Woman begging people not to call ambulance gains national attention

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A Massachusetts woman is drawing attention for begging people not to call an ambulance for fear of high hospital costs after she was injured in a subway accident.

Video of the woman from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police (MBTA) Police Department went viral over the weekend. It shows her in apparent agony after her leg was caught in a gap between a train and the platform on Friday.

The 45-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, asked fellow passengers who came to her aid to not call the ambulance. "Do you know how much an ambulance costs?" the injured woman asked one passenger.

The story first picked up traction on Twitter when a Boston Globe reporter posted about the incident after witnessing the aftermath of thThe story picked up more traction when The New York Times editorial board wrote about the platform accident on Monday with the headline: "This Tweet Captures the State of Health Care in America Today."

"In the face of a grave injury, a series of calculations follow: The clear and urgent need for medical attention is weighed against the uncertain and potentially monumental expense of even basic services, like a bandage or a ride to the hospital, and that cost, in turn, weighed against all the known expenses of living that run through any given head on any given day," the editorial board wrote. "This discord, between agony and arithmetic, has become America's story, too."

According to a police report obtained by the Globe, the woman was eventually taken to the hospital shortly after the incident where it was determined she did not suffer any broken bones but did suffer a "serious laceration, exposing the bone," and would need surgery.e accident on Friday.

The chief of Boston EMS, Jim Hooley, told the publication the cost of an ambulance transporting people within the city is between $1,200 to $1,900.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/woman-begging-people-not-to-call-ambulance-gains-national-attention/ar-AAzxDpI?li=BBnb7Kz

[exboyfil]

1. I would invite her to the next DNC convention

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[ailsagirl]

3. This is an outrage

[Little Star]

4. Key sentence......

"The chief of Boston EMS, Jim Hooley, told the publication the cost of an ambulance transporting people within the city is between $1,200 to $1,900."



When my husband passed away he was in a public area jogging. Someone called the police and they called for the ambulance that services the nearest hospital. That was three towns away from where he was jogging.

Those estimates for within the city don't surprise me at all. I had to pay more than three times that out of pocket and I had insurance.

I told my kids if I pass away at home, stick me in the car, drive me to the hospital, grab a wheel chair and wheel me in side. Don't call a ambulance.

[dentair152]

12. yes

2 years ago a limb fell on me in our backyard. Knocked me in the head causing a nasty gash. My wife panicked called 911. That trip to the hospital was around $1,800. Somehow that was not covered by my insurance. I'll drive my self if anything happens again.

[apkhgp]

16. High medical bills

I consider all of your medical expenses to be the definition of extortion.

I had to spend three days and two night in a hospital for a petit mal seizure condition. Total medical expenses came to $2,400.00. That was in May of 1992. The annual cost of living increases and inflation rate would balloon that figure. How much I do not know.

45 kept on saying during the campaign "Everyone is going to get Healthcare". I want to know where it is.

[Scarsdale]

40. We ALL should run for office.

Seems like elected officials have all the perks. Healthcare, pensions and kickbacks. What a way to live, eh? What amazes me is that any mention of universal healthcare gets cries of "too expensive" yet when they want to separate these immigrants from their kids, there are flights available, plus thousands of air conditioned tents, beds and food supplies. How do we afford THAT?? "Best healthcare in the world" ONLY if you have the $$$$.

[Little Star]

41. Yep!

[A HERETIC I AM]

45. $4,322.00

Inflation adjustment calculator

You still got off easy. I had a 7 day stay in a Hospital in NE Florida in April. The total bill was $52,292.45 That's $7470 a DAY! Do you have any idea what kind of resort hotel you can stay in for $7400 a day?

What is funny/interesting/sad is they have a line that says "Insurance/Patient discounts" to the tune of $39,484.21!

If they were going to discount me nearly forty grand, what the ever living hell is the point of the fifty two thousand dollar part then?!?

