Even countries with universal health insurance usually won't cover helicopter rescue, you need travel insurance which covers mountaineering. Or you have to risk paying, it's like 5k I've heard.
My girlfriend had to be air lifted by helicopter in New Zealand. They didn't want our insurance details, because their local insurance covered us already. This was in 2010, so no idea of this would still apply.
No. What happened was my wife worked for probably two years to get the insurance company to pay the full bill or have the ambulance company reduce it.
In case anyone here doesn't know, never pay the first bill you get. Wait until the final bill. The insurance company and the provider keep negotiating and the price comes down, often in a significant way.
Anyway, the air ambulance service refused to reduce and just said they didn't negotiate. That was just what they charge. The insurance company just kept saying that they already paid and weren't going to pay more. Mind you after the $124,000 hospital bill, we had reached her out-of-pocket maximum of $16,000, which we did pay. Mind you, my wife was unconscious and actually never agreed to be airlifted. When it looked like they were going to sue us for the rest of the bill, my wife's employer agreed to pay the bill for us. They were self insured and not happy with the carrier they had chosen. This apparently wasn't the first issue they had had with their employees. It was a non profit and we were grateful for their kindness.
Also, we had the same problem with the ground ambulance which charged $1600 to drive her from the airport to the hospital, a distance of about 2 miles. You can literally see the hospital from the airport.
Also on a related note, since we had paid our maximum family out of pocket, I opted to have a recommended colonoscopy at that time. That's when we found out that I am NOT family. Family=children. I'm a spouse and had to meet my own out-of-pocket maximum. It's a really great system.
Sounds awesome indeed…. And this maximum is yearly?
We have a mandatory out-of-pocket maximum (set by the government) of ~ €400, which, if you don’t expect to use much health care, you can increase to ~ €900 in exchange for a reduction in your monthly fee. Still, some people complain about that maximum, but I think they would complain a lot less if they knew a little more about the US system.
Norway covers it. We regularly see news about foreign tourists who either take stupid risks and have to be airlifted down, or tourists who book a night at one of the mountain cabins and then trigger a whole red cross search party with two helicopters when they don't show up. So to those who consider mountaineering in Norway: be responsible, plan ahead, make sure you can contact someone if you change plans midway. It's public money going towards your search & rescue.
Honestly… California pays a ton in rescuing stuck folks who got themselves into deadly situations… I’m really torn but I do think they have some responsibility in that.
part of the reason we're in the mess we're in with people being screwed by bills is that so many folk that either (1) didn't know how to do their jobs or (2) would gladly accept money to do a job and then just not do it entered the nursing profession. fucked up the coding on that bill? nah, it's not the practice's problem to deal with the practice's errors, it's the patient's!
I remember when my ex wife got her first LPN job on the way to her BSN. I thought for sure once she worked in a hospital it would have good insurance. It’s actually crazy how terrible the insurance is for medical employees. I had a way better plan available to me working for a ~100 person remodeling company, and it wasn’t a union gig either.
Are you kidding me!? I love paying taxes for Medicare that I’ll never get, as well as premiums to for profit health insurance that rejects the tests that my dr wants. Oh and I love that I still have to pay even more out of pocket when I get some odd bill six months later.
Why on earth would anyone in their right mind want to give that up!?
Yeah. But mostly it's just a scam or low quality products, treatments. Thousands of government hospitals in india doesn't have any facilities at all. Private hospitals are working to harvest money as much as possible. Even in government hospitals patients have to sleep in floor.
Also most of the health care products available in markets are not so healthy or even original products at all. People pay to buy things that destroy their health because of no other way.
They are saying india is improving by hiding all these ugly facts. No matter which party currently ruling india, every government is heavy trying to act like they don't see these at all. They stole their own people.
Btw, it's really not so proud to say an indian. Never has been. 🫥
(Nowadays india censors alot of the web and force other country based services too to moderate some contents on social media. So am a little bit worried that my account will be banned or comment deleted for saying these even though india have no control over lemmy or this instance. If this will be considered as spreading hate speech about india or then government, then it's not. Everything am said is just truth. As an india i experienced it alot and it's so disturbing than it looks.)
Yikes! Al the best, brother. Sorry to hear about this.
If it is any consolation, my country that used to call itself the home of the free is now being sold to tech bro oligarchs who hate it that the peasants have any freedom at all.
The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in southwestern Victoria is home to one of the oldest and most extensive aquaculture systems on Earth, built by the Gunditjmara people to farm kooyang — the short-finned eel (Anguilla australis).
About 6,600 years ago — and possibly much earlier — the Gunditjmara used the basalt rock from ancient lava flows of the Budj Bim volcano to construct a sophisticated network of channels, weirs, dams, and ponds across roughly 100 square kilometres around Lake Condah. Some stone channels were dug up to 200 metres long to divert water and exploit seasonal water-level changes, creating a managed wetland factory that trapped, stored, and harvested migrating eels.
