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$1,400 is actually super cheap for an ambulance ride. I think they’re typically closer to $14,000
Usually more 3-5,000 for the ride. More medicine extra but most ambulance rides dont need extra.
Also somehow the paramedics doing the care are getting like minimum wage…its such a scam.
Some places in the US the EMTs are volunteer-only and don’t get paid anything…
I just realized that we don’t pay volunteer EMTs or Firefighters. And of course, I’m sure fulltime police officers outnumber the fulltime staffing of both firefighters and EMTs.
How the fuck have we survived this long?
What the actual fuck. These threads are so unbelievable to me.
What’s next, the EMT pays out of pocket for the privilege to work in an ambulance? Ridiculous.
I mean. Kinda. Usually they have to pay for their own training/EMT school before they even get the job.
I checked and 2 years ago the average cost was indeed about $1400:
https://www.ems1.com/billing-and-administration/u-s-has-most-expensive-ambulance-billing-international-analysis-finds
Probably more now, although I doubt 10× as much…
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.
Pricing is weird in the US.
One of the main reasons the list price is so high is because they know the insurance companies will negotiate and reduce the price. It’s like if you’re listing something on eBay or Marketplace and want $500 for it, you might list it for $600 or $650, because you know buyers will negotiate down to $500.
However, they can’t charge the insurance one amount while charging out-of-pocket customers a lower amount, because they’ll be sued by the insurance companies for insurance fraud.
Because of that, hospitals, ambulances, etc. need to initially charge everyone the same inflated prices, but they’ll basically always offer a discount if you say you’re paying out of pocket.
I’m from Melbourne in Australia (but living in the US now). In Melbourne, we pay around $60/year for an ambulance membership, and every ambulance ride (both road and air) is 100% covered.
It’s also included in most private insurance plans. We have a hybrid system where there’s both a public health care system (Medicare) that all citizens and permanent residents are eligible for, as well as a private one. For whatever reason, ambulances aren’t included as part of the public system.
That’s probably a factor (insurers make enough payments to hospitals they can demand lower prices and get them while out of pocket people usually don’t have much power to negotiate), but also this article makes it sound like $1400 is just the base price,
What
Wrong, its about $1500. Dont give misinfo. Its still idiodic it costs anything but dont lie
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.
That makes sense.