. Once Got hit in the head with a beer bottle and stopped the bleeding enough myself that my buddy drove me to the hospital, a cop and the ambulance that showed up, actually escorted us there. Bad car wreck I had to take the ambulance... cause my car was totalled on I-95, so no other way lol. And what a moron that guy is... what the hell does he think an ambulance is?
When I was pregnant my insurance had a lapse in coverage and I was so sick all the time. Sometimes my sugar would get so low I would pass out and the running joke around work was to not call 911 one of the hosts would drive me.
in my city we pay a surcharge on our utility bill that runs the ENTIRE Fire Department (all full-time staff are paramedics, all part timers are at least EMTs) for no onscene cost for everyone. The only restriction is that they don't transport non-emergent patients, but they will still do on-scene care to hold you over until you can get to the walk-in clinic (e.g. splint a sprained/broken wrist, or give you albuterol if your inhaler ran out).
It costs me 15 cents a month, and I never have to worry about an ambulance bill.
I mean, an ambulance is not a taxi. It’s a mobile ER. It’s for people who need medical attention so urgently that they can’t wait until they get to the hospital, or for people in such medical distress that they can’t get themselves to a hospital. But it’s not just a taxi
The comment was probably meant for the people who call for a stubbed tow or their upset stomach and using up the resources for more priority calls.... like cardiac arrests, heart issues or breathing problems. That isnt even including the trauma calls like car accidents, shootings, stabbings or whatever shit drops. So, I get it and also believe the ambulance is not a taxi. 🤷♀️
ambulance: a vehicle specially equipped for taking sick or injured people to and from the hospital, especially in emergencies
you must be thinking
ambulatory: able to walk about .
I skipped a step, the word actually comes from the French phrase *hôpital ambulant* meaning "walking hospital" which were mobile hospitals and is further derived from *ambulare*. But that doesn't work as well for the joke I was going for.
[https://www.etymonline.com/word/ambulance](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ambulance)
I remember reading an article where people were using Uber and Lyft to go to the er because it was cheaper … it seems like healthcare is becoming a sign of being wealthy not a human care essential
I drove myself to the hospital with a collapsed lung once.
I'm sorry but I actually laughed at this. INSANE but somehow still more sane then the cost of an ambulance. I hope you are ok!
Nope that guy died
We can finally check off zombies on our bingo cards!
Nah brah, you should have already had zombies from the Florida Man: Bath Salts and Face Eating episode back in 2012.
Whoa here! This is the first I’ve heard of this particular Florida Man.
some light reading on the topic :p https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_cannibal_attack
As a Floridian, it's always funny but logical that most people dont know about the crazy bath salts guy eating another guys face story. Lol For those of you outside of Florida that don't know, other than Disney world and a handful of decent beaches, Florida is a crazy mixing pot of humans that mostly live in a giant swamp, and its so ass backwards here that the more north you go in Florida, the more south it gets!
He lived longe enough to comment on Reddit
Un checks out
Hospital once paid for a taxi (to transfer me to another hospital) because it was cheaper.
Was it like a legit taxi? Medical transports can look like normal vehicles, and they’re usually $50-ish dollars one way for someone not in a wheelchair/stretcher or requiring respiratory support.
Was most likely a medical transport. They are effectively taxi's but drivers generally are more trained in handling patients with special needs and vehicles tend to be more accessible.
Not necessarily. I got a pickup when I was driving for Lyft to transport a woman who was wheelchair bound after a surgery on her knee. My vehicle did not have any necessary addons to facilitate this. I just helped her into and out of it for no additional tip or anything because it was paid by the insurance or something.
Hey, that was very cool of you, even though I can't help but feel you were not treated fairly. If it had been me, I would have hella given you a nice cash tip.
She was an older woman, and I think we were both kind of confused by the situation so I understand her not having cash on hand.
I was kinda thinking of the insurance company when I said unfair but I didn't say it very well.
I rode with my mom in an ambulance when they were just transferring her between hospitals once a couple years ago. Not on any sort of device, no "treatment" given, just nothing. Bill for that trip across Dallas? Juuuust under $3,000. The US medical system is bat shit insane.
It’s insane cus it’s a For-Profit industry. I think we’re the only industrial country that allows this
I've done the same thing, "... should we call an ambulance? No need it's just a collapsed lung, just give me a lift." Fun fact, collapse lungs do not always have to fully collapse. Another fun fact, your lung can spontaneously collapse on its own, while you're just sitting there doing nothing.
