• BeanBoy [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I think it would be cool if they could bundle all of these subscriptions into a single payment that will fund all essential services. Not sure if anyone’s tried that before.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I have Ambulance+ so that the paramedic doesn’t read ads to me the entire way. You get more bang for your buck if they’re treating your injury instead.

    • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      I was asked if I wanted to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance after I got T-boned by an F150 and they followed it up with “the ride will cost $2000 if you don’t have insurance” even though we were within walking distance of the hospital (like 500 yards).

      I walked instead.

        • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          I exaggerated a bit, the hospital was actually closer to a quarter mile and I didn’t actually go because I didn’t have insurance so I sure as hell wasn’t stepping foot in an emergency room lol

          Good news is that I have insurance now, so next time I’m in an accident, the ambulance ride is only $1000 and I only have to pay $8000 out of pocket at the hospital (with a $50,000/year max that they’ll cover before it’s on me again).

          Good thing I’m spending $200/month on that coverage, whatever would I do without the $50 off at urgent care? (Where the base cost of a visit is $200). Kinda wild how you have to take the employer option is it’s available or you get fined and if you aren’t insured you get fined, and if you have insurance you still have to pay fines.

        • Gosplan14_the_Third [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          Fun fact - I looked at travel insurance recently because of a trip I’m planning and it cost 15€/week… with the specification “/without USA and Canada”. If you want to go to the US, this temporary insurance costs 25€/week

      • star_wraith [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        We don’t just have higher healthcare spending. Our health care spending per capita is about double what it is in countries with universal healthcare.

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        The issue is that higher taxes won’t solve it, lower taxes and a single payer or state owned healthcare system would.

        As it stands higher taxes will just drive up rates and line the pockets of insurance executives.

        • envis10n [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          The increased taxes pay for universal healthcare, which would take the place of the current costs. If you remove the cost of current healthcare plans, and pay less than that cost per year in taxes, it would pay for universal healthcare AND be less expensive. But it won’t happen because taxes bad.

          • invalidusernamelol [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            We already pay enough taxes into medical services to fund a UHC. Which is why you’d actually pay less in taxes (true single payer will reduce cost across the board) and also not have to pay for private healthcare.

            The current system isn’t some compromise, it’s theft.

    • star_wraith [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Universal healthcare is actually popular in the US. Pretty sure most polls show a majority want it. And one thing you have to do when determining how popular universal healthcare is you have to subtract out responses from the over 65 crowd. You do that because they are the demo most opposed to universal healthcare but they are also demo where most everyone is already on universal healthcare (Medicare). Subtract out their wildly hypocritical opinions and universal healthcare is wildly popular.

      It’s just that liberal democracy never actually delivers what people want.

  • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    What if ambulances, but with a subscription and also QR code swiping that’s cloud computed on the blockchain with gamified incentives?

    • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      It’s a county government subsidizing ambulance costs, but in a stupid pay to opt-in way instead of just doing it. Just wait until the market starts doing shit like this - it’ll be ghoulish. deeper-sadness

      The American healthcare system is a slot machine.

      • Dolores [love/loves]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Just wait until the market starts doing shit like this

        is this ironic because that’s exactly what insurance does. this is just that ‘public option’ insurance but only for ambulances lol.

        and i’m sure it’s brought on by insurance companies making their product so expensive & fighting to not pay anything, if anything i’m curious if these acute conditions will force local governments to do that for more than ambulance costs—but that’s hindered by the hospitals generally not being public

  • invo_rt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Hellworld. How many people could be paying for this?

    • For the sake of argument, per the 2020 census, Wake County has ~410K households.

    • At $60/household, that’s ~$25M to cover all households.

    • Accepting that cost and depending on how you calculate the population, that’s $20~25 per person per year to have free ambulances.

    • The budget for EMS in Wake County is $74M out of a $1800M total county budget.

    • 1% of the budget reallocated and all ambulance services are free and it would certainly be less than that at scale. Just fucking reallocate the money.

      • SoyViking [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        If you didn’t charge for ambulance rides the poor would abuse them and use them as taxis, laughing while hard-working law-abiding property-owning citizens would die from heart attacks because all the ambulances are busy driving irresponsible poor persons to liquor stores and drug dens.

  • SoyViking [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    In the case of an emergency the last thing you should worry about is paying for the ambulance — WHICH IS WHY THE GOD DAMN AMBULANCE SHOULD BE A FREE PUBLIC SERVICE YOU CRETINOUS VAMPIRES!!!