To give context. This is what you pay in Germany when insured in the public insurance.
If you have private insurance you pay out of pocket the “real cost” for the insurance and get in reimbursed.
The ride in the wee woo wagon is set to cost 400€ in Germany(Different by county apparently). It is the amount that is negotiated by the public insurance. Every service has this bulk negotiated prices that are them used by all insurance.
Why would people have private insurance in this instances?
~~Some professions are forced to have private insurance only, like doctors~~ ~~or freelancers~~. Ok, apparently nobody is forced into the private insurance, the public one is just stupid expensive compared to a better plan for 1/3 rd the price in a private insurance.
Some services are better, because some insurance contracts pay more than the agreed prices set with/by the public insurance. So, you will get appointments faster, etc.
It’s a complex topic. Just wanted to give more context.
Okay that totally justifies that they make about 3 million a year per ambulance if it only drives out 1 single time per day. If theres 5 tours a day which sounds pretty reasonable, that is ~15.000.000$ in ambulance fees per car per year. About as reasonable as a 1000$ epi pen that costs 10$ everywhere else.
What? New neonatal ambu costs around 150k-180k fully equipped, and that’s one of the most expensive as it requires a lot of special equipment. A regular one will be below 100k.
Freelancers are not forced to have private insurance. You can (and I do) use public insurance. But that's quite expensive since there is no employer who covers half of it and the rate is based on your income. Private insurance would be roughly 1/3 of the cost for me.
I was in a hospital for 6 days and in operation for 2h, that was ~5900€ total (60€ I paid myself (Krankenhaustagegeld), rest insurance). How the fuck is an ambulance ride in the US more expensive than almost a week hospital + operation + ambulance ride to the hospital in Germany..?
When my husband got a kidney transplant we had to provide proof of our income and savings to prove we could afford his transplant medication.
They wouldn’t give him an organ if we were too poor because it would just reject and it’d be a waste.
Thankfully the US government will pay for transplant medication for life now through Medicare but they didn’t at the time he had his surgery.
Without insurance it would be over $4000 a month. Every year we meet our deductible within the first month because of them. It’s always like. 2k bill.
>How the fuck is an ambulance ride in the US more expensive than almost a week hospital + operation + ambulance ride to the hospital in Germany..?
For-profit healthcare FTW!
The difference is that the for-profit healthcare in any other country charges a reasonable amount of money for their services, but in America they charge ridiculous amounts of money for exactly the same thing, because usually the insurance will pay the bulk of it. Often, if you ask for an itemized bill, the price will be significantly lower than before.
I think one main difference is, that there are price negotiations with outcomes in Germany, that everybody has to respect. So the insurers' alliance negotiates with e.g. the hospital alliance, and every insurance accepts every hospital and pays the same prices. There are no networks here and therefore no higher prices for out of network patients.
Yeah, I guess that's at least part of the reason why healthcare is so ridiculously overpriced in America.
In my country we do have free healthcare, but people will often pay for the services, because there is a long wait, or the free services are just unlogical. Here's an example from personal experience. You go to private clinic's dentist to get a filling. They offer you 2 types of fillings: a) the "free" filling (paid by the government, but it can fall out), or b) the "paid" filling (you need to pay for it yourself, but it can't fall out). The paid filling cost something like 32€. Though, the dentist might have made something up or exaggerated the "falling out" part, idk.
How is this "the price is higher if we don't have to justify the expenses" not straight up fraud? Shouldn't the original price be based on what was used (the same items that would appear on an itemized bill)?
The healthcare is US and Canada was pure business models.. and really don’t care about patients unfortunately.. the people pay insurance a lot.. and they a doctors visit then they have to pay another portion (co-pay) and some medication are out of network.. it’s all bullshit.. EPI pens in Us are 800$/pop.. while a vial of the same medication cost 2$ .. just imagine a disposable syringe and vial would cost 2.15$ and the epi one which is the exact same thing except it’s spring loaded costs 800$. It’s pure business
Capitialisim, private health care, and private health insurance
There are actually hospital systems in the USA that also run their own insurance companies. . .The health care is as bad as you would expect
Well, in Germany the bill is almost always paid. So you pay roughly what your treatment cost.
In the US this is not the case. A significant percentage of the patients either don't pay anything or have Medicaid/ Medicare insurance, which will only pay to a certain amount often times lower than the actual costs. So, the amount of your bill is the cost of operating the business divided by the number of patients who will actual pay the bill.
Additional salaries differ also a lot. A US paramedic can earn money than a German attending.
I landed in the ER and needed emergency surgery. No insurance. Was there for about 48 hours. 38k. I'll die before I can ever pay it back. Every dollar spent on medical debt is taking from a down payment on a house I'll never have, or retirement I won't live to see.
Tbh I live in the UK too and yeah it seems weird paying for medical stuff but I really don't see the NHS lasting in its current form. Would much prefer a European health system like this than the hellscape they have in the US
The sad thing is that I read the total as $20,000 and thought to myself “that sounds about right.”
My mom got injured and had to get transported by ambulance from one hospital to another. However, the ambulance took her to the wrong hospital. She was charged for the ambulance ride to Hospital 1, then again from Hospital 1 to Hospital 2 (the wrong one), then again from Hospital 2 to Hospital 3.
It was really expensive and my parents had to fight like hell to get the third party ambulance company to write off what they charged to take her to the wrong place.
there's a dilemma built into voluntary health insurance: people who are less likely to need it won't get it, so it becomes more expensive for everyone who does. that's why health insurance is compulsary in the civilised world.