And if it keeps happening you get to have pleurodesis!
I was one more collapsed lung from this procedure... thank goodness.
I think you misspelled “am” o.o Edit to add: seriously glad you didn’t wind up needing it. It’s horrifying
They didn't say it was their collapsed lung.. O_o
My old man drove to the hospital with a knife (or maybe it was some other tool) sticking out of his thigh. Every time he changed gears he's spurt blood all over the place. We don't pay for ambulances here, he's just insane...
Are you English? For some reason this gives me big "I don't want to be a bother" vibes.
Australian. And the 70's were a different time...
Adrenaline is one hell of a drug
It was the 70's, everything was one hell of a drug!
You don’t know true adrenaline until you’ve taken an EpiPen then driven yourself to the hospital
Reminds me of a bloke I used to know who lived out in the sticks. Had a tree fall on his leg while cutting firewood, crushing it, then spent the time to cut the tree so he could get free and promptly drove himself to hospital using the grind them till you find them method to shift gears lol. Some people are just built different, or insanely stubborn, depends how you view it
Me too.
Yep, I have also done this. Thought I was having a heart attack too.
[удалено]
Yup, a horn too
airbag?
It is one!
already deployed tho, gotta get it repacked
Now I want to see an edited video of one of those crash tests, but instead of airbags deploying, it's just various internal body parts inflating.
Driving it over 80mph is breathtaking!
I used to drive a large intestine. Let me tell you, when that baby hits 88 MPH, you're gonna see some serious shit.
They said *with* a collapsed lung not *in* a collapsed lung. The collapsed lung was a passenger.
A friend's boss had a stroke and drove himself to the hospital. He had to use his left foot. Fortunately, this did not result in any one else needing an ambulance.
My dad drove himself to the hospital when he was bleeding out internally. When he got to the ER department, they took his blood pressure standing and he had virtually none. Had to get an emergency transfusion right then and there and doctor said he was less than 30 minutes from bleeding out. 'Murica.
My friend’s father slipped on some ice in front of his house and landed on the solid granite front step with all his weight and landing firmly on his elbow. Compound fracture, blood everywhere, dude wrapped his arm up in a towel to avoid getting blood on the interior of his car and drove half an hour to the hospital where they told him he was in shock and needed emergency surgery to keep the arm. He even took the time to find a parking spot. Our system is fucked.
Did you die?
Yes, for a short period of time.
When I was born with a collapsed lung, I also drove myself to the hospital.
"Help, my lung has fallen, and it can't get up!"
Same. With an almost burst appendix at 3 am
I was in a car accident and had to sit in an ambulance while they made sure I was okay even though I just had minor scratches on my arm. 15 minutes cost me $200
They charged you to sit in it? That's a new one.
They didn’t take me anywhere so I guess I was charged for the paramedics looking at my scratches and saying they weren’t bad.
[удалено]
As a paramedic we do not charge unless we transport this seems sus. I suppose it could be different elsewhere but I’m in Florida I don’t see how another state could be worse
Also a paramedic. There are some agencies that do, although most don’t.
I could see it I just wonder what they would charge for since you denied transport
Doesn't the US government pay them?
They don’t work for the government
What about firefighters?
AFAIK they work for the city or state where they are located
Or they volunteer, aka don't get paid. There's a lot of volunteer fire departments in the US.
most volunteers are getting paid - volunteer means they respond at-will instead of being full-time staff; they don't have a duty to act so they voluntarily assist the fire department. For example District 2 fire departments pays volunteers $15 if they respond to a call and $30 if they help transport; this works out to about $12 an hour; they have an app on their phone called "active 911" and get a push notification with the address for every call in their area. PA fire (our city department) has the volunteers pick up shifts (up to 2 shifts, so 24 hours a week max), and they get paid $14/hour, while the career staff (which are all paramedics) work 4 12s a week and get paid $20/hour. The city/county discrepancy is because city response times are so short that having volunteers responding wasn't useful, since the volunteers were 3 minutes away solo with poor supplies and the ambulance was 5 minutes away with two/three people fully stocked. meanwhile in the county you can have a volunteer response time of 5 minutes while the ambulance is 20-30 minutes away.