After all is said and done, I owe $1300 BUT I keep getting bills from other sources, like the pulmonary group and all the other specialists, etc. etc.

I learned my lesson about ambulance rides. Never again unless I am in several pieces. I'll use Uber or something first.

[apkhgp]

59. I have always considered myself lucky

Even with my Petit Mal seizure condition and the
Carbamazepine and Phenytoin Sodium that I take for it.

The Sleep Apnea condition and the Symbicort and Salbutamol inhalers, and Singulair I take for that.

I have been diagnosed with Brugada Syndrome which kept me from getting a surgery in 2012, Osteoarthritic knee, Varicose veins.

I am legally blind ( can not drive a car ), had IOL surgery in both eyes.

Had a septoplasty, and a palatoplasty.

I am also going into Out Patient Surgery July 12, Plastic Surgeon will remove some lumps that I have. This cost me just over $380.00.

[panader0]

5. A friend got into an accident (not his fault) on I-10 just east of Tucson.

He was air-evacuated via helicopter to TMC. I believe the charge was $25,000.

[Kali]

8. It was mulltiple thousands for me to go by road From Benson to Tucson in 2016.

And it was slow and uncomfortable as hell. Should have drove myself! UGH

Last time my youngest was helicoptered in it was 19 or 20 K and that was more than 20 years ago.

[lapfog_1]

11. do you live in Benson?

I lived near there for almost 3 years... still have relatives there.

[panader0]

13. I saw Asleep at the Wheel with Ray Benson in Benson

some years back. Glad I had a designated driver that night. I live about 35 or 40 miles south
of Benson. West of Kali.

[lapfog_1]

14. sorry, I don't know where Kali is...

I lived near St. David... and I worked for a while in Tombstone...

[Kali]

22. Were you there? At the park? Ha! We saw them too.

[dem in texas]

44. Asleep at the Wheel - My Fav!

Miles and Miles of Texas!!

[Kali]

21. It's your turn to feed the Alien, Pinback. LOL

Yeah, I think we have talked before. I am actually up in Texas Canyon, but the kids all went to Benson Schools and we do most of our shopping there. Benson Hospital is our closest ER.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

26. OMG..

I completely forgot about that movie.

[lapfog_1]

27. One of the best budget sci fi ever made

a beachball with feet for the alien!

Com lasers that can kill you!

AI bombs that you can have philosophical discussions about their role in the universe!

A frozen Starship captain.

There was just so much about this movie that was memorable... I laughed through the whole thing in 1975...

a budget of $60,000.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

29. 1975...

Was a very good year. And 1976 was even better.
Good tid-bits of info. THANKS!!!

[lapfog_1]

10. My ex brother-in-law probably got some of that

he is the ER doc at TMC (one of maybe 6 or so?)

Might be retired now.

[airplaneman]

48. Several year ago

Two employees where I work had air-evacuated via helicopter (different days not related) at a cost of $25,000 each covered by insurance. We all received a letter from the insurance company soon after the second one that they would no longer cover air-evacuated via helicopter. I hope I have a choice if the time comes.
-Airplane

[Arkansas Granny]

6. A few years ago I had to call an ambulance for myself due to breathing difficulties.

I can see the hospital from my front door, I heard the siren when the ambulance left the hospital. The cost for my 3 block journey was more than $900. The only treatment I received en route was a failed attempt by the EMT to start an IV.

[calimary]

7. That's horrid!

Okay, CONS. You’re the ones in charge. Anything you see fit to do about this?

And NO. I don’t want another tax cut. That won’t fix anything, much less cover the costs.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. A terrible state of our so called best medical care in the world, eh? Kind of pathetic ...

being that we have lots of the best hospitals, doctors, research facilities, etc. in the world and this happens far too often.

A terrible shame and I don't see any repugs proposing anything to help, other than to constantly take away medical care from millions. Disgusting.