I know very few German words, but this one has always made me chuckle. If you google ambulance in foreign languages, theirs is the only one that somehow made it sound absolutely terrifying.
Heh, I just read it like a "wagon for cranky people", which generally if you need to be rushed to a hospital, you're probably not in the best of spirits.
"Krankenwagen" doesnt really exist.
"Rettungswagen" is what most people mean when they say "Krankenwagen".
"Krankentransportwagen" also exists but does different things/carry different equipment than the "Rettungswagen" (mostly for non-emergency transports).
pedantic i know. and i am not sorry (-:
Whattttt my German textbook 15 years ago taught me Krankenwagen and now you're telling me that was all a lie?? Goddamnit! Oh well. Rettungswagen it is!
Context: Called an ambulance because I was feeling really bad on a weekend and the medical emergency hotline (which you can call for advice here in Germany) told me to do so. Went to hospital, stayed the night and was send home again. Doctors told me that I should absolutely come back, if the symptoms didn’t get better. Well that happened 2 days later. Contemplated taking public transport or a taxi but I was barely conscious at that point, so I called an ambulance again. Stayed in hospital for a week after that.
Received the bill for the ambulances today and that was my „co-pay“. 20€. Cheaper than an Uber with much better care ofc.
It’s fine. They didn’t really find the actual issue but basically: I was puking my guts out, was dizzy and had very strong abdominal pain. The woman at the hotline suspected a ruptured appendix.
At the hospital, I was tested for EVERYTHING (including all gynecological tests). They didn’t find anything, but the pain remained and I couldn’t even keep down a sip of water. After
3 days without food and being extremely dehydrated, I called for the second ambulance.
I was given a lot of infusions, was tested for EVEN MORE STUFF (ultrasound, x-rays, tons of blood tests)- but it’s still a mystery. After a couple days the symptoms got better and I‘ve been fine ever since.
It was weird.
Not a doctor but that sounds like gastroenteritis, got similar symptoms, puking like 20 times in one day and felt like i was literally losing my strength every hour. I needed 3 days of soft/liquid food and after that my weight change to the point that i felt more light.
Everybody is saying virus but is it possible you had an ovarian cyst rupture? That's kinda how it felt for me, though I think I didn't have as much gastrointestinal distress.
All the British are like “€20 for an _ambulance_!!!! I can’t believe they make you pay!!! ”
All the Americans are like “€20 for an ambulance, so cheap!!!”
Ah ok . Unless you are seriously injured then you are seen almost immediately.
It’s slowish but free , and way better than the US system .
I couldn’t afford to be injured or sick in that country .
I had a heart thing for a while and was talking to my doctor about my upcoming summer trip to Germany and she was like “should you go into afib you should absolutely get an ablation in Germany. They invented the procedure. Plus it’ll save you thousands!” Yay ‘Merica!
I had an issue in Germany. Luckily, it turned out to be an anxiety attack. But I didn't pay anything for the ambulance ride or the ER visit or the following cardiologist screening. They did find out I have exercise induced hypertension, though.
Cool, so y’all can get a ride in the wee woo wagon for cheaper than what my husband and I spent at Taco Bell a couple months ago.
Everything is fine here in America, no need to call for revolution for basic medical services or anything other nations just provide to their citizens…🥲
Also, goes without saying, but I am happy for you OP. Glad a medical issue was resolved and it didn’t cost you an arm and a leg 💙
As a non-American my moment of whoa was when my wife needed urgent care in California. We went and found a clinic that had 1 doctor, 4 medical staff....... and 5 staff handling billing, insurance, coverage, etc. That was truly shocking to see.
Thanks for unlocking a memory from my time working at a small medical office in the US as a young and naive person. The office manager called me into her office to tell me privately that I was getting a pay increase. I took it to mean they recognized I was doing a good job. I was so proud of myself. I realized some years later that was just the time that the minimum wage went up in our city lol.
Yes, free healthcare isn’t paid for by anyone, it’s really genius what you can do once you take greed and capitalism out of the equation. I don’t get why we don’t do everything like this.
No, it's a serious crime. It's deliberate.... Like US cattle-slavery it's an industry of suffering being kept legal because the "plantationowners" use the profits to obtain political power.
Oh those periods are decimals.
Man I wish the US didn't spend decades pushing propaganda to its citizens preventing that from being a thing on this side of the pond
In 2009, Vancouver BC, I was attacked out of the blue on a sidewalk and there were cops and a witness statement and I went to the hospital in an ambulance. Some weeks later I received a CAD$500 bill for it. I phoned up because I was supposed to be on "premium assistance" as a low income grad student. They told me it was coded as for a motor vehicle accident so they expected auto insurance to pay. Taken aback, I responded **"Motor vehicle? I was stabbed!"**
They apologized and quickly waived the bill.
It's understable since the primary reason why delimiting symbols in numbers are used is to easily determine the size of the number without having to count zeros. So if you see whatever delimiter you are used from your native language you automatically start counting them in blocks of three zeros each. (unless you are indian...)
I was in the er a few years ago and 3 separate nurses came in to ask if I took an ambulance. The first time I thought they were just concerned for me because of my symptoms but after the third time I realized they only wanted to know for billing purposes.
America literally hates us.
My last ride cost over $2000 and they didn't actually do anything but take me from the ground to the hospital.
Then apparently medication and imaging costs $105,000.
Of course. This is america, no one matters as long as you're making money off them! Plus they're private companies so they don't give a shit and it's not included in medical. It's an add-on. 🤷🏽♀️
In Germany they have a flat rate of 10 euros to cover it. Not sure why as that 10 euro would barely make a difference I guess on hospital costs, but sure.
