Yep. It's free, it's faster, and it has in-vehicle catering!

I don't believe there is a problem of people needlessly calling ambulances.

If that was the case, the appropriate response would not be to charge everyone bank breaking fees for it.

So triage the issue remotely and send the appropriate response.

Stubbed toe? Reimburse a ride share.

Fractured arm? EMT in a lower cost van.

Urgent trauma? Full rig and EMT crew.

I'd be more ok with this if the expensive specialists on board were actually making bank instead of really low wages.

In more civilized countries, they would charge you for abuse if you call an ambulance when you don't need it. But even the fine is less than this number.

There is NOTHING expensive about the people in the back of that ambulance. They get paid less than I do working at a grocery store.

Some places in the US the EMTs are volunteer-only and don't get paid anything...

I think there are two prices There's the price they charge if you are paying "out of pocket" and the price they invoice insurance. It is possible for both the $1400 and $14000 ($6k is more likely) to be true.

It's possible that having insurance can change things, but I've known people who's insurance didn't cover an ambulance trip that ended up costing them nearly 10k. Out of network medical costs are a bitch.

I had a seizure in a gas station. When I regained consciousness in the back of an ambulance I told them I asked them not to take me anywhere and to let me go on my way because I couldn't afford the ride. The look on their faces told me a lot about how shitty our country is. They knew I was refusing medical attention I probably needed because I couldn't afford for them to take me to a hospital I couldn't afford treatment at, even with health insurance.

And both of those EMTs probably have a second job.

Like if you’re awake can you say “no I’d rather die on the street and let the city have to clean up my corpse”?

They will disregard that request and charge you anyway, which has led to people literally fleeing from ambulances to avoid the expenses. But it gets even worse.

Many mental health hotlines will contact the police if they think you present a danger to yourself and others. You can then be taken to a hospital and forced to stay there against your will, and by the time you're able to leave you've accumulated a mountain of medical debt. Which, if you've been driven to contemplate suicide due to material circumstances, isn't exactly going to help things.

However, for anyone thinking of calling a helpline, there are ones that don't contact the police. You just have to look it up.

Like if you can’t afford any of it? And say you’ve already gone bankrupt and have no assets to seize or no job to garnish wages off of? Is it jail time? Do they just expect you to starve to death after?

The whole thing has gotten so inflated that people not being able to pay is pretty normal. What that means is that it is possible to haggle it down somewhat and negotiate on monthly payments. The actual value of these debts to the companies that hold them is a tiny fraction of the actual dollar amount of the debt, because they know a lot of them won't be repaid. However, the companies will be try to get every drop they can squeeze from you, and even if you negotiate the payments down to something you can afford, the principal will be hanging over your head, likely for the rest of your like.

If you can't pay, there's no jail time, but there's bankruptcy and foreclosures. If you own any significant assets, like say your house or car, that can potentially be seized in the event of bankruptcy, leaving you homeless or forced to pay rent, which is generally more expensive than mortgage payments, and potentially unable to get to work.

They won't put you in jail (not until you're homeless and charged with sleeping in public), but they will drain every drop of blood from your body like the vampires they are. In some cases literally, given that some people resort to selling blood to make ends meet.

You just go into more debt. They can do stuff like sue to garnish wages or put a lein on your property, but mostly it just ruins your credit score.

Most non-profit hospitals have a budget for indigent care, though. And many hospitals will settle for a much lower amount if you just go talk to them.

I knew someone who racked up over $300k in cancer treatment, and when they talked to billing to set up a payment plan the hospital was so surprised someone actually wanted to pay that they dropped it to $10k.

The reason that health care costs are so high is because hospitals jack up the price so they can "negotiate" with insurance and everyone feels like they won. A lot of the massive bills you see are what hospitals send out before even billing insurance.

Someone else already answered the "what if" questions you had in another comment, but you're right: it is a fucking crazy system. That is, until you realize its purpose is to keep us on unsure footing and beholden to employers so we're more easily controlled.

What's the point of insurance then? Sounds like a waste of money.

I paid 600 bucks for an ambulance to a hospital i could have walked to faster. Less than a mile... I couldn't carry my mom, though so, ambulance it was. This was 20 years ago with good insurance.

woops meant to reply to Shatur

Capitalism turns an ordeal into a tragedy

I'm pretty sure you replying to me has added more to my significant medical bills. Somewhere in this stack I think it has a "didn't fake an ambulance, +$"

Thankfully no tip line on those bills, but zero consolidation does make it hard to set up payments and know everything is taken care of... if that's even possible.

OP is giving prices from the good old days.

My dad used an ambulance about a year and a half ago. It was 3 blocks from his house to the hospital, and they still billed around $4k.

Yeah, but in the comic the bill is 1400 before insurance covers anything. Those aren't 2026 prices, those are 2001 prices.

Ambulances in Japan are free, and of course charging exorbitant prices for them is shit, but maybe they should cost the same as a taxi or something (at least if you're not below the poverty line). I've got a friend in the nursing industry in Japan and I've been told that old people sometimes use them when they have really minor symptoms, which strains an already struggling system.

Are y'all great yet? Asking for a friend.