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I feel her pain. I fell off a ladder and got a big gash over my left eye brow. I didn't think it was a big deal but a neighbor called for an ambulance. The hospital is exactly 1.25 miles from my house. There was no hurry to get there and the siren wasn't used.
A couple of weeks later, I got the bill. $600.00 PLUS an added $30 as a fuel surcharge. - 1.25 mile
Many communities have a program where you can pay maybe $25 yearly to have ambulance service and then if you need it you don't get a bill. We did and it was a great plan while it was offered. The woman was foolish IMO declining proper medial attention.
I know of locally a man hit a deer with his car and declined medical treatment at the scene or at a hospital. He died the next day from heart trauma.
It was not free market then. The AMA acts like the trade unions of old which would have 7 year apprenticeships to basically starve out the competition. The number of slots at the schools is yet another da guberment created monopoly. Its severely restricted with more applicants than they will accept. There are laws that prevent many roles from being practiced by medical professionals which is not really necessary. So we either do not have enough or their time is being wasted.
Also, as was mentioned, the market works by shopping around. That does not really happen , and since there are laws requiring people to be treated as a business they will need to charge those who can pay more. Hardly a free market.
I pay taxes. That's supposed to fund the local fire/EMT response. My youngest child was at a neighbor's house for a sleepover with a friend and scared the crap out of the Mom when she passed out first thing in the morning. She and I being both tall and thin have naturally very low blood pressure. Within normal limits but it sometimes creates issues. Anyway...
My daughter passes out, her friend's Mom doesn't hesitate to call 911 (correct response), and the local EMT responds and takes her 3.5 miles to the hospital.
Clean bill of health at the hospital. Comments about low blood pressure, including "eat more salt." But the takeaway is that for a local EMT response and 3.5 mile trip to the hospital (we pay taxes for this), we were billed $700.
No idea why people freak out over medical bills. My ex racked up $10,000 worth of hospital bills (that was after insurance paid!) and told the hospital she could only afford $75/mo. The set up a payment plan and she paid that amount every month. After two years the hospital wrote it off as a loss.
Yes, instead of just ignoring it. They rather take something than nothing at all. Especially from somebody who has nothing to begin with.
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But the takeaway is that for a local EMT response and 3.5 mile trip to the hospital (we pay taxes for this), we were billed $700.