66 Comments
idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works · 41 pts · 19d
Shitty clickbait! We will never know what happened to that poor hiker!
areakode@riskeratspizza.com · 18 pts · 19d
Well, he didn't get to the hospital via helicopter!
red_tomato@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 19d
He saved money and everyone clapped
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d
Everyone clapped… until they didn’t get universal healthcare…
Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone · 26 pts · 19d
Even countries with universal health insurance usually won't cover helicopter rescue, you need travel insurance which covers mountaineering. Or you have to risk paying, it's like 5k I've heard.
Gloomy@mander.xyz · 16 pts · 19d
My girlfriend had to be air lifted by helicopter in New Zealand. They didn't want our insurance details, because their local insurance covered us already. This was in 2010, so no idea of this would still apply.
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 19d
My wife was air lifted via fixed wing aircraft. The 45 min. flight was $55,000. Insurance covered $11,000.
Photonic@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d
You had to pay $44,000 out of pocket for a single flight?!
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 18d
No. What happened was my wife worked for probably two years to get the insurance company to pay the full bill or have the ambulance company reduce it.
In case anyone here doesn't know, never pay the first bill you get. Wait until the final bill. The insurance company and the provider keep negotiating and the price comes down, often in a significant way.
Anyway, the air ambulance service refused to reduce and just said they didn't negotiate. That was just what they charge. The insurance company just kept saying that they already paid and weren't going to pay more. Mind you after the $124,000 hospital bill, we had reached her out-of-pocket maximum of $16,000, which we did pay. Mind you, my wife was unconscious and actually never agreed to be airlifted. When it looked like they were going to sue us for the rest of the bill, my wife's employer agreed to pay the bill for us. They were self insured and not happy with the carrier they had chosen. This apparently wasn't the first issue they had had with their employees. It was a non profit and we were grateful for their kindness.
Also, we had the same problem with the ground ambulance which charged $1600 to drive her from the airport to the hospital, a distance of about 2 miles. You can literally see the hospital from the airport.
Also on a related note, since we had paid our maximum family out of pocket, I opted to have a recommended colonoscopy at that time. That's when we found out that I am NOT family. Family=children. I'm a spouse and had to meet my own out-of-pocket maximum. It's a really great system.
Photonic@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 18d
Sounds awesome indeed…. And this maximum is yearly?
We have a mandatory out-of-pocket maximum (set by the government) of ~ €400, which, if you don’t expect to use much health care, you can increase to ~ €900 in exchange for a reduction in your monthly fee. Still, some people complain about that maximum, but I think they would complain a lot less if they knew a little more about the US system.
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 17d
And worse than that, I've barely scratched the surface. I'm pretty sure that people who think we have the best healthcare have never actually used it.
I think we have the best healthcare no one can access.
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 19d
Well, at least she wasn't on Spirit Airlines.
mastertigurius@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 19d
Norway covers it. We regularly see news about foreign tourists who either take stupid risks and have to be airlifted down, or tourists who book a night at one of the mountain cabins and then trigger a whole red cross search party with two helicopters when they don't show up. So to those who consider mountaineering in Norway: be responsible, plan ahead, make sure you can contact someone if you change plans midway. It's public money going towards your search & rescue.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d
Honestly… California pays a ton in rescuing stuck folks who got themselves into deadly situations… I’m really torn but I do think they have some responsibility in that.
WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 19d
People don't think California be like it is but it do
ttayh@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 19d
Brazil does it
Johanno@feddit.org · 1 pts · 19d
In Germany it is covered as long as you are still in Germany.
Hell sometimes even the flight from another country back to Germany for surgery is covered.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it · 1 pts · 19d
Air ambulance services are free in Italy if you call the 118 or 112 and it's an emergency
Awooooooga@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 18d
Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 19d
Free in most provinces in Canada.
estrange_alien@leminal.space · 24 pts · 19d
pretty sure i read that the guy is a nurse too… so what does that tell ya lol
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 19d
Knew how to walk ten miles while Impaled?
estrange_alien@leminal.space · 2 pts · 19d
that he would still rather walk 10 miles than pay for an airlift (a nurse is very likely to have decent insurance as well)
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 18d
And being a nurse had had seen so many people screwed by insane bills
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 18d
part of the reason we're in the mess we're in with people being screwed by bills is that so many folk that either (1) didn't know how to do their jobs or (2) would gladly accept money to do a job and then just not do it entered the nursing profession. fucked up the coding on that bill? nah, it's not the practice's problem to deal with the practice's errors, it's the patient's!
MurderHobo@thelemmy.club · 4 pts · 19d
I remember when my ex wife got her first LPN job on the way to her BSN. I thought for sure once she worked in a hospital it would have good insurance. It’s actually crazy how terrible the insurance is for medical employees. I had a way better plan available to me working for a ~100 person remodeling company, and it wasn’t a union gig either.
axh@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 19d
And I would walk 500 hundred miles and I would walk 500 more... to avoid ambulance cost
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d
People starting the Camino de Santiago from Saint Jean Pier de Port sing this song too.
