Wow, I didn't know an ambulance ride was that expensive!

[Deja Q]

$783. Just to drive 15 miles to the hospital.

And I thought the taxi ride back to my car that night in July was bad enough.

The last I read, insurance picks up the tab for 80% of the bill. I wonder why they're disallowing that - will find out tomorrow. Even my trip to the hospital much farther away in Dec 2002 had cost $700 less!

Chapter 13, here I come. Was hoping to wait until January to file. Would rather avoid chapter 7 unless they're about to gut the law in which case I'd play the odds and really do ch 7.

What's the point of living if you can't even pay the bill?! (The ER stay, $1800 of it, was covered. Just a $30 copay, thank God.)

Had I known what I was getting into 6 years ago, my life today would be very different. x(

Would have been easier if I had driven there myself.

Especially when the doctors couldn't even fix the problem; it looked like they might have but my clinic doctors still disagreed with the ER doctor ad the problem temporarily returned anyway.

I wish all consumers wouldn't ever get ill. Drive the damn devil industry out of business. There may be longer waiting periods for "socialized" healthcare systems, but they sure as hell seem much better at this point.

But it's a lesson learned...

[nini]

1. sucks doesn't it?

we can pull 87 billion bucks to give to Haliburton, but God Forbid you get help with health costs.

pisses me off

[Deja Q]

3. We need to get the public engaged and enraged

We, The People.

That's how it all began; getting pissed off at a repressive, controlling empire.

America has become what it originally hated.

We, The People need to wake up and fight back.

I'm going to do what little I can to wake people up.

The worst part is, I've got supposedly good insurance coverage (it was good until they started raising their rates big-time and my employer cutting the amount of money they put into insurance bennies). I shudder to think about the people who don't have insurance or have bad coverage and end up going to the ER. :scared:

And due to an upcoming pay cut despite the good work I do... I would love to do a chapter 7 even though I should get a car first or something to make the chances of getting a chapter 7 approved work out. And then hope I remain healthy for 6 years so I don't end up in a position where I couldn't go for another chapter 7.

America is fucked up and WE need to unfuck it soon.

And then there's the economy. That's teetering. If the pukes remain in power for very much longer, it's going to be death to this country. x(

[mddemo]

14. waiting times

Heres a good one from the UK, when my sister was pregnant she was told that she would have to go on a waiting list for a maternity bed, i nearly pissed myself when she told me how long she would have to wait. 18 months unless simething went wrong. luckily she gave birth ok (at home) and my niece is a psycho wee 13 year old now.

[Interrobang]

2. Compared to what I've seen from my US friends...

That "longer waiting period" thing is composed of two things: 1) The AMA lying its fool head off, and 2) the natural Canadian tendency towards "doomin' an' gloomin'."

YM, however, MV.

[Deja Q]

5. Ah, propaganda...

My counselor, who comes across as being bright, also told me he makes $60k per year. In our conversation, he was also diplomatic about how doctors in America don't want to see their salaries drop. (I didn't until recently think "What about the millions of American workers who get pay cuts and layoffs and more?)

I am not dissing him. He was very humble and he himself is Democrat material.

Much like the military, health care is another situation I've got mixed emotions on. It should pay well but the people involved should be responsible to prevent related and unrelated costs from skyrocketing in the first place. Greed destroys. Same goes for EVERY industry.

America has succombed to greed and I don't think it's going to last much longer.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. There are reasons why the cost is where it is

I am not defending the ambulance industry, becasue they are beyond
defending, but there are reasons. But having worked in a developing
world Ambulance service where we paid for much of our equipment and
survived from donations... I can tell you that in many ways, until
people start asking questions of managers, NOT EMTs and Paramedics, since none of them is getting rich...

Personally I beleive we need single payer and yes an increase in salaries to the EMT and Paramedics who work terrible hours out of a need truly to serve. Oh and yes they need the gear in case of a
terrorist attack, which we will not see until Bush is driven out of
office.

as to the bill, you may be able to arrange a pay program with the
company, especially if this is a small almost family owned one. Most of those owners did get into the business to serve, unfortunately not
too many of those left.

[Deja Q]

6. It was a city ambulance service which took me

I was surprised to see the bill even before I saw how much.

I am not dissing the people who do the EMT and Paramedic jobs. Especially if they don't get paid a fair wage. If it is management, as usual, then we need to find a way to GET people to ask questions. Until tv shows and the nightly news and every other form of media stop dumbing down and numbing the audience and instead compeling them to ask questions...

In other words, we should all become managers. That's where the money is. Micromanagement. x(

[Booberdawg]

7. I went 4 blocks by ambulance in March

I waited too long and couldn't even stand up straight so had to call 911. Hospital is 4 blocks away! What surprised me, though, is that the whole frickin fire department showed up! There were 3 emergency vehicles outside of my house! I about crapped!

Fuck, I just needed a ride because I couldn't drive and they had to carry me out the door. Turned out to be some fluke bacteria that caused internal bleeding and I was admitted for a couple days. Painful as holy shit!