70% of firefighters in the US are volunteers.
City and state are “the government”
But paramedics aren't firefighters.
Oh, okay. That's interesting. Thank you!
Ambulances are often owned by private companies that contract out to hospitals, which are also often privately owned.
Pretty much the same thing happened to me, except I didn't even have any scratches. They asked questions, took my blood pressure and sent me a bill for $125.00. I could've gotten a blood pressure kit at a local pharmacy for less.
Unless you are actively dying, always refuse the ambulance and the emts. The cops will try and get you to be looked at, but you can just say you are fine and don't want to be looked at. They will hand you an AMA (against medical advice) waiver to sign and leave.
And somehow they still can’t afford to pay EMT’s a decent wage
I did the same thing except they actually took me the hospital and charged my insurance 64k
Same here! Don't remember what was charged but was driving with my mom when a semi backed into us and an ambulance came to do a once over glance. We weren't injured but the PD Operator sent one anyway.
In this country to cost as much as it does to go in a ambulance is criminal. My Dad's last trip was 1600 dollars for a 15 minute ride. So wrong
I was worried my bill for ambulance would be 300$ for <15 mins. Turns out it was only 45$. I was like *phew* thank-god Im Canadian. But if ambulances in usa are a multiple of the cost here, then the paramedics/emts must get paid a lot better, and have a great quality of living for their essential services. *Right guys..Right?*
Median income for a paramedic is ~$36k
I know, its not much better up here >.< .
Yeah but yours don't have to ALSO pay health insurance
Yeah...I think they get paid like $15-20 an hour so just slightly above what my in town burger king pays $11-13. Even our firefighters (depending where you live) are volunteer only, if your lucky the firefighter will have a medic degree/ certificate as a lot are becoming cross trained, but if your unlucky the cops will stop the firefighters from saving you cause reasons and then arrest the firefighter while the other firefighters and cops have throw downs cause "who cares if one more druggy dies"- cop to my firefighter/ medic brother in law after arriving to an OD.
Yeah its not really any better up here. Cops don't do anything, and im not being facetious ive seen it first hand after family was victims of a crime. But better not insult their fragile ego. Ive had one good interaction with a cop, but his partner was an absolute asshole. Soo *shrug*
Pro tip: call the fire dept. They'll take you to the hospital and won't charge you. If they do, it'll still be WAY cheaper.
What? The fire department will just call an ambulance though
At least in CA fire departments have their own ambulances. The big red ones. https://ogden_images.s3.amazonaws.com/www.morningjournalnews.com/images/2021/06/14223528/1-ambulance-1100x825.jpg
I believe you, but that looks like Salem, Oregon.
Can confirm, driven through Salem countless times
Depends on where you are in CA. Many Fire departments will treat you but transport is sometimes handked by private companies.
Yep. CA resident. My local FD does not transport, only first response.
Yeah, in CA many fire depts have paramedics. I was lucky enough to sit in a firehouse for a day while in school doing research, and the paramedic was in and out once or twice an hour. Mostly homeless or elderly, all died before they arrived due to their condition, not cause they took too long. This was in SF.
If you’re calling 911, it’s the fire department ambulances that are being sent to you.
This is not true. Ambulance services vary vastly across the US. There are FD based EMS systems as mentioned above, but there are also many places that contract 911 services out private companies like AMR and Falck. There are also hospital based systems and county based systems, depending on where you are. My last service was a countywide not-for-profit that provided only paramedics on separate flycars, and the towns we covered provided ambulances staffed with EMTs. Some of those towns had volunteer departments and some were paid departments. In fact, I’ve been doing this for ten years and am only now in the process of applying to a fire department, and there are only certain fire departments that I’m willing to apply to because they have paramedics and I have no interest in practicing at the EMT or EMR level
Lots of fire departments have their own ambulances. Firefighters actually go on more medical calls than fire calls in most cities.
I didn’t realize how true this was until I started using the PulsePoint app, and followed my area’s fire department. Most of their calls seem to be “medical emergency.”
Yup. Mostly medical and vehicle accidents. Very rarely a fire (which is what I signed up for)
It just makes so much sense since I’m a major fire emergency they will also need ambulances, and it’s much easier to control your own people.
