whatilearned
Read more: https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/2-wants-to-know/people-choosing-uber-or-lyft-over-an-ambulance/83-530721747
TIL People in the US are using Uber and Lyft for emergency room transport to avoid using ambulances.
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I truly don’t understand why ambulances are not a public service like fire/police. I was honestly 22/23 when I found out they weren’t and I was shocked.
$28.65 vs. $1,454.23
For profit healthcare has made ambulances a luxury
I absolutely did this. I had fractured an orbital bone so wasn’t bleeding out but couldn’t drive.
Business idea: uberlances
Somebody will fill this void
People in the US have been taking alternative transport to hospitals to avoid using ambulances since before Lyft and Uber were a thing. Like say, their own car, or a neighbor, or a taxi.
Why not, makes sense to use resources available to you. as long as you know the Uber driver can say Foff you’re not dying in my car, give me five stars now or i won’t unlock the doors
Former EMT here, not surprising one bit. The private ambulance company I worked for would charge $250 just for the disposable paper sheet and pillowcase we’d use for every patient. Placing someone on the gurney to transport automatically cost them $1800, and costs only increased from there. Not shocking at all that people would find any other way to get to the hospital
I’ve heard of people who need a jump calling ubers and paying them the fee for a ride for doing it.
God bless America
Pass I dont need the trauma and bloodied up seat for pennies on the mile.
And American corporations and politicians convince the American people that free socialized medicine like we have here in the UK is evil communism
For sure. A 2.5 mile trip to the ER from my home in an ambulance was 1575$, about three times as much as the hospital bill ended up being.
If you use an ambulance you get to jump the line in the ER
Here in England, it’s been reported in the news several times that people misuse ambulances and request one to take them to the hospital (because they have a hospital appointment and don’t want to pay for a taxi).
IIRC, one old lady admitted the truth to the paramedics; that she didn’t have the chest pains that she had reported to the emergency services, she just had an appointment and could they hurry up because she didn’t want to be late. The paramedics insisted on checking her vitals and taking her to ER for her imaginary chest pains and when she protested, they threatened to call the police for NHS fraud. I don’t know why they wasted time on her in the first place when she already admitted that there was nothing physically wrong with her. I think they should have immediately involved the police.
For any serious emergency, an ambulance comes with people who know how to keep you alive until they can get you to the hospital. An Uber driver can’t do much but offer you a bottle of water. And when they’re sitting at a red light that they’re not allowed to run, while you bleed out, you’ll wonder why you though this was the time to worry about saving money.
The ambulance bill from when my father died was almost $500 for a 15-mile ride. That was after insurance, and he had good health insurance. So if we assume that the insurance paid 80%, the total bill would have been close to $2,500. That was almost 12 years ago, so I’d assume the cost would be higher now.