[Nonhlanhla]

15. My cousin's husband was in a serious car accident

last year and had to be air vacced to a hospital quite some distance away (only hospital that could treat his injury level). It's a miracle he survived but now they're being sued for a huge sum for the ambulance costs. I feel sorry for them but they are Trumpers so this is what they vote for. Sigh.

[mudstump]

17. American Exceptionalism....yeah right.

[mommymarine2003]

18. The VA would not pay for my son's ambulance rides

My Marine veteran son has had two incidences which required trips to the hospital by ambulance. The first one was soon after he returned from his second deployment to Iraq and when he finished up his four years as a Marine. He had a reaction to some medication. We lived at least an hour from the Tacoma, WA VA, so I drove him to the nearest fire department. They checked his vitals and said he needed to be transported as they thought he was having a heart attack. Unbeknownst to me, you have to get advanced permission to be transported by an ambulance outside the VA system. By law, he had to go to the nearest hospital, which was not the VA. That was about $1,000 for the ambulance. I paid that one.

Last year, he was a victim of a hit and run on the freeway in the Portland, OR area. He was on his motorcycle and was hit from behind by a man in a fit of road rage. My son flew off his motorcycle and slid across the freeway on his stomach for the length of a football field. How he survived is a miracle, as the freeway was full of cars. He was not capable of contacting the VA plus his wallet was lost in the accident. He tried several times to get the VA to cover the ambulance costs once he recovered. The suspect turned himself in, but my son is still battling the man's insurance company, even after a year, so the ambulance cost has gone to collections. The VA covered his medical, just not the ambulance ride. There was no way in the world he could have avoided an ambulance in that situation.

[JDC]

19. I took an Ambulance ride from S NH to Mass General $6k

Fortunatley I am insurred. I am ashamed of how we treat our own people's health. It's all a cash grab. Ashamed.

[airplaneman]

49. I call it the hospital, medical, pharmaceutical, assisted living wealth raping machine. n/t.

[blue-wave]

20. Where is

health care for everyone like the tRumpster promised?

With all the issues the Democrats have to run with this mid-term, if we don't at least take the house there is some serious (Russian) vote fraud going on.

[appalachiablue]

23. More outrageous predatory actions, Americans afraid & miserable.

[LisaM]

24. Privatization strikes again.

https://www-nbcnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/amp/high-ambulance-costs-surprise-families-times-need-n854056?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAE4AQ%3D%3D#referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fnightly-news%2Fhigh-ambulance-costs-surprise-families-times-need-n854056

[LiberalLovinLug]

25. Woah

Here in British Columbia I was a little taken aback that I had to pay ANYTHING. Its $80 for a ride here. (used to be $10 or $20) guess I'll stop complaining now.

[SemiHalfling]

28. That's a call I've made more times than I can remember

That and whether I can skip going to the ER.

[progree]

30. Consumer Reports on emergency responders / dispachers ordering AIR ambulances ($30,000)

even when not necessary.

Air ambulance - the average ride is $30,000.

Special Report
Air Ambulances: Taking Patients for a Ride
For-profit air-ambulance companies too often pick up people who don’t need air transport—and leave families with huge bills that insurance won’t pay

https://www.consumerreports.org/medical-transportation/air-ambulances-taking-patients-for-a-ride/

Jennie Stout, a nurse in Ocala, Fla., was finishing an afternoon shift when she got a panicked call from home. Her 13-year-old daughter, Ashlyn, had tripped and fallen into smothered embers left over from burning leaves in their backyard, scorching her hands, knees, and shins.

Ambulance paramedics on the scene when Jennie arrived said that Ashlyn should be sent by helicopter to a burn center in Gainesville for fast treatment.

Jennie was surprised: The hospital was only about 40 miles away and the burns didn’t seem extensive to her. But in that situation, she recalled, “I’m a mom first,” so she didn’t question the decision.