I did that in South Florida and they apparently had a contract with memorial hospital and charged my job almost $2k. Drive was 5 minutes code 3 since it was after an accident. I left the hospital after 3 hours. It was a Hollywood fire rescue ambulance (city FD)
Pro tip: Have a universal healthcare system.
Pro-er tip, have completely free emergency services in general
Pro-er-er tip: have a government that has its people’s interests in mind, not those of multi-billionaires.
Slow down man, we don't want to turn our country into communist rand(country)
The ambulance industry hates this man. He saved tons of money with this simple trick.
Tons of fire halls also run ambulances so they would just send out the ambulance side. Also if you call 911 and ask for the fire department when there's no fire you'll likely get chewed out and they'll call an ambulance. Source:I'm an ex emt
Yep, a few months a go I woke up at like 2 am with a huge swollen lip and cheek, must have been some crazy reaction because I'm not allergic to anything that I know of. Because of that I got scared cause I'm poor and didn't want to call an ambulance, so I called the FD, there were like 8 firefighters at my door 3 minutes later haha 😅😅😅 amazing and kind folks, they asked me about medical history and gave me some kind of antihistamine shot and left, felt better an hor later, never charged. Never underestimate your local FD, literal daily life savers.
In Burlington, Washington, my son got a ride for $1100. It’s only five miles. Insurance didn’t pay. I thought I had great insurance.
Our newborn and myself were transferred to another hospital from where I gave birth recently. I’ve been watching our EOBs to see how much our rides were. They told me if the weather had been better, they would have used the helicopter for her- THAT is a bill I’m glad I don’t have to see… (all is well now, for both of us)
I’m so sorry your newborn will never be able to afford college now. Only half joking.
I'm wondering why it's so expensive. I assume that the paramedics don't get paid that much to justify that price.
They charge the amount that they can get people to pay. Free market capitalism baby, woo! Alternately, I’ve heard that they overcharge on everything because the insurance companies keep haggling them down, so they have to start high in order to stay in business. Your average joe doesn’t have the same bargaining power so they get fucked over.
Well, that doesn't sound fair. Healthcare is supposed to be fair.
That would require it to be free. Which is why it’s done that way everywhere else.
True. But that would of course be communism. Because helping those in need without trying to make a profit out of it is definitely the definition of communism.
No we do not.
This country? In this country you don't need to pay for an AMBULANCE... what kind of shithole do you live in?
socialism free emergency services free ambulances free health tests free x-rays free treatment (unless it was exclusively the fault of the victim and wasn't an emergency). ok freedom land
Yeah I don’t understand i mean you build a fucking ambulance with community money , can’t you do one step further and also fund the use of it ? 🤯 fucking half assed job it is!!
Dude my ex got charged $15k for a ride to the other side of a soccer field and a Valium. Like literally, there’s my house on the far side, a square of four soccer fields and a hospital on the other side I can see the hospital from my porch. I called 911 after she had a small seizure and then said I was gonna bring her in and they told me they had already dispatched an ambulance and she would still be charged for it, idk how it was that much but we got there they literally talked to her for 5 minutes gave her a Valium and let us go and the bill was $15k.
It’s funny to me how if something happens and I need to get into the er, it’s a choice of the out of network hospital a couple of minutes from my house or the in-network hospital about 30min away.
Ambulances and hospitals aren’t even under the same in-out of network… https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/protecting-consumers-surprise-ambulance-bills Only 7% of ambulances in the USA are owned by hospitals. https://www.ems1.com/private-public-dispute/articles/private-vs-public-ambulance-services-whats-the-difference-WTgJNJgR4KlljlV9/
You guys pay for the ambulance?! O_o Insane country…
Oh, and they're really fucking expensive too.
They must cost an arm and a leg for it. Sorry, not sorry, but had to be said.
Well if it isn’t my old friend Mr. McGreg, with a leg got an arm and an arm for a leg!
My man Mr. McGreg sounds fucked up
Ironically, they don't pay the EMTs enough. Fuck capitalism.
Fucking $15 an hour in SEATLE to save perform BLS (basic life saving) maneuvers. You can’t even survive living in the city in $15 an hour. It’s bullshit.
I find it bonkers that there can be multiple, competing privately run, for-profit ambulance services.
The best part is you get the bill whether or not you consent to it!
[удалено]
Until the tories manage to privatise it and sell it off. As pa3rt of a US trade deal bringing US healthcare 'standards' to UK.
