Microblog Memes

I live in America. But I'm originally from Ukraine. Therefore I have many friends and family from there and because of the current situation I've known many people that came and are still coming over from there and they keep asking the same question: you really have to pay for the ambulance?

Then I tell them ambulances are privet for profit companies. And you can see them loosing all faith in America.

Personal anecdote: my father died of cancer 4 years ago. When they were transferring him from the hospital to hospice the paramedics asked him if he was ready and Dad said yes, he was ready for the last car ride of his life... They sent us a 5000 dollar bill for a 15 minute drive.

We didn't pay it.

Even in Canada and Mexico this mostly works the same

IIRC, an ambulance here in Canada costs 80 dollars, any treatment in hospital is free

A single accident or illness can ruin your life and your family

Spending a single day at school can kill a child

If they live though that day, they might learn that abstinence is great sex Ed

Police officers can kill you without reason with impunity

Your leaders are all millionaires who will do anything to squeeze money out of you and you never even protest?

The US is a god godawful place to live

I think a lot of people in the US have their head so far up their ass being racist and doing other xenophobia, they'd rather drown in their own shit than than have "one of them" get something "for free".

I know expensive, shitty healthcare in the USA is a stereotype, but in my experience it's also largely true. Maybe it's because I'm not wealthy or connected enough to have access to the good stuff, though?

The bills for my latest medical emergency are rolling in now.

The $1,000 USD ambulance bill is almost a relief, since I've heard others say their ride cost several times more than that. I declined pretty much all medical care in the ambulance and all offers for medication/treatment, though, so maybe that's part of it. Had I lost consciousness, I likely wouldn't have been able to say no.

The $2,000 USD emergency room bill? That's just the part that I have to pay out of pocket. The actual price they charged my insurance is $6,000+ for my slightly more than 90 minutes on a stretcher in the hallway. And it doesn't seem to have covered anything specific because the imaging (which I didn't even need), treatment, medications (which I would have refused if I knew how much they charged but they don't know that and can't tell you ahead of time), individual nurses, etc are all billed as separate line items. I was even charged thousands of dollars by a doctor I never even saw in person. I joked in another thread recently about $45 tylenol, but that's actually true. I'm paying $45 for 800mg of tylenol.

Months later, the billing part isn't even finalized. New claims/bills showed up literally 2 days ago, well after I thought I was done paying. Thousands of dollars out of pocket, on top of paying a thousand dollars a month for insurance.

At least the medical professionals that treated me were great.

In America, it's actually cheaper just to discard the kid and start over.

Acknowledging that leaving your dystopian hellhole called home is not a possibility for many people why are these people not on the streets protesting?

Diabetes care is criminal.

Maternity leave is criminal.

Labour laws are criminal.

And yet Americans writ large take it in the ass without batting an eye. Why?

"just whatsapped me"

Lol, fuck off, he sent you a message, not all apps and websites need to become a fucking verb

Just to avoid any false impressions: healthcare is not free in Germany. You should always get travel health insurance. Having said that, it's pretty affordable. I pay about €80 a year for me and my wife for worldwide coverage.

I once was visiting Detroit and got very drunk My airbnb. wasn’t far from the bar and I was way too loaded for a taxi to take me back, and it was a nice night so I decided to walk back to the airbnb I made it about 200 steps and felt something Hit me in the head. Someone was grabbing at my pocket and I guess I successfully stopped them from stealth by my wallet since it’s all ripped.

Anyway my head is split open and there’s blood fucking everywhere. I tried dialing 911on my phone. Not sure if you’ve ever tried making a call on a bloood covered phone when you can’t see because you’re blind drunk and your vision is obscured by blood but it’s impossible. Anyway, a couple of people see me and get me an ambulance.

Now, I’m from Canada, and I THINK that I had international health insurance from work but I’m not sure. Anyway, they deal with the blood and tell me I’ll need stitches in the emergency room but I’m still loaded and the bleeding stopped so I ask if I can just leave and they’re like: no.

I call my buddy who shows up to take me back to the airbnb but I tell him: I’m not getting stuck with a fucking American hospital bill. Fuck this. Just walk out and I’ll meet you out front. I wait until the nurse is out of eye sight, crouch low and run past the admissions desk and out into the street, where my friend calls a very kind cab driver who sold us some decent cocaine.

I was living in Germany in the '80s. My mom, a civilian US citizen, had to get a hysterectomy. She chose to go to a German hospital (as opposed to the US Military hospital) and just pay whatever it cost. She mentioned the other day she doesn't think they ever sent her a bill.

When Americans do nice things in their country ... they destroy it and call it communism or "woke"

When Americans are treated nice in a foreign country, they act confused and wonder why their country can't do the same.

This is the most “American abroad” story I ever read lol

First time in America? Everything is going to be like the new black mirror ep1. Everything subscription

as a European it blows my mind that this is not the norm is many parts of the world :(

I had a relative who once had a serious emergent heart problem (not a heart attack) in Italy. Ambulance to the ER, admitted to hospital for several days, ran a gazillion tests and procedures; huge workup. Was billed because no national insurance.

Grand total: €200. Not even worth trying to claim on American insurance.

I once collapsed and lost consciousness in the streets in Russia. Someone must have called an ambulance. I woke up in a hospital with a woman yelling at me for my insurance number. (I am a Russian citizen but I have never lived there, I tried explaining I had a traveller's insurance, but she didn't understand what I meant.) Anyway, after I got treated they released me basically as Jane Doe, I never got billed anything.

Over the course of the years I had to go to a hospital in Russia two more times. Each time they would rather not bother with figuring out how international insurance works (basically, I would pay a bill and then send it in to the insurance company and they would reimburse me - I explained that over and over) and just let me go free of charge.

The treatment was good and professional and stereotypically unkind. I'm still amazed by how they'd rather not bill you because they aren't sure what you're talking about than try to get the money and let you figure out how to pay it. Too much of a hassle I guess.

When Americans travel do other cultures treat them as victims of abuse? Because that's what this sounds like.

And they probably even spoke English with him.

Yeah, in most of the rest of the world people try to help each other out

Yeah some of us are poor enough to never forget how obscenely predatory America in general, and capitalism in specific, are.

I showed up in Italy to work on a farm for a month.

Ate the wrong thing one night, and my airways started closing up. Despite my Americanism coming through "dont call the ambulance, I can feel the benadryl kicking in", my hosts called an ambulance.

After a 45 minute ambulance ride, a 5 hour hospital stay including chest x ray, monitoring, and fluids, I was trying to pay up. The doctor lady just laughed at me as a I flashed my debit card. They sent me on my way with some albuterol for $0.

We really do everything we can to enrich health execs here in America. Crazy to think about the mental benefits of knowing you live in a society that at least has the capacity to get you through a medical emergency without bankrupting you.