As a European, I'll take the €0,- ambulance ride, thanks.
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026
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But think about the Uber ratings drop if you get blood on the upholstery...
America moment, here it's the inverse.
Ambulance (€0)
Uber (€50 w/o dedicated healthcare)
This benefits rich and poor alike, and all that by the rich paying actual tax, together with a general wellbeing-focused society.
"B-b-but what if one day I get to be the billionaire cunt exploiting others for my personal profit? I don't want to pay taxes when that happens, that's so un-American and anti-Freedom!"
Seriously, paying taxes can be annoying, but considering that I get (mostly) free healthcare, cheap medicine, emergency services, public transit, public infrastructure, free education, and who knows what else, it suddenly sounds like a sweet deal.
Well yeah, but what if somebody else gets them too? /s
I think they call that "communism" or something (in reality, having parents who lived in what was claimed to be communism, I now know that to be false).
Here in canada it costs about $150 for an ambulance if you're a resident. $800 if you have third party insurance, and a grand if you're not a Canadian citizen or if you're a new Canadian citizen
Edit: At least in Nova Scotia
$1000 Canadian is around 700 USD for Americans calling ambulances in the Great White North
American experience.
I broke a bottle on my wrist one night.
Someone called the ambulance.
They show up. Cops also show up.
Medics check and clean the wound. Didn't hit a vien. Patch me up.
Cops make sure it's not a domestic dispute. They leave.
I ask medics how I'm supposed to pay....
Medics: you only get charged if we give you a ride.
Me: so I can just go to the ER on my own and skip the ride?
Medics: yeah. ER or even Urgent Care would be faster.
Me: well shit thanks for coming to make sure I don't die. I appreciate you two.
Medics: No problem. Take care.
Then I got an uber to the ER and got stitches. If it was earlier in the day I could've gone to urgent care (like a small clinic not a full hospital) to get taken care of faster and cheaper.
bonus photo of wrist scar
There is a secret third option :3c
Just fucking die? Because that too is part of the American health care system.
Escape?
Escape from life uwu (I'm not doing well, this is how I cope)
Crazy de-sync
I live in the US. My spouse has been taken to the hospital by ambulance at least 5 times, probably more. Most of those times he had pneumonia, he's quadriplegic and asthmatic, he couldn't breathe and needed to lie flat and get oxygen, not sit in his wheelchair or a car seat. The other time was a GI bleed from a botched surgery. So all the ambulance trips ended with him being "admitted" and staying in the hospital from a few days to five months. Every time, the insurance covered the ambulance. Being admitted is the qualifying event.
Insurance has also covered non-emergency ambulance rides home, because they don't wait until he's fully well to send him home, and the hospital doctor prescribed it.
Do we spend out the ass on insurance premiums? Yes, because we know we're likely to need the best coverage. It's our biggest monthly expense.
Would universal government-sponsored healthcare be better? Fuck yes.
Would it be gutted like a fish every time the GOP was in power? A good reason to vote them out and keep them out.
But I've driven myself to the ER, because I could still safely do so, and often a Lyft can do the job just as well, if you can sit and don't need medical support to keep from dying on the way there.
"Bleeding out" would require an ambulance, "bleeding" might not. Will the ambulance driver probably decide they need lights and siren? Yeah, you should be calling 911.
Do be kind and protect the driver/vehicle from anything messy or contagious. If you expect the ER will probably be able to treat you and send you home without a hospital stay, it's unlikely the ambulance will be covered.
And if you're one of the millions with no insurance because our stupid job-based profit-oriented system makes it unaffordable? My heart breaks.
Kristi Noem would probably come shoot you for free.
Only $2500? I've heard it is quite a bit more depending on which for profit third party provider is handling the ambulances for your area.