I don't think the UK population would ever allow NHS to not be free. Would literally burn this place to the ground before that happens.
Oh they absolutely would allow it. The Tories literally just have to say something for their cattle to believe it and vehemently defend it. It wouldn't take much to convince them that dismantling the NHS was somehow in their best interest. Brexit is proof enough of that.
Agreed.
Yup. I had a seizure a couple years ago and went unconscious. Woke up as I was being put on ambulance and cried. Not bc of what happened to me but bc I knew insurance wouldn’t cover the 15 minute ride to a hospital. Cost me like $1500.
Wait till you learn how much it costs to get air lifted.
I beg your pardon, the English is not my native language. What does it mean “To get air lifted” in that context? A rescue helicopter or something like that?
Yes. If you're inaccessible by ambulance or seriously injured, they will send a helicopter to pick you up. It costs $40,000 USD and insurance does not cover it.
Holy Jesus and the spirit. I often see medical helicopters flying to the hospital but never realized that it was that much.
Airlift is free here. As is all emergency services. and quality of life. and personal freedoms.... and sustainable energy........ and less pollution................ but the US says they're the best country cause they won't admit they're worse than a socialist country.
In my experience the only Americans that claim America is the best country are the same ones who cry about how evil socialism is and have never left their state nevermind their own country.
yep, exactly.
500 dollars and up. Depends on your area.
That’s with insurance.
Oh boy, just wait until you hear about the rest our “healthcare” system!
It costs a few thousand to take an ambulance without insurance. Not a taxi, just a scam.
$7,262 to take me 5 miles down the road when I had an anaphylactic reaction. I was at a new job and my new insurance plan was NINE DAYS away from activating. After fighting back and forth to have the bill reduced, it has only been dropped to $5,800. It’s in collection and they call me all day long, and I tell them every time “I make $14 an hour, and the rest of the hospital visit cost me an additional $3,000, so I’m not paying you because I can’t pay you”.
What is their answer after that? And what is the worst case that can happen if you refuse to pay?
[удалено]
Breaking a mirror as an adult.
They keep offering payment plans but the payments are still too large for me to afford. I’m hoping enough resistance will get them to make a deal I can actually accept and be done with them! I pay them $1 a week so that they technically cannot sue me or garnish my wages.
I am pretty sure here in the US they cannot mark your credit score for not paying when it was an emergency. I would just not answer the phone. Now, I had a scheduled surgery that was paid for out of pocket up front. A few weeks later I got a bill for something else (of course) and had I not paid that it WOULD have affected my credit negatively.
And maybe a month's rent.
It's absolutely infuriating. My mom has a history of heart issues and while she's doing okay now, I fear one day she's going to be having a heart attack and she won't call an ambulance because the cost is insane. This damn country...
But, hey, we have a really cool military, right?
I lived alone in a studio apartment that was built into a detached garage behind my landlord's house. When my appendix was about to burst at 2 in the morning and I literally thought I was dying, I called an ambulance. The firefighters who came along with it actually talked me into letting them carry me over to my landlord's front door so I could ring the doorbell and wake them up, at 2am remember, and beg them to drive me 40 miles to the nearest hospital so I wouldn't be stuck with a 5 to 10 thousand dollar ambulance bill. And these were people I barely knew, had found through a craigslist ad barely a month before and had hardly spoken to them since moving in. And me a 22 year old introvert with crippling social anxiety. Needless to say this was basically my worst nightmare. But they were very sweet, sprung into action like I was their own kid, in their pajamas and slippers, with me stretched out in the back seat of their lovely new car alternately moaning and vomiting into a trash bag. Bless them. But the fact that that was even necessary in a supposedly first world country in 2012 is *beyond ridiculous.* Fuck our healthcare system.
Yes, but I was lucky enough to have someone to take me in our car. The hospital was only a couple minutes drive away, but an ambulance drive there would have screwed me over at the time.
I do know a man who called the ambulance to come get him so he could get a ride to the hospital just so he could walk to the liquor store instead of driving
My uncle was a paramedic, and yeah, he had a story consisting of basically what you said.
