Also, in perspective about some cancer treatments, I really hate when the rightwing tabloids pick up the “NHS WON’T PAY FOR THIS TREATMENT!” garbage when it’s like, a novel monoclonal antibody treatment that extends poor-quality survival by five months and costs a million pounds, and then uses that to argue that the…

It’s madness. 

I’m so sorry. Are there any statistics on the kind of damage it causes? Surely people suffer/die because they’re not being seen by paramedics fast enough? Just awful. Also, what happens if you need an air ambulance? No one takes these for shits and giggles.

It is well known in America to not call an ambulance unless death is likely and imminent.

I don’t get it. Do they charge for calling the police? The fire brigade? Why charge for one and not the other?

I couldn’t believe it when I found out Americans pay for ambulances- wtf is that about? I found out from this horrendous story of a woman who had fallen in between a subway train and the platform edge, but was begging people not to call an ambulance because she couldn’t afford the debt. And also the weird death panels…

This. It’s called “Medicare” not to scare folks. But Bernie in particular is clear that Medicare would be expanded to include a lot more things. It’s not “this Medicare” for All.

I’m grateful that I live right on the border and can just go to Mexico for most of my medical needs. I’m a diabetic and when I was no longer covered on my dad’s insurance I found a really good endocrinologist and we pay $50 per visit and my medications run about $200 a month (includes the same brand insulin that…

I didn’t declare bankruptcy, but I suffered through 7 years of questionable credit after an ambulance ride to a shitty hospital (the closest) for food poisoning when I didn’t have insurance. I had another bout of food poisoning a few years later, and even though I had insurance and a “good job” at that point, I took a…

Part of the problem with Medicare as it stands is that it’s (by design, currently) entirely populated by a subset of people who tend to need to partake of its services on a regular basis. By expanding the pool to everyone, you spread those costs out to include younger and generally healthier people, which puts more…

For me, I’m interested because it’s one of the only ways you can get insurance without actively working. Every time I start a new job, I worry about something awful happening in the gap between coverage, because even something small would bankrupt me. The idea that healthcare rests on your employment status is…

That is horrifying.  I’m due for my 2nd baby early next year and as I live in Australia, any NICU treatment (or other hospital or ambulance etc) would be free. I can’t imagine the stress of worrying about the financial side of things when you’re already worried about your baby. That’s terrible.

Also, no one is actually proposing keeping Medicare in its current state when it is rolled out. It is a shorthand for nationalized healthcare.

Because the current alternatives are worse and “Medicare for all” sounds more politically palatable than “fuck this shit let’s start over with an NHS” which is what y’all actually want and need.

I tweaked my back at home and ended up on the floor by the evening, unable to even roll over or crawl. Called an ambulance for transport, in ER for just a few hours to get enough pain killers and muscle relaxers to sort of stand enough to get in a wheelchair, because otherwise they’d admit me.

I’ve refused an ambulance before for fear of retribution from my employer. It was not life threatening, I was completely fine. But the fact that I even had to think about is pretty fucked up. 

Best thing to do is go to General (not for profit) Hospital and "forget" your ID. Don't give an address. Don't pay. (For the record I have insurance now, but that is the reality for many Americans).

Yes, this is certainly familiar to me. I was dating an American girl for a while (we’re still friends... well, we’re friends now) and we were walking to dinner once and an ambulance went past, and the discussion soon turned to how many of her friends were reticent to call one, even in potentially dire situations,…

My take on it is that the executive said that Roberts should star in it, but not as Tubman. It would be definitely be early 90s to take the Harriet Tubman story and make her a supporting character in her own story. Because isn’t the real story about the crusading white female character whose eyes were opened by the…

Being a refugee from the Hollywood machine, let me just say its not out of the realm of their level of insanity.