"Things You Wouldn't Know If We Didn't Blog Intermittently."
25 April 2022
Bill for a 1.8 mile ambulance ride in the U.S.
Image cropped for size from the original at the MildlyInfuriating subreddit, where the comment thread includes lots of horror stories (and a defense of the ambulance drivers, who are not the financial beneficiaries of this extortion).
No joke. I've had 4 ambulance rides recently and they were all circa $3k for a 2 mile ride. I haven't gotten the bill on the last one, but on 2 of the other ones the ambulance company sent bill collectors after me, saying that the insurance hadn't paid enough. I think the insurance only covered $900. I had to pay the balance. The collectors were very pushy and threatening. Eventually the insurance company threatened a lawsuit against the ambulance company and I got my money back. This must happen thousands of time a day. The collectors made me feel guilty.. I was unconscious! I had no choice!
I’m in the military and have been stationed in Germany fort 6 years and was shocked at the (low) quality of health care in even major cities from recommending unnecessary surgery on an infant that would have required not feeding a baby for 12 hr prior to surgery to putting a 14 yr old boy and a 3 yr old girl in shared ER rooms to holding doctors appointments that last <5 minutes that result in antibiotics being Rx’d for a cold and I could go on. You get what you pay for.
I am English ,when Americans on holiday in the UK have need to us the NHS they are amazed that they don't have to pay anything.The NHS is funded by National Insurance ,but if you are not benefits you still don't have to pay.The tory party would dearly love to scrap it and replace it with an American style health business,sorry health service.
>> the ambulance drivers, who are not the financial beneficiaries of this extortion
I was an EMT (primarily an ambulance jockey) about 40 years in Southern California. The ambulance service was non-profit. My huge pay? Five cents per road mile driven. In 2022 that would maybe be a bit under twenty cents per mile. Wow!
No joke. I've had 4 ambulance rides recently and they were all circa $3k for a 2 mile ride. I haven't gotten the bill on the last one, but on 2 of the other ones the ambulance company sent bill collectors after me, saying that the insurance hadn't paid enough. I think the insurance only covered $900. I had to pay the balance. The collectors were very pushy and threatening. Eventually the insurance company threatened a lawsuit against the ambulance company and I got my money back. This must happen thousands of time a day. The collectors made me feel guilty.. I was unconscious! I had no choice!
ReplyDeleteI’m in the military and have been stationed in Germany fort 6 years and was shocked at the (low) quality of health care in even major cities from recommending unnecessary surgery on an infant that would have required not feeding a baby for 12 hr prior to surgery to putting a 14 yr old boy and a 3 yr old girl in shared ER rooms to holding doctors appointments that last <5 minutes that result in antibiotics being Rx’d for a cold and I could go on.
ReplyDeleteYou get what you pay for.
I am English ,when Americans on holiday in the UK have need to us the NHS they are amazed that they don't have to pay anything.The NHS is funded by National Insurance ,but if you are not benefits you still don't have to pay.The tory party would dearly love to scrap it and replace it with an American style health business,sorry health service.
ReplyDelete>> the ambulance drivers, who are not the financial beneficiaries of this extortion
ReplyDeleteI was an EMT (primarily an ambulance jockey) about 40 years in Southern California. The ambulance service was non-profit. My huge pay? Five cents per road mile driven. In 2022 that would maybe be a bit under twenty cents per mile. Wow!