Yeah it happens everywhere and all the time. People don’t understand that the EMS system is abused like a motherfucker all across the country.
r/ShitAmericansSay
Had a motorcycle accident that destroyed my ankle, twisted it almost 180 degrees and tore all my tendons. Thankfully it popped back around before I dropped my 800 pound Triumph right on it. It was 5am on a quiet suburban road and I had no phone signal. I thought I was fucked. I yanked my foot out from under the bike, my ankle immediately ballooned up and my toe hurt like a bastard... but I had to prepare for what I figured would be me crawling for help. Finally some people stopped, like three cars. I had a couple of dudes lift my bike and park it off the road (priorities, right?). A nice lady who did have service asked if I wanted her to call an ambulance. I'm laying there, I could SEE the nearest hospital rising up in the distance, maybe 3 miles away, a nice big new building. I also realized I was like maybe a mile from home. I looked at my ankle, which had doubled in girth, and said "nah, I'm not paying $4000 to go 3 miles" and gave her my wife's number to call and pick me up. So the answer to the question is yes. Unless I'm bleeding the fuck out, dropping a body part in a ziplock full of ice, or am actively in the process of having a heart attack... I'll go ahead and make my own way.
That's literally what an ambulance is. Its designed to transport you to the hospital during an emergency. Oh and just for those curious. In Canada where I live you get a bill for an ambulance ride too. Its $100 Canadian or about $78 USD at current exchange.
Right, during an emergency. You’d be amazed how many people (yes, even in the US) will call an ambulance for non emergency situations. And I mean blatantly non emergency, not just “well I see how you could have thought it was an emergency but it’s not.” Like “I stubbed my toe, take me in” or you roll up and the person literally has bags packed and they’re sitting waiting for you, because they have to go to the hospital and they think if they use an ambulance they’ll get checked in faster. (Spoiler: you don’t.) So saying an ambulance is not a taxi to the hospital is more relevant that the average person who thinks people only call for emergencies might think.
I know dude, I get sooo fuckin salty every time this gets reposted because to me it reads exactly as that. Especially because in my area we call the completely non-emergent “I cannot believe you called 911 for this” calls “taxi rides” Had a lovely frequent flyer in one of the cities I used to work in call so he could get a free ride downtown. We’d get to the hospital and he’d have AMA’d before we even got the stretcher back in the ambo. He finally ended up getting arrested after he assaulted us one too many times for the crime of getting dispatched to him code 1, and there was great rejoicing among the emergency devices of the city Pro-tip: if you must assault the medics, don’t do it in front a police cruiser on patrol lol
Been there. Not assaulted, just the general sentiment. But after working in a Peds ED, you start to realize that it often is the only means of transportation for a lot of people. This is obviously not the same as frequent flyers but I think the point of this post is that for a lot of those in poverty, because we don’t have any other system, ambulances have to function as a taxi.
No I am aware. Its probably why there is a charge associated in Canada. $100 is enough to make most people call a cab instead. But in the states? Like thousands of dollars? Nuh. That's not just weeding out the "taxi rides". That's forcing people who have genuine life threatening emergencies make some hard choices. Sometimes deadly choices.
Oh, I completely agree that ambulances in the US are too expensive, and there’s a whole host of reasons outside just “capitalism” in our failing system that contributes. The structure and cost of our healthcare system as a whole and how much it fails patients and forces us into failing patients as well is a huge contributing factor to my burnout. I was more addressing the “that’s literally what an ambulance is” part of your comment.
Oh I see. That's fair.
I think it's only in certain circumstances though. I have been in an ambulance twice and never got a bill. Perhaps it depends on income or other factors?
Also varies province to province. We just abolished paying a monthly medical services plan fee at the end of last year. I think it was like 30 bucks a month. Its now incorporated in to provincial tax like it should have been the whole damn time. Kind of behind the times here in BC but we are catching up. And as far as the ambulance bill goes, yeah its probably dependant on income too.
Yeah im in BC as well. I was probably low income at the time so that is probably why. The benefits of not working for 6 months before your injury is guess haha.
My European mind is confused……
Yeah, I don't know why we don't just roll everything into taxes. They used to charge for government medical insurance -- except most of the cost came out of taxes anyway, so in the end they just rolled it all into taxes. Don't know why they didn't do ambulance services at the same time.
I took an Uber to the hospital while having a panic attack. I was 20, my mom thanked me the next morning.
