Europe also has capitalism they just have the basic decency to understand that relatively free healthcare is good for capitalism.

For childbirth though we’re definitely driving to hospital here in Europe unless something went very very bad. Plenty of time between the start of the party and the conclusion of it. It would be poor taste to use ambulance for something actually not urgent.

Another thing that's common in America is that after you drive yourself to the emergency room, you sit in the parking lot for a while to see if you can get through the emergency situation on your own before going in, because you know you're going to sit for hours and hours waiting anyway.

Why risk being charged tens of thousands of dollars and losing your housing when you can wait in your car to see if you're gonna die. And if it's that bad, you can crawl toward the emergency room. And then maybe they'll come help you. Otherwise, you can just sit it out like you would be sitting in the waiting room and then just leave if you get through it yourself.

"But our taxes are so low and our incomes are so high!"

boom 30+ years in debt because student loan

boom Diabetes

boom Insane living costs

boom Hospital bill

boom Homeless

How do Americans sleep at night knowing they could be royally fucked the moment they have just a little bit of bad luck?

I'd also mention timing being an issue with ambulances.

My first kid we were about 40 minutes away from the hospital where it was covered by insurance, the second we moved and changed providers so we were 10 minutes away. I drove both times.

First kid it would have taken 20 minutes for an ambulance to get to us, then maybe 30-35 minutes to the hospital.

Second, it would have been about 5-10 minutes, but... Obviously I could be there in the same time as it would take to get there.

For both, I would have to hit the deductible first, so I would have paid about $1500 for each ride on top of that, because ambulance services aren't (maybe weren't? Probably still aren't) considered required care with a pregnancy/birth. Thats not the cost if you dont have insurance BTW, that'd a negotiated price by the insurance companies - it could be several thousand otherwise.

I'm in my 40's, I've been to an emergency room quite a few times over the years, and I've never taken an ambulance there. Everything from a car accident (drove myself to the hospital), to severe 2nd degree burns (drove myself to the hospital), to a sudden infection/massive swelling overnight (wife drove me).

So.... Yeah... Its bullshit. American "healthcare" is a joke.

My friend and her daughter were in a car accident a couple of months ago, both went to the hospital in the same ambulance. Both are on the same health insurance. Each one of them got a bill for the full amount of the ambulance ride.

Gotta love how this is a convo as old as time, repeating for decades… only now shown as a disjointed mix of shitty memes…

What once was a cogent argument now reduced to a picture of Julia Luis Dreyfus (herself a billionaire shipping heiress) looking confused about capitalism…

Ambulances cost in Australia too, very expensive.

I was involuntary sectioned once, and the ride to the hospital cost me $1200.

I now pay for insurance, about $300 a year for ambulance and dental. I recently had crushing chest pains while driving out in the middle of nowhere, and they sent me two ambulances, each from different towns. That would have cost me $4k without insurance, but cost me $0 with insurance

My ride cost me around $1,000 USD, which sounds like a bargain compared to numbers I've heard from others. But, it was still a big financial burden considering I'd just been laid off from work.

There's only one ambulance service operating in my rural area, and my health insurance considers them "out-of-network". Not that it would have mattered, when you call 911 (emergency services), you don't get to haggle and negotiate with the operator and your insurance provider to send an in-network unit, you get what you get.

Probably a good thing I refused treatment, other than bandaging to stop the blood loss, during the ambulance ride. The 2 ibuprofen I was given in the emergency room cost $40 since they were considered non-necessary and I did not get prior approval. I can only imagine what the ambulance up-charge would have been if I'd accepted anything from them aside from letting them wrap me up so I didn't bleed to death on the way to the hospital.

Its the ABC's of the american economy: Always Be C-porting market solutions that fuck us over

*"Welcome to capitalism; that'll be $350. Suck my dick"

Fixed that last comment.

We have free health care in Canada but if you call an ambulance and it was determined not to be an emergency you pay a fine.

So recently, 5 months ago, I had to ride in the ambulance and it was around $2500. It cost me $75. I have low income insurance so I'm lucky, but most don't.

gits hit by car

me: nah I ain't goin to hospital hospital is for weak

Thank God that where I live, the ambulance rides are free. The hospital care is still expensive, though.

And guess what, it's still not free even if the reason you need one is because your current hospital can't handle your needs and you need to go to a different one.

Total joke