That’s pretty dicey though, I think even most UHC countries like Canada don’t cover stuff outside of Canada. Our system is just a lot more fragmented in that some carriers don’t cover stuff outside of certain hospital networks.
Due to the concept of catchment areas and natural monopolies I’ve actually long argued emergency medical services be regulated as public utilities.
In the middle of a heart attack?
How far was he from the hospital? He must have been many miles away to face thousands of dollars in ambulance fees. In my experience the remaining payable amount after insurance has been minimal or zero.
In my family we certainly just call an ambulance when necessary. We’ve gone through hospitalizations for cardiac bypass, gall bladder attacks, injuries, just to name a few, and our house and retirement accounts are just fine. We are fortunate that we always had reasonable insurance.
I do agree that it is horrible when people can’t get insurance because of pre-existing conditions or their employer doesn’t provide it, and so on.
Just over 2 miles= $2,500.
Several years ago, my wife fell outdoors and hit her head. When the paramedics arrived, she was confused, didn’t know the date or where she was.
Medicare deemed that going by ambulance was not needed and refused to pay.
They wanted her to go by private car. ( I was at my coaching job and had our car)
Took some fighting to get Medicare to pay.
That’s outrageous. What state do you live in? Are the paramedics/ambulances public, private, or volunteer?
California. Fire dept. firefighters/paramedics, private ambulance.
The problem is that Medicare is trying to reduce ambulance transport and requires a dire need before they pay.
When I was transported from one Pittsburgh hospital to another a short drive away, post MI, for angioplasty/stent/etc my insurance would not have paid the ambulance bill for the vehicle sitting, parked, out front of the hospital. I made some calls and found they would pay for my local ambulance service to transport me. It was a 90 minute wait (they came from 45 miles away) but it was covered.
The discussion of state health care was brought about by your erroneous claim that everyone has access to subsidies on state exchanges. In the US you can not talk about national universal access to health insurance without acknowledging access is different in states that did not expand Medicaid. Just go back to admitting you were wrong, rather than attempting to justify yourself by asserting claims that were never made.
Emphasis mine.
Good point! What a simple solution.
Could it be possible these very, very poor people, too poor to even qualify for subsidies, perhaps can not afford to simply up and move?