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 19d
Screw that! Medicare costs money. I want mine covered by the taxes I already pay. Just cut out the wars and we're good.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 19d
Are you kidding me!? I love paying taxes for Medicare that I’ll never get, as well as premiums to for profit health insurance that rejects the tests that my dr wants. Oh and I love that I still have to pay even more out of pocket when I get some odd bill six months later.
Why on earth would anyone in their right mind want to give that up!?
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 18d
did someone besmirch my precious money hole
cepelinas@sopuli.xyz · 19 pts · 19d
Since when is Lithuania a major country? And as I use voyager I got tricked by the screenshot xD
tautalas@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 19d
Take a W, brother
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 19d
Nice! I didn’t even zoom in on the flags. Indeed. But I was flabbergasted by the coincidence of the one being right above the other. Strange days.
paranoid@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 19d
I think we need more moths
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net · 11 pts · 19d
Always wanting more moths, never planting more lamps. smh my head
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 19d
Add india too to the denylist.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d
While it’s not single payer it appears to be hugely subsidized and largely free in India.
Crumpled6273@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 18d
Yeah. But mostly it's just a scam or low quality products, treatments. Thousands of government hospitals in india doesn't have any facilities at all. Private hospitals are working to harvest money as much as possible. Even in government hospitals patients have to sleep in floor.
Also most of the health care products available in markets are not so healthy or even original products at all. People pay to buy things that destroy their health because of no other way.
They are saying india is improving by hiding all these ugly facts. No matter which party currently ruling india, every government is heavy trying to act like they don't see these at all. They stole their own people.
Btw, it's really not so proud to say an indian. Never has been. 🫥
(Nowadays india censors alot of the web and force other country based services too to moderate some contents on social media. So am a little bit worried that my account will be banned or comment deleted for saying these even though india have no control over lemmy or this instance. If this will be considered as spreading hate speech about india or then government, then it's not. Everything am said is just truth. As an india i experienced it alot and it's so disturbing than it looks.)
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 18d
Yikes! Al the best, brother. Sorry to hear about this.
If it is any consolation, my country that used to call itself the home of the free is now being sold to tech bro oligarchs who hate it that the peasants have any freedom at all.
emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 18d
Free for the poor. Others have to pay a nominal fee. I pay 2 rupees to see the doctor and 20-30 rupees for tests / medicines.
(100 rupees = 1 USD / Euro or 7 CNY approximately)
Jiggle_Physics@quokk.au · 8 pts · 19d
China, the second most major country, also considers healthcare as a human right
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 19d
That’s the slippery slope they were all worried about.
Jiggle_Physics@quokk.au · 7 pts · 19d
Can't be havin no goddamned commie human rights
ryper@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 19d
In Canada we have universal healthcare but also ambulance fees. The healthcare may be free, but getting to it isn't.
Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 19d
It's free if you're on income support, otherwise it's about $100.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 19d
Call a designated driver?
qqq@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 19d
For the record, if anyone is in a serious situation and needs rescue, SAR is free in the US. A medical helicopter, on the other hand, is not.
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 18d
It depends. SAR in my state is coordinated by our Fish & Wildlife Department and staffed with volunteers.
They will bill you if they determine you willfully caused the situation leading to you having to be extracted.
ttayh@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 19d
SAR?
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 19d
Search and rescue
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 19d
Sources about U.S. being the worst at health care in the world?
Ganbat@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 19d
Source: Am American. Almost died from fucking gallstones.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 19d
Exactly.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 19d
You would have to provide sources, but I'd allow it.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 19d
What the actual fuck are you talking about? This is fodder for all communities on this platform.
PattyMcB@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 19d
You sure pissed me off trying to hit the voting button, OP!
(Good shitpost)
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 19d
As I said in another thread: Even if cost weren’t a factor, if I can walk out of there it’s a waste to use a helicopter.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 19d
I mean this truly: may you never share a predicament anything like the one described.
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 19d
If I do don’t call a helicopter.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · -3 pts · 19d
Hey I already pay so much for my healthcare premiums I can't afford to pay for universal healthcare too.
tophneal@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 19d
lol Dudes, just bc it’s not got /s at the end, I don’t think you be taking this comment seriously. Obvious satire is obvious.
wowwoweowza@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 19d
To everyone that downvoted this, I’m pretty sure dude is being sarcastic.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 19d
You already pay more than what universal healthcare would be.
okwhateverdude@lemmy.world · -13 pts · 19d
The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in southwestern Victoria is home to one of the oldest and most extensive aquaculture systems on Earth, built by the Gunditjmara people to farm kooyang — the short-finned eel (Anguilla australis).
About 6,600 years ago — and possibly much earlier — the Gunditjmara used the basalt rock from ancient lava flows of the Budj Bim volcano to construct a sophisticated network of channels, weirs, dams, and ponds across roughly 100 square kilometres around Lake Condah. Some stone channels were dug up to 200 metres long to divert water and exploit seasonal water-level changes, creating a managed wetland factory that trapped, stored, and harvested migrating eels.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1577/
https://www.eit.edu.au/the-ancient-aboriginal-engineering-of-the-budj-bim-eel-traps/
twisted@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 19d
Ok, whatever dude.
idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 19d