Land of the Fee
Woww ✨✨ fairies 🧚🧚♂️🧚♀️✨✨ yayyyy!!
The American healthcare system…
In Switzerland I pay 40CHF (~49USD) yearly to get a free helicopter evacuation in case of an accident. Never needed it, but I know people that have. Absolutely worth it. While it’s “just hiking” in most cases, being out in nature in the middle of nowhere can get dangerous fast.
I don’t think people on here realize this but America literally has this too. My grandmother pays for it because she lives out in a very rural area. She pays a little more ($79 a year)
Not bullshitting you: https://www.lifeteam.net/membership
joey lawrence here. i play the dimwitted heartthrob on blossom but there’s no heart in the american medical system–last week i paid 5000000 to remove an entire package of sweet tarts from my urethra.
whoa!
Quite limited service area: https://www.lifeteam.net/services/service-area
True but there is more than one of these orgs in America. This one just happens to be the biggest one.
In Italy I pay 0€ to be evacuated from anywhere. It’s crazy that you have to pay for an emergency.
In Switzerland they deal with an endless line of brain-dead tourists that put themselves into stupid situations where helicopter evacuation is the only option, so I can kinda understand that they’d put some stuff in place to prevent people from abusing that.
Tourists are human and all humans deserve free and ready access to healthcare or other emergency services, regardless of if they were born within the arbitrary bounds of your nation or otherwise.
There is no understanding that justifies requiring payment for emergency services behind a paywall.
The relevant part isn’t that they’re tourists, it’s that they willingly put themselves in dangerous situations they aren’t prepared for that require dangerous and expensive evacuations by the bucket-load. High mountain evacuations are a very different beast from regular healthcare service. They need the guardrails, I think it’s totally fair to pay your 40 bucks as insurance if you’re going to go into these places.
The relevant part is they are humans and they deserve unfettered access to emergency services. Period.
Ok then they’ll close access to the mountains… Is that better? If it was your son dying from having to rescue some idiot who went up there with no prep during a snowstorm I wonder if you’d think the same.
Or they could just not and provide the service, since that is always an option.
Nah, I’d be damn proud of them for risking their life to save another in need, not irrationally blame the one who had the need, regardless of why they needed it, because I’m not some jaded, misanthropic twit who just assumes the worst in everyone.
so you can pack up your little strawman and fuck all the way off with it.
Yeah it’s not great. Transport costs for emergencies are often only covered 50% in Switzerland. We do have the second most costly system after the US, and it’s for the same reason imho, private insurers. There are some more guardrails here than in the US, so it’s not completely horrible, but there are lots of better systems around Europe.
Regarding helicopter rescue specifically, that’s kind of a funny case. In Switzerland the first helicopter rescue organization was founded as a non-profit foundation called Rega, and it continues to operate that way.
For patrons the Rega eats the cost of a rescue that no insurance covers. If you are not a patron and get rescued then the cost of the rescue that isn’t covered falls to you. So in effect a Rega patronage also acts as a sort of gap-insurance.
Around 40% of the population are registered patrons of the Rega foundation. The cost for that is what benjirenji was actually referring to.
In France I think you pay a fee in certain situations (ski resort) but otherwise it is the same. And the pilots are total badasses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk7qUaFMDhw https://youtu.be/M0z9HRC7hlU?t=129
I once went on a trip to Atacama and as a responsible person got insurgence that specifically covered rescue above 5000m. When I got there locals told me that there are actually no rescue teams there or anything.
I once went on a trip to Atacama and as a responsible person got insurgence that specifically covered rescue above 5000m. When I got there locals told me that there are actually no rescue teams there or anything.
Not sure i would trust insurgents with that task…
I would fix it but they no one will know what are you taking about.
I will, but my memory is shit
“I pay… To get a free…” uhhhhhh one of us doesn’t understand what “free” means.
Welcome to the insurance scheme, I guess.
2 different companies cover the area I live in. I pay the annual fee for both. Just in case I have an accident while sitting at my computer that requires an air lift.
He was a nurse to. Which just makes him more aware of how things like that can just ruin a person in the us. Remember when that hospital took away healthcare benefits from its janitorial staff. That to me is peak us explanations. A hospital can’t afford to give its staff health insurance. ugh.
I mean… damn, the US is not a real place
I’m all for universal health care. But at the same time being outdoors/hiking/fishing most of my life.
Some of the insanely stupid shit I’ve seen people do in the middle of fucking no where…
I mean accidents happen, but if you’re that idiot that ignored four warnings and got gored trying to pet a bison, part of me thinks you SHOULD have to pay for that helicopter ride
There should be consequences, sure, but life long financial ruin isn’t exactly a punishment that fits the crime here.
I never said that, more just a petty rant at the injustices of life. :p
They have to cut off their own finger and hand it to the rescue crew. After the filth time the take a hand. Then just keep going until the decide to stop being stupid.
Look up the cost of life flight. It’s often an entirely separate insurance (ask).