[bluestateguy]

8. HMO's: The only ones I hate more than telemarketers

I hate HMO's so much, I will rejoice, yes rejoice, when HMO's are put out of business and all of their little bean counters are UNEMPLOYED.

[Booberdawg]

9. FYI Bankruptcy is not the end of the world

I had to file after I got laid off last January and there is life after bankruptcy. See a lawyer now. If you have to file there is no sense in throwing good money after bad. Shit happens ...

[Deja Q]

10. Thanks!

:loveya:

It's people like y'all at DU which is why I'm still here. I know I can be a pain at times, but I'm still appreciative you take the time to listen! (Having great co-workers has helped, too - I would have quit my job if the situation there was worse. They're shocked at how I got into this position but know it's not an uncommon situation...)

Fortunately, one of the departments I work for at work has a person who thinks very highly of me. She gave me a reference and said to mention her as being my friend. She rules, truly. She's also annoyed at the Roni Deutsch and Curtis Walker commercials which try to rake in people with debt with their scare tactics.

Chapter 13 won't be so bad, but I'm still going to try to time it to January 2004 when the wage freeze and benefits-cut kicks in. As I had recently used the credit card I used to be so good with (dunno how I started spending again but I did, but for over a year I had it and didn't use it at all, I did so well at staying under control... I will never use a credit card again no matter how often they try to peddle new ones to me.)

The one thing I own that's worth more than $300 is the exerciser I bought in May and was which kicked my binging back into full gear as I also had a gigantic tax refund coming to me at the time. I even said originally that I'd be responsible with it, but I snapped. Ironically, the exerciser is the one thing I don't want to give up. But bundling up to walk outside isn't bad either. They probably won't take it under chapter 13 but might under ch 7. Most of my collection is computer related and that stuff depreciates so rapidly.

[SoCalDem]

11. Go see someone...usually the first consultation is free

and under chapter 7 here, my friend did not lose anything she had...except the debt.. She kept her house and her cars (they were both older) and they took NOTHING..

[Booberdawg]

13. You really should consult a lawyer now Toad

A bankruptcy attorney can advise you on when it is best to file. It is not likely that you are going to lose anything, but you don't want to get too close to tax return time either because if you get something back they will attach that. If it is better to wait till January an attorney will tell yo that too.

I really wish you would see an attorney NOW.

[kodi]

12. true, but you get first dibbs at the emergency ward.

and for some, it is worth it.

[arwalden]

15. Sometimes I Don't Know What To Say

... this is one of those times. Sigh.

-- Allen

[amazona]

16. they disallow things for no reason

If it was an emergency, it should be covered, but you may have to file a grievance or even end up complaining to your state insurance commissioner. We were fighting over a bogus charge like this for over a year before we got the insurance commissioner involved, at which point their "error" was suddenly fixed.

It is theft. They know a lot of people will take "no" for an answer and not bother writing letters -- many people can't even write a reasonable sounding complaint letter -- and filing grievances, so they figure it's worthwhile to deny as many claims as they can. You need to be persistent.

There is no reason to declare bankruptcy just over this. It could be over a year before it is determined who has to pay -- and it will be the HMO who has to pay -- unless for some odd reason you called an ambulance when you could have just as well driven to the hospital, which seems unlikely.


they tried to charge us $900 for $50 worth of tests by claiming we were uninsured

[grasswire]

17. a taxi might have been cheaper

I did that the last time I needed to go to the ER because I wasn't sure my coverage would pay for an ambulance. Ten bucks for a taxi saved a bundle.

[Misinformed01]

18. You just gave the reason I dropped out

of nursing school.

I was a paramedic for years; I cannot tell you how badly it bothered me to have to charge patients for the missed IV sticks I screwed up. When I started nursing school I realized that I was going to be causing more harm and mental anguish to the patients for that very reason.

So...I am in a 7 year program to be a pastoral counselor instead of graduating from a nursing program this year.

Ironically, the very first day of paramedic school, we learned two things:

"Save yourself. Do no harm."

yeah, right. I still think of the people I screwed financially. (on edit..."Screwed financially"....without meaning to. If I missed an IV, I had to report it by law---the patient got charged. It stinks, and I hate the entire damned system.)

Stephanie

[DemBones DemBones]

19. Here's a shocker -- in Alabama, paramedica can give no drugs.

I don't know about IV fluids. I had a hellish experience in that state last year due to this law -- enacted to protect insurance companies, of course! Counting the ambulance trip and time waiting in ER, it was over two hours before I got anything for pain.

But as much pain as I was in from a broken bone, I was inwardly screaming "WTF happens to people who have an arm or leg cut off in an accident when the freakin' paramedics don't do anything but pick up and delivery? Do they die of shock? And aren't their families going to sue over the lack of proper care?"

Lots of good people are getting out of health care professions, which is sad, but I'm glad to hear you found a better way for you. It's not good to be in a job that keeps you from doing what's right.