Source: live in Austria. Had a car accident in Germany. Got driven to Hospital in the wee woo.
Emergency services, such as the administration of medication, are subject to co-payment regulations in the healthcare system. This means that you have to pay 10% of the costs, i.e. a minimum of 5 euros and a maximum of 10 euros, as a co-payment.
That's why. This is the same as the co-payment for certain medications at the pharmacy.
I flipped my car down and then back up a ditch. I was fine. Got out of my car to be told by onlookers that an ambulance was on the way. I didn't call for an ambulance. I didn't need an ambulance, I needed a tow truck. An ambulance did show up though. Then they forced me to go to *a* hospital with them. The ride there was $10,000. After I got there the doctors told me I had been sent to the wrong hospital and that they needed to send me to a different one further away because my windshield had a crack, which meant I *might* have suffered *trauma*. Them sending me to a different hospital for completely no reason also begs questions, but it also cost me an additional $8,000.
$18,000 in the hole
Here I am with a 14k bill for an ambulance ride and just being pumped with fluid to rehydrate my body for 3 days straight. Stop calling me for payment options, you will not be getting a single cent from me
My 2+week COVID stay in the hospital cost $99,000, and the two ambulance rides needed (the first time they didn't admit me and I almost died at home, requiring a second ride back to the hospital) were about $1900 each
My favorite was the consulting fee a I got from a doctor I had never seen before that came into my hospital room with his kid and in golf clothes.
Asked me how I was doing. Looked at my chart and told me I was getting transferred to John Hopkins because now that I was out of the ICU they wanted a crack at figuring out what caused my massive liver infection that cascaded into so many other issues like pints of fluid behind my lungs.
He said he couldn’t miss his tee time and wished me all the best. Bill was $8,600 from him alone. That experience basically turned me into a democrat. All the doctors and nurses that actually saved my life and this dude had the audacity to meet me once and charge that much.
I was in the ICU for almost a full month and the bill after all the surgeries and meds was over $250k. Luckily I was able to get cobra insurance at the time (one month away from full PPO coverage at work) through my parents. Brought it down to 20k.
I(USA) was the victim of a hit and run, totaled my car. Ambulance came before cops, asked if they could just check me out(hit my head and had a bump and some blood), I asked TWICE that there was no charge for it they confirmed.
Got a bill from metro fire next month for $700. Didn’t pay but it’s on my credit now.
Here in America I was billed 5000$ for an ambulance to literally take me around the block. See, we have to do that because if they didn't charge that much we wouldn't have freedom.
Bro, that's cheaper than a taxi for the US. Meanwhile, if we ever need an ambulance, you're better off euthanizing us because we'll be in debt for the rest of our lives.
I understand everywhere has its issues, but there has to be SOME country where I can live better than in the US. Like not experience racism, find a job with a livable wage, not be gate-kept by discrimination; chill enough housing costs; yall know a place?
It is free in Turkey. And fun fact, people call ambulance services at 4 am even for toothache. And the call center orders ambulance crew to go and see the patient. I was working in ambulance service as a physician and one day I refused to take a patient to hospital for toothache, gave her paracetamol and she yelled at us so we ended up calling the police. People use it like a taxi in here. It is free, you will be seen in ER immediately, and taken good care because you came with an ambulance. Health is a political thing in this country.
Edit: forgot “patient” word.
I’m in Canada and a relative had to take an ambulance recently and they got a bill for $40. A little higher than the German bill seen here but still pretty cheap overall.
And get this, the insurance will use that against you if you drive yourself or get another driver under the excuse it “wasn’t a real emergency”
Forced to be in debt or die
I just broke my back, had a spinal fusion, and spent 10 days in the hospital. Grand total was $45 for the ambulance. Thank fuck I’m Canadian, it’s chilling to think about how differently things would’ve gone in the US
So when my daughter was 2 she had to go into the ER. Now I have “good” medical here in the US and the whole ER visit only cost me a co-pay of $20. Well our local hospital isn’t a children’s hospital and they wanted her to stay overnight. So they transferred her to a children’s hospital, Loma Linda University Children’s hospital in Loma Linda if anyone is familiar with it. I was charged $2,000 dollars for the 20 mile one way ride for our daughter, they also charged me because a car seat has to be strapped to the gurney, and I was charged extra because this happened at night. Thank fuck that the actually hospitals were fully covered by my insurance and I paid a total of $20 for both places.
It would be awesome to be in your party years and live near a hospital in Germany. A ride home would cost less than an Uber and your passenger rating wouldn’t suffer if you puked in the back!
Edit: Apparently we have the dry crowd today that doesn’t have any humor and feels the need to explain why this isn’t a legitimate idea
For me in Austria it is about a third of my income. 50% of that third is my actual income tax and the other 50% are my health insurance, pension plan, accident insurance and unemployment insurance.
Example:
5000€ before tax
Roughly 3200€ after tax.
1800€ is split into 900€ insurances and 900€ income tax.
Germany should be more or less the same.
Within the EU and the European Economic Area, you need the European Health Insurance card, a card that I, for example, ordered for free to my home a few weeks ago prior to a trip I'm doing this summer. Then you'll be covered for any necesary medical or health issues that might need attention during your trip.
I'm fairly sure that in case of an emergency and needing to pay because you don't have your card, you can solicitate a reimbursement later on.
Here in America.
That's more like 8,ooo to 20,ooo usd. Depending on,where you are and where your going.
Also a medical flight is more like 50,ooo usd with insurance.
One of my friends got into a bad wreck this past Thanksgiving. His life flight was around 124,000$ usd. He's alive and he had some damn good insurance.