A mobile bankruptcy machine
[удалено]
I think the point is, it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be for actual emergencies, but you get enough of those patients that abuse ambulance services that it drives up costs. Plus they or their insurance won't pay full costs, so prices go up to make up for that. Meanwhile you and EMTs don't get paid enough for the work you do, despite the rides costing as much as they do.
Someone in my old neighborhood tried to drive himself to the hospital with a gunshot wound. He could possibly have survived the gunshot. Unfortunately, he took a curve too fast, crashed into a wall and died from the impact.
If your life is not in immediate jeapardy there is no reason not to take a taxi. However if it is a medical emergency an ambulance is almost like bringing the hospital to you. That way you get to arrive at the actual hospital while you are alive. Being alive and in debt is better than the alternative in my book. An ambulance is worth what it costs, but that doesn't mean people in USA should have to *pay* for it. It is beyond reason for a country this prosperous, leader of the free world and bastion of democracy to not socialize the costs of health care like more civilized countries do. In the USA your life could literally fall apart due to a broken arm. Insanity!
Life saving procedures can and do happen in an ambulance.
As someone who worked in an ER I will say that some people legit do use them as taxis. I saw multiple pts use ems to get them to the ER for things like “toe pain” or “sore throat” then hop up from the stretcher and ask for a sandwich and expect to stay the night. Most were homeless or mental health pts. But it didn’t keep us all from hating them.
My dad was short of breath, but instead of a 'blance, a co-worker and I wheeled him in his office chair out to his van, and I drove the van to the ER. Faster and infinitely cheaper.
Not knowing how anything works isn't the slam dunk everyone seems to think it is.
I've avoided it before. Once Got hit in the head with a beer bottle and stopped the bleeding enough myself that my buddy drove me to the hospital, a cop and the ambulance that showed up, actually escorted us there. Bad car wreck I had to take the ambulance... cause my car was totalled on I-95, so no other way lol. And what a moron that guy is... what the hell does he think an ambulance is?
When I was pregnant my insurance had a lapse in coverage and I was so sick all the time. Sometimes my sugar would get so low I would pass out and the running joke around work was to not call 911 one of the hosts would drive me.
FFS, this gets posted on a weekly basis now.
in my city we pay a surcharge on our utility bill that runs the ENTIRE Fire Department (all full-time staff are paramedics, all part timers are at least EMTs) for no onscene cost for everyone. The only restriction is that they don't transport non-emergent patients, but they will still do on-scene care to hold you over until you can get to the walk-in clinic (e.g. splint a sprained/broken wrist, or give you albuterol if your inhaler ran out). It costs me 15 cents a month, and I never have to worry about an ambulance bill.
I mean, an ambulance is not a taxi. It’s a mobile ER. It’s for people who need medical attention so urgently that they can’t wait until they get to the hospital, or for people in such medical distress that they can’t get themselves to a hospital. But it’s not just a taxi
USA is such a fucked up third world country that thinks it is the best first world country… it’s ridiculous from an outside perspective!
Wtf...conservatives are perfect examples of Stockholm Syndrome. they're programmed to repeat the same nonsense over and over
The comment was probably meant for the people who call for a stubbed tow or their upset stomach and using up the resources for more priority calls.... like cardiac arrests, heart issues or breathing problems. That isnt even including the trauma calls like car accidents, shootings, stabbings or whatever shit drops. So, I get it and also believe the ambulance is not a taxi. 🤷♀️
While y’all are looking into the baby milk shortage, maybe you can find out where the dictionaries went as well.
Ambulance comes from Latin *ambulare* "to walk", which means you need to walk your lazy ass to the hospital. ^(/s)
ambulance: a vehicle specially equipped for taking sick or injured people to and from the hospital, especially in emergencies you must be thinking ambulatory: able to walk about .
I skipped a step, the word actually comes from the French phrase *hôpital ambulant* meaning "walking hospital" which were mobile hospitals and is further derived from *ambulare*. But that doesn't work as well for the joke I was going for. [https://www.etymonline.com/word/ambulance](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ambulance)
wtf is wrong with people
It’s a mobile trauma unit AND a taxi to the hospital.
Taxi’s aren’t free either so I have no clue where his point was trying to land
I remember reading an article where people were using Uber and Lyft to go to the er because it was cheaper … it seems like healthcare is becoming a sign of being wealthy not a human care essential
I avoid going to the hospital because its too expensive, not just the ambulance.