... $24,000 not covered by insurance

http://consumersunion.org/surprise-medical-bills/

[Whiskeytide]

35. The life flights I see more and more ....

... these days are averaging more like $42k. I’ve seen perhaps 8 in the last 2 years. Sometimes they accept what a patient’s health insurer pays, sometimes they don’t. They are not a BC/BS preferred provider so they can charge what they want to the patient. I suspect they make a judgment on ability to pay. If they think you have $, they relentlessly attempt collection. I have seen the same guy with the same company take a $7,000 insurance pymt as pd in full on a $36k bill, and 4 months later on another case seek the full balance due on a $47k bill after ins pd $11k. (They eventually accepted an additional $14k to pay it off, but only after a lot of wrangling. It just made no sense.

But they have good lobbyists. Alabama recently passed new regs that both shorten the distance life flight can be used to transport, and reduce the trauma level required to summon them. That’s our for profit system in action for you.

[Jake Stern]

31. Boston EMS is taxpayer funded

What justifies such a cost?

[LeftInTX]

42. I think it's like that in many places

It is here....

(San Antonio)

Had to be transported by EMS once.

We also have taxpayer supporter hospitals....we are expected to pay if we go...
If someone can't afford to pay, then the hospital pays or they receive a reduced fee.

[Jake Stern]

43. I can understand paying something

But that much for a shot hop across town?

[progree]

32. An ER visit, a $12,000 bill -- and a health insurer that wouldn't pay --

An ER visit, a $12,000 bill — and a health insurer that wouldn’t pay -- A new insurance policy expects patients to diagnose themselves, By Sarah [e-mail] Jan 29, 2018

Brittany Cloyd was doubled over in pain when she arrived at Frankfort Regional Medical Center’s emergency room on July 21, 2017.

“They got me a wheelchair and wheeled me back to a room immediately,” said Cloyd, 27, who lives in Kentucky.

Cloyd came in after a night of worsening fever and a increasing pain on the right side of her stomach. She called her mother, a former nurse, who thought it sounded like appendicitis and told Cloyd to go to the hospital immediately.

... A few weeks later, Cloyd received something else: a $12,596 hospital bill her insurance denied — leaving her on the hook for all of it.

... In recent years, Anthem has begun denying coverage for emergency room visits that it deems “inappropriate” because they aren’t, in the insurance plan’s view, true emergencies.

...

More: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/29/16906558/anthem-emergency-room-coverage-denials-inappropriate

And yes, it was good ol' Anthem who wouldn't pay, because it was determined to be ovarian cysts rather than appendicitus.

She appealed and was again denied. She appealed again -- one week after Vox began digging into this case and asking Anthem about it and it's emergency billing practices -- and was approved for payment.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another stories (thread) : As an Insurer Resists Paying for 'Avoidable' E.R. Visits, Patients and Doctors Push Back
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210635386

So you not only have to worry about out-of-pocket ambulance costs but even ER visits
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is just like another issue -- getting fucked with a huge uncovered bill when you have surgery because the radiologist or the lab or the anesthesiologist wasn't in-network. https://www.consumerreports.org/health-insurance/beat-a-surprise-medical-bill/

[area51]

33. I'll never understand why people put up with this.

We need single-payer now!

[uponit7771]

34. +1, but that's around 5 - 10% of cost the rest is doctors, pharma and hospital groups

[kacekwl]

46. Because they are lucky enough that it hasn't affected them yet.

Wait till they are receiving calls demanding 50,000 for the time they shot themselves or something like that and then they will blame Obamacare or Hillary.

[sarcasmo]

36. America, where you can't afford an Ambulance.

[shanny]

37. Aaaaaand 60% of Americans CANNOT AFFORD

a $1000 emergency.


But yeah, we are so fucking exceptional.

[kacekwl]

47. With my tax break I'm almost there.

Just 850.00 more to go.

[heaven05]

38. reality of living

in a soulless, predatory system called ameri$$$an capitalism. Some would rather face pain or death rather than bills. I have insurance and medicare and just recently went through chemo-radiation, 3 surgeries.