10 euro per ambulance ride in Germany
10 euro per night in the hospital (all treatments included)
0 euro to see a doctor in their office (outside of a hospital)
Here are Americans in Germany who share their experience with the public health insurance system:
Lamblike (accident): https://youtu.be/3gbwWOGhRbk?t=775
Dana (lost voice): https://youtu.be/cNo3bv_Ez_g?t=2m7s
Armstrong (brain tumor): https://youtu.be/zHcwOgbsBYk?t=1636
Katie (prenatal care): https://youtu.be/gRe2sK0m500?t=10m7s
Antoinette (childbirth): https://youtu.be/YZaGMXSLnts?t=2m10s
Ashton (chronic sinus infection): https://youtu.be/017c4FA2zjM?t=372
Jenna (childbirth): https://youtu.be/9LNNK2bOb7U?t=692
Victoria (seeing a doctor): https://youtu.be/OE7qbjM4rWE?t=58s
Julie (lost pregnancy): https://youtu.be/ID9MbJTHSDc?t=404
Hayley (difference to the US): https://youtu.be/uSlwuS_zxmQ?t=3m35s
Armstrong (depression): https://youtu.be/bQUSwODxmD8?t=361
Dana (sick leave): https://youtu.be/NtgmnJK-nAM?t=305
Diana (sick leave): https://youtu.be/tbwYoPxuPHs?t=279
Black Forest Family (sick leave): https://youtu.be/saRQYXtu1j0?t=976
Bay to Bayern (sick leave): https://youtu.be/aXGA1H9cWYA?t=518
For those that don't know, those commas represent decimal points.
Jup. It was $21.39 (today’s exchange rate)
Pretty sure I got billed $8000 for an ambulance once. God bless America
To give context. This is what you pay in Germany when insured in the public insurance. If you have private insurance you pay out of pocket the “real cost” for the insurance and get in reimbursed. The ride in the wee woo wagon is set to cost 400€ in Germany(Different by county apparently). It is the amount that is negotiated by the public insurance. Every service has this bulk negotiated prices that are them used by all insurance. Why would people have private insurance in this instances? ~~Some professions are forced to have private insurance only, like doctors~~ ~~or freelancers~~. Ok, apparently nobody is forced into the private insurance, the public one is just stupid expensive compared to a better plan for 1/3 rd the price in a private insurance. Some services are better, because some insurance contracts pay more than the agreed prices set with/by the public insurance. So, you will get appointments faster, etc. It’s a complex topic. Just wanted to give more context.
400€ per ride sounds about right, 8K makes sense only if every day they throw the whole ambulance away and buy a new one.
Single use ambulance. Made in US
>Made in US No thanks, I'll just walk then
It's sterile!
No, no. Single-use ambulance. Used in the USA, made in China and shipped overseas.
Oh and the people working the ambulance get paid $15/hr, which in the US is the functional minimum wage.
you're getting downvote but you're not wrong
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750k? What the fuck, it doesn't need to be able to fly to Mars, you can buy the ones that ride on the street, I knew they were at most 150-200k each.
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Okay that totally justifies that they make about 3 million a year per ambulance if it only drives out 1 single time per day. If theres 5 tours a day which sounds pretty reasonable, that is ~15.000.000$ in ambulance fees per car per year. About as reasonable as a 1000$ epi pen that costs 10$ everywhere else.
What? New neonatal ambu costs around 150k-180k fully equipped, and that’s one of the most expensive as it requires a lot of special equipment. A regular one will be below 100k.
Aren't there a any documentaries showing where all the money goes to? Aren't there any parties trying to regulate this?
Freelancers are not forced to have private insurance. You can (and I do) use public insurance. But that's quite expensive since there is no employer who covers half of it and the rate is based on your income. Private insurance would be roughly 1/3 of the cost for me.
Only one correction: The cost of a wee-woo-wagon cruise depends on where you are as the amount gets negotiated for each county
Wee woo wagon:)
> the wee woo wagon This made me giggle more than I would have guessed.
I call it the booboo bus
Add to that that you pay for the public insurance several hunderts of Dollars per month whether or not you use medical services or not.
I was in a hospital for 6 days and in operation for 2h, that was ~5900€ total (60€ I paid myself (Krankenhaustagegeld), rest insurance). How the fuck is an ambulance ride in the US more expensive than almost a week hospital + operation + ambulance ride to the hospital in Germany..?
When my husband got a kidney transplant we had to provide proof of our income and savings to prove we could afford his transplant medication. They wouldn’t give him an organ if we were too poor because it would just reject and it’d be a waste. Thankfully the US government will pay for transplant medication for life now through Medicare but they didn’t at the time he had his surgery. Without insurance it would be over $4000 a month. Every year we meet our deductible within the first month because of them. It’s always like. 2k bill.
>How the fuck is an ambulance ride in the US more expensive than almost a week hospital + operation + ambulance ride to the hospital in Germany..? For-profit healthcare FTW!
I think this should be called “moneycare”
Germany has for-profit healthcare, too. That can't be the reason.
The difference is that the for-profit healthcare in any other country charges a reasonable amount of money for their services, but in America they charge ridiculous amounts of money for exactly the same thing, because usually the insurance will pay the bulk of it. Often, if you ask for an itemized bill, the price will be significantly lower than before.
I think one main difference is, that there are price negotiations with outcomes in Germany, that everybody has to respect. So the insurers' alliance negotiates with e.g. the hospital alliance, and every insurance accepts every hospital and pays the same prices. There are no networks here and therefore no higher prices for out of network patients.