The majority of people don’t understand that there are levels to hospitals. Couple lives near a hospital in a beautiful though remote coastal location, thinks they have it figured out. Oh, but it’s a level 3 hospital. Not many surgeons, just one bone doctor.
One of them has a stroke. Now they need level 1-2, depending. Time is a critical factor, so, life flight. Ditto for a heart attack.
Last check it’s ~$50-60k.
Saw a thread where a father got a 100k bill for a life flight his son needed. Insurance didn’t want to pay because they didn’t preapprove but it was an emergency so there was no time anyway.
I’m just wondering why every thing in the medical field immediately costs 10x as much as it needs to. Yes, helicopters are expensive to maintain and so is the personnel but 100k per flight is ridiculous. Show me the calculation.
I’m just wondering why every thing in the medical field immediately costs 10x as much as it needs to.
Because capitalism.
The calculation is, “We have you over a barrel so get fucked, you poor.” I took a helicopter flight over Lake Tahoe just for the hell of it earlier this year. The total duration was probably similar to a flight from anywhere within those mountains to the local hospital and in fact we flew right by the hospital when we were still in town. The total cost was a couple of hundred bucks. This was from a private operator, so the profit from that cost had to include his own fuel and time, insurance, plus financing and maintaining his own machine, plus whatever it costs to stable it at the airport. Nobody is subsidizing him, and no municipality is giving him a cushy tax break, either.
So there’s no way in any rational universe that a helicopter flight to the hospital should cost more than a thousand, maybe two thousand dollars even accounting for the payroll of everyone on that bird and all the other expenses, plus a fat 200% profit margin.
Right? I had an MRI to check on my ear. It took 30-40min all said and done. $28k. 100% covered by insurance.
That tech is getting paid $60-$75/hr. There’s the machine, which is always on. Then there’s the doc who reads it. Some paperwork filings in the chart.
That’s probably 1hr of tech pay, after cleaning / set up. Radiologists make ~$300/hr per salary on average.
So, after the $375 for hands on personnel, and the electric bill, I don’t know what whimsy created the $27,625.
Per the search bot, 165-226 kWh per day for the MRI being on.
That’s stupid, emergency services should not come at a cost. If it were a hiker needing to be rescued because they were stupid and didn’t prepare properly charge them. If it’s an unforseen emergency than provide it as a service.
I’m surprised the cops don’t charge money for showing up to calls, or the firefighters. Why is the medical field so different?
Because most of it is privatized.
or the firefighters.
Oooh history’s got some good ones for you
To do as such one must be… Crass
People are just ok with this. It’s so bizarre.
Not that gruesome but don’t try that at home. Call an Uber.
This article reads like health insurance propaganda. It’s all about how selfless this guy is, and never talks about how insane it is that he had to risk death to avoid crippling medical debt.
Welcome to the US.
If I’m conscious, no matter what happens, I will always have the thought: can I make it to the hospital on my own.
Disgusting dystopian hellhole…
Ive heard of helicopter rescue insurance in the United states. Last i looked into it (15 years ago) it was around $50 per year. Considering the fact that ive heard more than one story of people getting themselves out of the backcountry with terrible injuries, i think it would be a good investment for anyone navigating privatized healthcare while enjoying outdoor sports.
I don’t think this one fits the comm. Yes, the American health system is dystopian, but for mountain rescues and other ‘extreme sports’ this is the standard all around the world.
There are special insurances, some times through clubs or federations too, but if you go without them or out of what they cover you’re on your own. Break an ankle and you’ll gonna pay very handsomely—the vehicles, installations, equipment, training, personnel… don’t come cheap. And I think it is absolutely fair that, if you cause all these expenses and these people risking their lives because you wanted to play adventurer, you foot the bill.
In Italy helicopter ride is free if you need to go to the hospital after the fact, and around 1000$-2000$ if there is no medical justification for the call. In the US you risk financial ruin with medical justification.
Quanto siamo fortunati a vivere qui e non ce ne accorgiamo
…but for mountain rescues and other ‘extreme sports’ this is the standard all around the world.
Is it? The search and rescue teams here in BC, Canada choose not to charge for rescues specifically to prevent the person from having to make the choice this guy did.
BCSARA believes that the belief that a lost or injured person or their loved ones will be charged for a search and rescue response could directly affect the decision as to whether or when a call for professional help will be made.
In the UK the mountain rescue air ambulance is free to use. As far as I understand it, that the pilots are actually RAF pilots assigned to the rescue teams as part of their training. Putting them in the rescue helicopters kills two birds with one stone. Many rescuers are volunteers, and the service is funded via tax and public donations.
https://www.guidedolomiti.com/en/dolomites-mountain-rescue/ there are places that have better terms. I even thought our hiking group got some alp-hikers club membership for heli coverage, but it looks like you don’t need that and it’s a courtesy thing so you ’ pay in’ this rescue pool. Good thing those horses were only charging us for sport and we didn’t even need any heli’s :)
Those fucking poles are overpriced outfitter gear. He’d have probably been better off with a good stick.
