Is this one of the comics I'm too European to understand? /s
But seriously, how fucked up is it for a sick person to ask for the costs... America needs a revolution. Your political system is beyond repair, I'm afraid.
this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2025
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American here.
I was tapping my palm on the bottom of a 1 liter glass bottle of pomogranate juice to loosen the lid and it popped in my hands.
So in the rhythm of the motion I stab myself fully on my wrist with the broken bottle.
My SO calls the ambulance while I rush to the sink to see if I nicked anything. No squirting blood but I got a nice deep gash.
Medics arrive in good time and I head out. They give me the once over and wrap it up. Tell me to get stitches that day. Not life threatening.
My very next question? So how much do I pay you guys?
They thankfully explained that you only get charged if they give a you a ride to the hospital. So I took a taxi to the ER to get my stitches to save myself the $1k+ fee.
You refused the ambulance. Now insurance can deny the claim as elective surgery.
Nope. Refuse the ambulance and they leave. They never even got my name let alone insurance.
Also American, I had something similar happen with an Ambulance. I did not get transported, but they still charged $2700. So, it might depend on where you live, or which ambulance company responded to the call.
That's some bullshit. Maybe it was my thing was a quick 5 minutes? Who knows...
Could vary based on state or company. Not naming my locale tho... Just USA.
It seemed like it was failing over the last 10 years or so... But yeah, it has officially failed at this stage.
It may not be completely beyond saving yet, but the direction we are heading is going to create an extremist response. We will either have a resurgence of sanity after the disgusting display of corruption, or a descent into chaotic action as the people of this country get fed up with being marginalized for the gains of rich and powerful assholes.
Luigi is an outlier right now... But if there are more, then we will know we've begun our descent into the less desirable path.
I've never had to ask, they pull the credit card machine to your bed before treatment at the ER hospital.
Wait and see how they switch from "Constitution" to "Terms of Service"...
Bullshit. I got an ambulance ride 10 years ago, 15 minutes and they billed me $2,200.
Helicopter would be way more expensive.
Ironically, search and rescue services in the USA are usually done by volunteers and park rangers, and typically free
Yes if they put you in a helicopter it’s gonna be expensive, like $10k, but 99% of the time S&R won’t cost you anything. They’d prefer you call when the situation isn’t so dire instead of waiting until it gets really bad because you are scared of the cost.
It depends. Some state police or local government have S&R helicopters for use. They're typically cheaper by an order of magnitude than a commercial medivac heli. Or so I was advised by a DPS officer.
id guess more like 2k/minute
He's already on the hook for them flying up there, too
Oh, someone from the US. A helicopter salvage costs around €5000 in Europe.
usa is #1 ᶦⁿ ᵐᵉᵈᶦᶜᵃˡ ᵇᵃⁿᵏᶜʳᵘᵖᵗᶜʸ!
Someone near us put up a large banner on their front lawn stating how many people go bankrupt from medical debt every day. To me, it's super depressing because the only way I see someone doing that is if it happened to them or a family member.
We are a nation that has everything we could ever need to fix these issues and more, yet we choose not to. This country is just sad...
'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens
In France if you are not in an area accessible by a ski lift its free (covered by the public system)
I've seen some of these medivac bills. You are right. They are always $200,000 or more.
States tried to regulate them, but the air ambulances argued that aviation falls under federal law, and fat fucking chance the federal government is going to regulate the price of anything.
Here’s a fun tidbit, I used to deal with ambulance billing. Most places would try to hang back on submitting their bills, because the first to submit would hit the insurance deductible, and it was unsure if that portion would be paid.
Flight services bill as quickly as possible, out of concern of hitting a billing cap, because after, say, $100,000 on a bill, some policies stop paying.
I mean, if you don't own property, then just get the treatments and refuse to pay. What are they gonna do, seize your (non-existant) property? Debts go away in 7 years.
This is what I did for my cancer, but stupidly paid $50 a month for the other bill. Kept all my credit cards up to date and never paid a cent on the big bill. 7 years later poof. 3 years after that I have near perfect credit. Fuck these assholes.
My friend got saved from a cliff by helicopter one time, and the bill was $0. In the US. I suppose that’s because he didn’t need any health care.
In my state SAR is free unless the person was doing something really dumb. Eg. Avalanche victim = free. Vs. Hypothermia evac from winter hiking without a coat = ~$2k total.
$2000?!?! I got charged $3000 for a 15-minute EMS transport. They didn't even perform any medical care.
This sounds like bullshit, and if it's true, arbitrary.
It is. Aviation falls under federal law.
My Pa, in his youth, broke his back after hitting a railroad crossing at 90+ miles an hour on his motorcycle. The mercy flight and the ambulance arrived at the same time. They asked which he wanted and he asked which is cheaper.
Just call the competing emergency rescue service, easy
competing rescue service just got bought out by the first company – but they do offer cheaper rates if you listen to their ads and share them on Xitter
You'll still get a bill for them just showing up
Question, can you just refuse to give them your personal information?
You might. Depends on law enforcement's involvement
This is a comic for USAians, isn't it?
Honestly? Me too.