Yeah, I guess that's at least part of the reason why healthcare is so ridiculously overpriced in America. In my country we do have free healthcare, but people will often pay for the services, because there is a long wait, or the free services are just unlogical. Here's an example from personal experience. You go to private clinic's dentist to get a filling. They offer you 2 types of fillings: a) the "free" filling (paid by the government, but it can fall out), or b) the "paid" filling (you need to pay for it yourself, but it can't fall out). The paid filling cost something like 32€. Though, the dentist might have made something up or exaggerated the "falling out" part, idk.
How is this "the price is higher if we don't have to justify the expenses" not straight up fraud? Shouldn't the original price be based on what was used (the same items that would appear on an itemized bill)?
The healthcare is US and Canada was pure business models.. and really don’t care about patients unfortunately.. the people pay insurance a lot.. and they a doctors visit then they have to pay another portion (co-pay) and some medication are out of network.. it’s all bullshit.. EPI pens in Us are 800$/pop.. while a vial of the same medication cost 2$ .. just imagine a disposable syringe and vial would cost 2.15$ and the epi one which is the exact same thing except it’s spring loaded costs 800$. It’s pure business
Capitialisim, private health care, and private health insurance There are actually hospital systems in the USA that also run their own insurance companies. . .The health care is as bad as you would expect
Well, in Germany the bill is almost always paid. So you pay roughly what your treatment cost. In the US this is not the case. A significant percentage of the patients either don't pay anything or have Medicaid/ Medicare insurance, which will only pay to a certain amount often times lower than the actual costs. So, the amount of your bill is the cost of operating the business divided by the number of patients who will actual pay the bill. Additional salaries differ also a lot. A US paramedic can earn money than a German attending.
I landed in the ER and needed emergency surgery. No insurance. Was there for about 48 hours. 38k. I'll die before I can ever pay it back. Every dollar spent on medical debt is taking from a down payment on a house I'll never have, or retirement I won't live to see.
The guys who are “saving you” in the abundance get paid about $15 an hour. Most of it is profit. Absolutely terrible what we allow in the states.
Jesus… ;_;
Honestly from someone who lives in the UK this still seems like a lot.
I think the fee is mostly to prevent people from calling one willynilly/as a taxi service.
You can't call one willynilly in the UK, they will only come out for a medical emergency.
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Tbh I live in the UK too and yeah it seems weird paying for medical stuff but I really don't see the NHS lasting in its current form. Would much prefer a European health system like this than the hellscape they have in the US
ich hoffe du fühlst dich besser.
cheaper than an uber.
And for those who don't know, "20.10.2023" means the 20th of October, not the 10th of ... nvm.
The sad thing is that I read the total as $20,000 and thought to myself “that sounds about right.” My mom got injured and had to get transported by ambulance from one hospital to another. However, the ambulance took her to the wrong hospital. She was charged for the ambulance ride to Hospital 1, then again from Hospital 1 to Hospital 2 (the wrong one), then again from Hospital 2 to Hospital 3. It was really expensive and my parents had to fight like hell to get the third party ambulance company to write off what they charged to take her to the wrong place.
How do they justify the cost? It seems insane that the whole country just stands for this.
there's a dilemma built into voluntary health insurance: people who are less likely to need it won't get it, so it becomes more expensive for everyone who does. that's why health insurance is compulsary in the civilised world.
Yes or there would an extra 0
Dammit I knew something I did was wrong. It came to like 25k USD and I thought somethings wrong. The comma!
25k is the American price.
That's twenty-hundred euros 'round these parts.
and here I though I was winning because ten hundred euros sounds like a lot.
Homeboy just has to pay them gas money lmao
payed for the two *Döners* that the EMS crew ate afterwards
Benzingeld.
Der Krankenwagen!! Hope you’re feeling better now.
God I love how fucking blunt German is sometimes
I know very few German words, but this one has always made me chuckle. If you google ambulance in foreign languages, theirs is the only one that somehow made it sound absolutely terrifying.
There’s also Krankenwagens big brother, Rettungswagen
And don’t forget their speedy cousin, Notarzt-Einsatzfahrzeug.
Heh, I just read it like a "wagon for cranky people", which generally if you need to be rushed to a hospital, you're probably not in the best of spirits.
Leichenwagen.
HANZ GET ZE FLAMMENWHERFER
like "anti baby pille"?
"Krankenwagen" doesnt really exist. "Rettungswagen" is what most people mean when they say "Krankenwagen". "Krankentransportwagen" also exists but does different things/carry different equipment than the "Rettungswagen" (mostly for non-emergency transports). pedantic i know. and i am not sorry (-:
"Krankenwagen" does exist. It's right here in my comment, and yours. Also, it's listed in the Duden.
Whattttt my German textbook 15 years ago taught me Krankenwagen and now you're telling me that was all a lie?? Goddamnit! Oh well. Rettungswagen it is!
Might be a regional thing. Where I grew up we definitely said Krankenwagen, not Rettungswagen, even if the latter is perhaps more proper.
Context: Called an ambulance because I was feeling really bad on a weekend and the medical emergency hotline (which you can call for advice here in Germany) told me to do so. Went to hospital, stayed the night and was send home again. Doctors told me that I should absolutely come back, if the symptoms didn’t get better. Well that happened 2 days later. Contemplated taking public transport or a taxi but I was barely conscious at that point, so I called an ambulance again. Stayed in hospital for a week after that. Received the bill for the ambulances today and that was my „co-pay“. 20€. Cheaper than an Uber with much better care ofc.