I am in shock after to receiving my co-pay responsibility. And I have not received them all yet. I have just called both the hospital and my carriers and asked them to re-bill all parties responsible. One co-pay-4270.00. Hopefully it will slow down things.

I empathize with this injured woman, greatly. 1200-1900$$$ for an ambulance ride.

[Honeycombe8]

39. There really ARE two Americas. There are the haves and the have nots.

Republican version: Deadbeat person can't pay her medical bills and expects taxpayers to foot the bill!

Democrat version: (see Boston Globe description)

This is so pathetic of our country. So pathetic. We need single payer, but many people have been brainwashed against it. Including Democrats! Won't happen in my lifetime.

I wish I could move to another First World country where there is single payer, but they have immigration laws to prevent people from moving there for their health system, when they haven't paid the high taxes to fund it. Shoots. I'd love to move to Canada. But I don't have enough money; they require a certain amt of money.

[yallerdawg]

50. I've seen ambulance services negotiate who transports...

based on insurance coverage.

There's low cost public EMS that will write it off if uncollectable. Then there's full-cost for-profit.

If you have good insurance, guess which one you ride in?

[riverbendviewgal]

51. I am Canadian

I have OHIP. Ontario health insurance plan. It does not cover ambulance from home or outside. I had a heart attack last December at my friends home. I got a bill for $45.
My private health insurance covered the cost.

I had 4 ambulance transport from hospital to hospital. There were no charges for that. OHIP covered those transports.

I love my one payer health insurance. I did not go bankrupt when my husband and our son were diagnosed with cancers at the same time.

[dalton99a]

52. Please invade America

[warmfeet]

54. I had surgery three years ago.

Surgery plus a three day stay in the hospital and I owed $85,000+. That was with no ambulance rides. You are very fortunate to have the health care system you have.

[avebury]

53. Oklahoma City residents have the option of paying $3 a month

for an "EMSA" fee on their monthly water/sewer/sanitation bill. It acts like a form of insurance if they ever need to call EMSA for a resident of that home. I figure that it is worth the monthly fee just in case.

[catbyte]

55. Two Saturdays ago, I developed a UTI & went to Urgent Care

Urgent Care sent me to the ER of the hospital they're affiliated with because they were alarmed at my high blood pressure/heart rate & amount of protein in my urine (sorry for the TMI.) Anyway, I get to the ER and I received 2 EKG's, another urinalysis, blood tests from 2 big vials of blood drawn, IV fluids and IV antibiotics. Heart okay, blood pressure/heart rate most likely due to infection but was put on mild blood pressure meds until I can get in to see a doctor, protein okay, nothing serious anywhere. Whew!

Cost:

$40 copay for Urgent Care
$250 ER copay

Then I get another bill in the mail for $965 because apparently the $250 copay is just to discourage me from going to the ER in the first place. Until my deductible is met, they will only pay 80%.

I was in the ER for 3 hours and the total came to almost $5,000. Even with insurance, that $1,255 really put a dent in my budget. Health care in the United States is a goddamned disgrace.

[Demovictory9]

57. and sadly, you got off easy. without that "good" insurance you would be bankrupt and self-treating

[LAS14]

56. K & R - I hope this makes all the national media!!!! nt

[PatrickforO]

58. Medicare for all Americans. NOW.

Medicare for all Americans. NOW.

I'm so fucking sick of having shitty, rationed healthcare with financially crippling copays that I could puke.

I want health care. NOW. And yes, single payer as in Medicare for all Americans.

Or, if we go universal, a public option.

The government gets to negotiate costs down.

We get services that are better, faster and MUCH more stress-free than the shitty capitalist for-profit crap we have now.

THE PROFIT MOTIVE AND HEALTHCARE DO NOT MIX.

[dalton99a]

61. +1

[pansypoo53219]

60. my uncle is in the shit bucket due to ambulance trips for him + his wife.