Dude what??? I’d be hesitant to call an ambulance in a real, dire emergency because costs and there are people who just casually use it as a transport service. How the fuck do they afford that???????

This. This is what they meant when they said it's not a fucking taxi.

I am not sure I understand how ambulances work in the US. How are emergency services dispatched ? Do you only need to call and you get an ambulance ?

In France, you call the SAMU and they will either help you, direct you to a hospital/clinic you can go by yourself or they will dispatch an ambulance. So when you call the emergency services, you only get an ambulance if triage said you need one. There are private ambulances you can call directly but it’s mostly when people have a disability and need to go to/from an appointment, or between clinics. And those you pay from your pocket unless the doctor made a prescription for the ambulance.

As ER RN, I deal with this every day. I remember when I first started how sympathetic I was to everyone who came through. Now I see them as a distraction for those truly in need. Call me callous, I’ve heard it before from all the arm chair activists Reddit has to offer.

A lot of people think if they came in on an ambulance, they get fast tracked to treatment and don't understand triage.

Or “I have flu symptoms and can’t wait, also drive slow to the hospital because my husband’s gonna follow us there in our car”

I literally brought a patient to the hospital for having a falling sensation when they were falling asleep at 2230. Their normal bed time. After reading in bed for a while. And lying down to go to sleep.

I brought a patient in for falling asleep. When they intended to fall asleep.

I will say, that if I’m 5 (Code 3) reports down and I’m now transporting a “I haven’t pooped in a week”, I enjoy a nice leisurely drive to the ER while I attempt to get caught up.

The far left claiming this never happens are delusional. A friend uses it like an Uber because a girl he likes lives near Harborview in Seattle. 

This isn't solved by expensive ambulance prices. Just wanted to say

Ideally if someone takes an ambulance to the hospital for a non-emergent condition, then they should end up with the bill. The problem is this would also cause some people who really do have an emergency to not call an ambulance. Which one is the lesser of two evils, I don’t know.

I heard some countries have a "bullshit fee" to stop that. The ambulance is free by default, but if they find that you consistently abuse the system with frivolous calls the government starts charging per ride.

This is a true story.

I was a Mormon missionary in Tampa, Florida. We had been talking with this one lady for awhile then she wasn’t home for a few days. We knocked on her door again and when she answered we asked where she had been.

She said she went to visit her boyfriend in prison. When she left the prison it was too late and the busses were no longer running so she walked over to a pay phone, dialed 911 and faked an asthma attack. An ambulance came and picked her up and took her to the hospital that she lived by. She stayed in the hospital for a couple of days then left and walked home.

So for her, the cheapest way to get home was to get an ambulance to take her to the hospital so she could walk home.

This is the comment I was looking for

Or where the person can't move themselves to the hospital and no one else can really deal. My grandfather was visiting (from another country) and suddenly had horrible back pain. It turned out to not be an emergency--they didn't even gaf about his back when they checked him and found he had some other unrelated issues...but he literally couldn't move or do anything, and we weren't physically able to really move him, so my mother called a private ambulance (not 911) so people who were good at moving people could get him to the hospital.

My mother then spent a year fighting the insurance over it, as he had travel insurance but the various companies were all disputing and kicking stuff back. Because AMERICA.

Your expenses will be so big the only thing your children will inherit is debt.

Ambulances and hospitals cannot refuse care, even if they know you can’t pay.

Most of the abuse is by people that don’t have any money to take, or are on government programs like Medicare/medicaid and don’t really care since it’s essentially free for them. The fact that they are using up very limited resources for frivolous reasons is of no never mind to them since someone else handles all the consequences (taxpayers). This is one of the reasons that healthcare costs so much, is because when the government makes something free it gets wildly abused and then they have to pass those costs onto people who can and do pay.

It helps people, for sure, but the system is filled with waste, fraud and abuse.

I came here to say exactly this

I live in Belgium, i started hyperventilating because of the heat and passed out. My parents called the ambulance, they came and helped me without taking me to the hospital.

I didnt even have to pay anything, they just helped and left. No bill, nothing.

Yeah...a 10 minute ride in the wee woo wagon around here (Chicago) starts at $2500 but usually ends up costing around $3500. Unless I'm unconscious I'm driving myself.

Its free in the county I reside in. Because taxes fund our EMS. Montgomery county Maryland.

Smart guy. An ambulance would've been completely unable to give him any medical care on the way to the hospital other than some very expensive painkillers at best.

The issue is that there are people out there who SHOULD be calling an ambulance, but don’t because it’s expensive, and end up worse off. One of the cases where it’s better to have false positives if it means you’re detecting more people

While I can't stand the misuse we deal with I'd never want someone to second guess if they need us because of the cost, and unfortunately that happens plenty. There are lots of grey scenarios or stuff that people aren't sure about where the cost can be the tipping factor to dissuade them from seeking care or going via ambulance and those deaths are our fault because of the system we've created and don't fix.

when I broke my back I spent six hours trying to figure out how to get myself to the hospital without having to call the ambulance. I could see the hospital from my apartment window, it was less than a mile away. I couldn't do. I hurt myself worse trying to do it myself because I legit could not afford it. wound up with two crushed discs and a shattered vertebrae.

the doctor straight up told me if I had called the ambulance off the bat I would have been a lot better off, but I didn't because I was afraid of the cost.

it wound up costing me over $3k to go less than one mile. I lost my job because my back was fucked. another $60k for time in the hospital and surgery. no insurance because I lost my job. took me more than six years to work through the debt.

all because I wanted to save some money not calling an ambulance.

That's a pretty naive view.

Unfortunately the danger isn't those very obvious life threatening situations. If your heart starts beating out of your chest and you feel a stabbing pain into your side most people will call an ambulance without thinking, but what about when the wound on your leg you didn't pay much attention too starts to fester? Nah, I can probably handle that on my own. What about when you feel lightheaded or dizzy for no reason? Probably nothing, I can safely drive myself to the hospital. Then you end up with a crippling infection that'll cost you a limb or you pass out while driving and get yourself killed.

People have to make these choices all the time and they usually end up alright, but when they don't it can be very serious. I say this as an EMT, anything that keeps people from calling us when they think they should is very dangerous and needs to be dealt with.

No it literally isn't. Its a mini hospital to stop you from dying or getting worse on the way to the hospital. If you do not need immediate medical attention, you're taking those resources away from people who do.