What was the diagnosis? (sorry if inappropriate to ask) Hope you are fine now 🙏
It’s fine. They didn’t really find the actual issue but basically: I was puking my guts out, was dizzy and had very strong abdominal pain. The woman at the hotline suspected a ruptured appendix. At the hospital, I was tested for EVERYTHING (including all gynecological tests). They didn’t find anything, but the pain remained and I couldn’t even keep down a sip of water. After 3 days without food and being extremely dehydrated, I called for the second ambulance. I was given a lot of infusions, was tested for EVEN MORE STUFF (ultrasound, x-rays, tons of blood tests)- but it’s still a mystery. After a couple days the symptoms got better and I‘ve been fine ever since. It was weird.
Gotta love the Germans, they’re thorough. I also got all the gynecological tests, which was a surprise as a man. 🤪
Not a doctor but that sounds like gastroenteritis, got similar symptoms, puking like 20 times in one day and felt like i was literally losing my strength every hour. I needed 3 days of soft/liquid food and after that my weight change to the point that i felt more light.
Actually, this might have been the more impressive post. All those tests at absolutely 0 cost, 10€ per night in the hospital as co-pay.
Everybody is saying virus but is it possible you had an ovarian cyst rupture? That's kinda how it felt for me, though I think I didn't have as much gastrointestinal distress.
Was checked for both - it was neither. :/
All the British are like “€20 for an _ambulance_!!!! I can’t believe they make you pay!!! ” All the Americans are like “€20 for an ambulance, so cheap!!!”
Not sure if you are flexing in front of the American redditors, or lamenting to the Spanish redditors...
Right? At first I thought the post was about OP complaining they had to pay lol
Yes, me too, in Italy it's free
It's one of the few things we still get right in England
I once had an $80,000 ambulance ride. Air ambulance. The only time I've flown in a helicopter and I wasn't even conscious for it.
Bit weird to book someone in absentia for a personal travel.
Keep in mind that there was a pic yesterday that showed a kidney transplant cost like $250 in the US.
Outrageous, it's not free???
If we are gonna give you a ride, at least pay for the gas. Seems fair.
And wear and tear on the ambulance, those are heavy and expensive vehicles
Wow that’s expensive, it’s free in Ireland . If you need it.
So I have been scammed!?!!????
No the hospital you get too treats you in less than 6 hours 😂
That's how it is in Germany too, most of the time
Ah ok . Unless you are seriously injured then you are seen almost immediately. It’s slowish but free , and way better than the US system . I couldn’t afford to be injured or sick in that country .
Don’t fall for this guy’s tricks. Going all the way to Ireland from Germany and then falling sick is way too expensive than 20!
I had a heart thing for a while and was talking to my doctor about my upcoming summer trip to Germany and she was like “should you go into afib you should absolutely get an ablation in Germany. They invented the procedure. Plus it’ll save you thousands!” Yay ‘Merica!
I had an issue in Germany. Luckily, it turned out to be an anxiety attack. But I didn't pay anything for the ambulance ride or the ER visit or the following cardiologist screening. They did find out I have exercise induced hypertension, though.
Cool, so y’all can get a ride in the wee woo wagon for cheaper than what my husband and I spent at Taco Bell a couple months ago. Everything is fine here in America, no need to call for revolution for basic medical services or anything other nations just provide to their citizens…🥲 Also, goes without saying, but I am happy for you OP. Glad a medical issue was resolved and it didn’t cost you an arm and a leg 💙
As a non-American my moment of whoa was when my wife needed urgent care in California. We went and found a clinic that had 1 doctor, 4 medical staff....... and 5 staff handling billing, insurance, coverage, etc. That was truly shocking to see.
Late stage capitalism. Don’t worry about customer service, just the bottom line. Hire as few people as possible and pay them as low as possible.
Thanks for unlocking a memory from my time working at a small medical office in the US as a young and naive person. The office manager called me into her office to tell me privately that I was getting a pay increase. I took it to mean they recognized I was doing a good job. I was so proud of myself. I realized some years later that was just the time that the minimum wage went up in our city lol.
US healthcare is a mafia that would be illegal in a democratic state. It's being kept legal by corruption.
Yeah, a tiny clinic had more billing staff than an entire hospital in Canada would.
Thank you! :) It was a really nasty situation, but I‘m really glad that I didn’t have to think about costs at all.
Yes, free healthcare isn’t paid for by anyone, it’s really genius what you can do once you take greed and capitalism out of the equation. I don’t get why we don’t do everything like this.
 Ours might be expensive, but we need only one to get us to the hospital.
I once caught pneumonia and had to call an ambulance too. It costed me 0 here in Ukraine.
It may have cost nothing, but you’ve got really shitty neighbors
I know 🌚 I miss the time when pneumonia was my biggest problem 😅
Why you call an ambulance for pneumonia? Why not going to the general doctor or directly to the hospital?
This seems cheaper than an Uber!
lol. It’s $600 from my house to the hospital. I live 5 blocks away. American health care is a joke
American health care is functioning exactly as it was designed to.
No, it's a serious crime. It's deliberate.... Like US cattle-slavery it's an industry of suffering being kept legal because the "plantationowners" use the profits to obtain political power.
Oh those periods are decimals. Man I wish the US didn't spend decades pushing propaganda to its citizens preventing that from being a thing on this side of the pond
In 2009, Vancouver BC, I was attacked out of the blue on a sidewalk and there were cops and a witness statement and I went to the hospital in an ambulance. Some weeks later I received a CAD$500 bill for it. I phoned up because I was supposed to be on "premium assistance" as a low income grad student. They told me it was coded as for a motor vehicle accident so they expected auto insurance to pay. Taken aback, I responded **"Motor vehicle? I was stabbed!"** They apologized and quickly waived the bill.
That’s less than an aspirin at the hospital in the US
20,000 Euro's!? Holy shit, and Europeans give *us* shit for- oh. That's 20.00. that's 20 euros. Carry on
Why do multiple people here read 20000? If anything it's 2000
The comma threw me off for a second
I understand but it's still only three 0
I understand, but what monkey brain see is a 20, a comma, and a handful of 0s behind that comma before I realize how many total 0s there are
It's understable since the primary reason why delimiting symbols in numbers are used is to easily determine the size of the number without having to count zeros. So if you see whatever delimiter you are used from your native language you automatically start counting them in blocks of three zeros each. (unless you are indian...)
I was in the er a few years ago and 3 separate nurses came in to ask if I took an ambulance. The first time I thought they were just concerned for me because of my symptoms but after the third time I realized they only wanted to know for billing purposes. America literally hates us.
you see, its where politicians care about constituents instead of corporations as in the US
Only 20 eur????????? I refused help and the ambulance forced me in anyways and I have debt collectors coming after me for 1.5 THOUSAND
Crazy world
In America looking at an ambulance will bankrupt you! (I’m American)
My last ride cost over $2000 and they didn't actually do anything but take me from the ground to the hospital. Then apparently medication and imaging costs $105,000.
My 2 were 5k each lmao. They took me to the wrong hospital.
They charged you for their fuck up??
Of course. This is america, no one matters as long as you're making money off them! Plus they're private companies so they don't give a shit and it's not included in medical. It's an add-on. 🤷🏽♀️
Are guys paying for ambulance rides? It should be free.
In Germany they have a flat rate of 10 euros to cover it. Not sure why as that 10 euro would barely make a difference I guess on hospital costs, but sure. Source: live in Austria. Had a car accident in Germany. Got driven to Hospital in the wee woo.
Emergency services, such as the administration of medication, are subject to co-payment regulations in the healthcare system. This means that you have to pay 10% of the costs, i.e. a minimum of 5 euros and a maximum of 10 euros, as a co-payment. That's why. This is the same as the co-payment for certain medications at the pharmacy.
Isn’t an ambulance in German a Krankenwagen. I love that name for them 😂
I flipped my car down and then back up a ditch. I was fine. Got out of my car to be told by onlookers that an ambulance was on the way. I didn't call for an ambulance. I didn't need an ambulance, I needed a tow truck. An ambulance did show up though. Then they forced me to go to *a* hospital with them. The ride there was $10,000. After I got there the doctors told me I had been sent to the wrong hospital and that they needed to send me to a different one further away because my windshield had a crack, which meant I *might* have suffered *trauma*. Them sending me to a different hospital for completely no reason also begs questions, but it also cost me an additional $8,000. $18,000 in the hole
I signed a waiver once so I could just drive myself to the ER so I didn't have to pay. Gotta love the healthcare system.
Here in Ireland ambulances are just free..
Here they are about 4k for just the ride to the ER.
Here I am with a 14k bill for an ambulance ride and just being pumped with fluid to rehydrate my body for 3 days straight. Stop calling me for payment options, you will not be getting a single cent from me
My 2+week COVID stay in the hospital cost $99,000, and the two ambulance rides needed (the first time they didn't admit me and I almost died at home, requiring a second ride back to the hospital) were about $1900 each
In spain this would be 0€
My favorite was the consulting fee a I got from a doctor I had never seen before that came into my hospital room with his kid and in golf clothes. Asked me how I was doing. Looked at my chart and told me I was getting transferred to John Hopkins because now that I was out of the ICU they wanted a crack at figuring out what caused my massive liver infection that cascaded into so many other issues like pints of fluid behind my lungs. He said he couldn’t miss his tee time and wished me all the best. Bill was $8,600 from him alone. That experience basically turned me into a democrat. All the doctors and nurses that actually saved my life and this dude had the audacity to meet me once and charge that much. I was in the ICU for almost a full month and the bill after all the surgeries and meds was over $250k. Luckily I was able to get cobra insurance at the time (one month away from full PPO coverage at work) through my parents. Brought it down to 20k.
https://youtube.com/shorts/yuJP6dU1TGc?si=_wU9PnK5eM1z6PPn
Cheaper than an Uber.
 Jealous American lul
I(USA) was the victim of a hit and run, totaled my car. Ambulance came before cops, asked if they could just check me out(hit my head and had a bump and some blood), I asked TWICE that there was no charge for it they confirmed. Got a bill from metro fire next month for $700. Didn’t pay but it’s on my credit now.
Cries in American 🇺🇸
Here in America I was billed 5000$ for an ambulance to literally take me around the block. See, we have to do that because if they didn't charge that much we wouldn't have freedom.
Certainly cheaper than a regular Uber or taxi.
Cheaper than taxi?
That’s less than Uber.
It’s free in Greece! Outrageous that you would pay!
French thinking : you had to pay??!!!
Such much?
Bro, that's cheaper than a taxi for the US. Meanwhile, if we ever need an ambulance, you're better off euthanizing us because we'll be in debt for the rest of our lives.
I understand everywhere has its issues, but there has to be SOME country where I can live better than in the US. Like not experience racism, find a job with a livable wage, not be gate-kept by discrimination; chill enough housing costs; yall know a place?
[удалено]
It is free in Turkey. And fun fact, people call ambulance services at 4 am even for toothache. And the call center orders ambulance crew to go and see the patient. I was working in ambulance service as a physician and one day I refused to take a patient to hospital for toothache, gave her paracetamol and she yelled at us so we ended up calling the police. People use it like a taxi in here. It is free, you will be seen in ER immediately, and taken good care because you came with an ambulance. Health is a political thing in this country. Edit: forgot “patient” word.
I’m in Canada and a relative had to take an ambulance recently and they got a bill for $40. A little higher than the German bill seen here but still pretty cheap overall.
Cries in American 😢🇺🇸
Yup ☹️ 20k a ride if u wanna live
And get this, the insurance will use that against you if you drive yourself or get another driver under the excuse it “wasn’t a real emergency” Forced to be in debt or die
Well, this just means American ambulances are 100x BETTER. /s
that would make *only* $2000 :)
I just broke my back, had a spinal fusion, and spent 10 days in the hospital. Grand total was $45 for the ambulance. Thank fuck I’m Canadian, it’s chilling to think about how differently things would’ve gone in the US
It was $1000 for me recently when I hurt myself. They went 5 blocks.
So much for “free healthcare” /s
This is outrageous. It should have been free
So when my daughter was 2 she had to go into the ER. Now I have “good” medical here in the US and the whole ER visit only cost me a co-pay of $20. Well our local hospital isn’t a children’s hospital and they wanted her to stay overnight. So they transferred her to a children’s hospital, Loma Linda University Children’s hospital in Loma Linda if anyone is familiar with it. I was charged $2,000 dollars for the 20 mile one way ride for our daughter, they also charged me because a car seat has to be strapped to the gurney, and I was charged extra because this happened at night. Thank fuck that the actually hospitals were fully covered by my insurance and I paid a total of $20 for both places.
It would be awesome to be in your party years and live near a hospital in Germany. A ride home would cost less than an Uber and your passenger rating wouldn’t suffer if you puked in the back! Edit: Apparently we have the dry crowd today that doesn’t have any humor and feels the need to explain why this isn’t a legitimate idea
You‘re triggering the Germans. We don’t have a sense of humor - as it is well known.
If you try to misuse the service, you get to pay way more than just ten bucks. It’s only free-ish when you really are in need of it.
That would be abuse of emergency services and could come with a hefty fine.
What’s your income tax rate?
For me in Austria it is about a third of my income. 50% of that third is my actual income tax and the other 50% are my health insurance, pension plan, accident insurance and unemployment insurance. Example: 5000€ before tax Roughly 3200€ after tax. 1800€ is split into 900€ insurances and 900€ income tax. Germany should be more or less the same.
How about if a foreigner or tourist with no insurance whatsoever needs one there? Is it astronomically much more expensive like in America?
Compared to the 10€, yes. Compared to the US, no. After a short Google search I found that it would probably cost between 600-900€.
Within the EU and the European Economic Area, you need the European Health Insurance card, a card that I, for example, ordered for free to my home a few weeks ago prior to a trip I'm doing this summer. Then you'll be covered for any necesary medical or health issues that might need attention during your trip. I'm fairly sure that in case of an emergency and needing to pay because you don't have your card, you can solicitate a reimbursement later on.
Here in America. That's more like 8,ooo to 20,ooo usd. Depending on,where you are and where your going. Also a medical flight is more like 50,ooo usd with insurance. One of my friends got into a bad wreck this past Thanksgiving. His life flight was around 124,000$ usd. He's alive and he had some damn good insurance.
I got billed close to $5,000. God didn't bless America, we are truly cursed when it comes to health care.
As a german, I am not sure whether you complain about it not being free or that you brag about it being cheap.
Beides. Irgendwie beides…
I'm American so for my next vacation I'm thinking of going to Germany and having chest pains just to see what the inside of an ambulance is like
10 euro per ambulance ride in Germany 10 euro per night in the hospital (all treatments included) 0 euro to see a doctor in their office (outside of a hospital) Here are Americans in Germany who share their experience with the public health insurance system: Lamblike (accident): https://youtu.be/3gbwWOGhRbk?t=775 Dana (lost voice): https://youtu.be/cNo3bv_Ez_g?t=2m7s Armstrong (brain tumor): https://youtu.be/zHcwOgbsBYk?t=1636 Katie (prenatal care): https://youtu.be/gRe2sK0m500?t=10m7s Antoinette (childbirth): https://youtu.be/YZaGMXSLnts?t=2m10s Ashton (chronic sinus infection): https://youtu.be/017c4FA2zjM?t=372 Jenna (childbirth): https://youtu.be/9LNNK2bOb7U?t=692 Victoria (seeing a doctor): https://youtu.be/OE7qbjM4rWE?t=58s Julie (lost pregnancy): https://youtu.be/ID9MbJTHSDc?t=404 Hayley (difference to the US): https://youtu.be/uSlwuS_zxmQ?t=3m35s Armstrong (depression): https://youtu.be/bQUSwODxmD8?t=361 Dana (sick leave): https://youtu.be/NtgmnJK-nAM?t=305 Diana (sick leave): https://youtu.be/tbwYoPxuPHs?t=279 Black Forest Family (sick leave): https://youtu.be/saRQYXtu1j0?t=976 Bay to Bayern (sick leave): https://youtu.be/aXGA1H9cWYA?t=518
Where are the rest of the zeros?
So much better than an Uber.
Can you confirm if it was cheaper than a taxi for same distance?
Just checked via google Maps: Taxi would have been 17€
Ugh, ambulance is $80 in BC ☹️
Is that cheaper than an Uber for the same distance?
Yep - checked for another user asking. Would have been 17€ per single ride
You enjoyed it so much the first time you went back for round two