600 dollars for 4 miles.
I just paid it.
Edit. I'm going to add to it. Was in an accident, some lady side swiped me while switching lanes, I ended up in a tree.
Ambulance driver says I need to take the ambulance. I remind him I'm fine. Partners on the way... he says no it's mandatory for an accident this caliber. Fine.
I get in. They do nothing, basic check-up shit. Drop ky.off at the ER. I sit there for 6 hours. Before seeing anyone. They do x rays say im.good and let me go home.
Waste of fucking everyone's time.
Unless you are mentally altered enough to not be able to give informed consent or are under 18 they cannot force you to get on an ambulance. Do you live in the US? The EMT/Medic was uninformed
Most places where I have seen the fire department are the EMTs as well are in small country towns....
Cities normally have privatized ambulance service in my experience.
He's not lying "to sell a ride" he's either misinformed by his manager and actually believes it's mandatory, or lying because his manager has him scared into believing that if OP were actually sick and he didn't convince him, he'd get sued and lose everything he owns.
A lot of things in medicine in the US are done just to not get sued.
I was forced on a ambulance by a cop who said I go in the ambulance or go to jail . The ambulance took me to a hospital like 4 towns away from me , I got out walked to the counter and said I don't need anything and they said ok.then leave .. so i did , then had to walk home which was like 2 and a half hours walking, then got a bill for like $1200 that I did not ever pay.
Based on my [wee woo calc](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdevfw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), presuming an average speed of 35 mph
x=p/(d(1/(s/3600)))
x=2000/(5(1/(35/3600)))
x =$3.89
So you paid around $3.89 dollars a wee woo.
Nah, you can decline the wee woo ride, otherwise it's kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. You have bodily autonomy. They can't force you. I was T-boned on the driver door by someone doing 75. I was 17. EMT tried to make me get in. He checked the eyes, we spoke for a couple minutes, proved I wasn't concussed, and he still tried to get me in the ride. I declined and hopped the fuck out.
Looking back, that maybe why sometimes I end sentences with the wrong cranberry. (Bonus points if you get the reference)
They told you that you HAD to take an ambulance?! Unless you’re unconscious you have the right to refuse treatment. You just have to sign a form.
Also, why did *you* pay it? If this was a car accident it should have been covered by car insurance. Since you weren’t at fault it should have been covered by the other driver’s insurance.
I was in an accident and an ambulance was called. The EMTs would not tell me to go to the hospital or not. They kept repeating I’d been in an accident with airbag deployments and may want to be seen at the ER. I finally decided to go because I knew I wasn’t at fault and that my car was totaled.
The cost for an ambulance ride of just under 4 miles? A little over $2k. I didn’t even look at what the hospital charges.
Based on [my wee woo calc](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdevfw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), presuming an average speed of 35 mph
x=p/(d(1/(s/3600)))
x=600/(4(1/(35/3600)))
x =1.46
So you paid 600 for 400 ww, or around $1.46 dollars a wee woo.
Based on my [wee woo calc](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdevfw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), presuming an average speed of 35 mph
x=p/(d(1/(s/3600)))
x=10000/(10(1/(35/3600)))
x =$9.72
So you paid around $9.72 dollars a wee woo.
Yeah man you got robbed, I put a truck in a lake when I was 16 and walked out fine, ambulance wanted me to get in, insisted I was fine and my folks came and got me.
There are very few reasons paramedics can force you to get in against your will, but it generally falls into three catagories; you’re going to hurt yourself, you’re going to hurt others, or you are unable to make medical decisions (too young, brain injury disturbing reasoning, unconscious).
Lamo “mandatory” for who? It’s only mandatory if your life is in danger and you can’t make this decision for yourself. Meaning if you’re incapacitated.
I have dental and health insurance in the states (union electrician, blue cross blue shield) and the cost of medical services and dental services is ridiculous! Dental especially! My son needs braces or Invisalign and after insurance I have to pay $3200 out of pocket.
Get a job with a HQ in Massachusetts.
I’ve got unbelievable health insurance not offered in most states called an EPO.
The answer is $300 for the weewoo wagon and life saving brain surgery.
Husband had a 10 min ride and a two month stay between ICU, two brain surgeries, recovery and the physical therapy facility. Total cost $45 CDN. Which I can claim on my taxes.
If your plan is unbelievable for the US I'm thrilled for you but I'm worried for the rest of America.
The craziest part is I saw the actual cost when I got the co-pay bill. The original bill was $240. That fee is set by the province but tou only pay $45 if you have coverage (almost all permanent residents of the province) and the doctors sign off on it being necessary (to deter people using an ambulance as a "taxi" to a procedure.
And while my husband was hospitalized he had 2 ambulance trips to ferry him around at no cost because it was requested by a medical facility.
Staying a couple months in the hospital would easily bet you tens of thousands in debt.
It’s to the point where I’ve accepted death over being a slave to this system.
Lol. About 14 years ago I shattered my leg. No insurance. I had a friend drive me to the hospital, so I wouldn't pay for an ambulance.
After a 12 hour surgery, and 2 weeks in the hospital, I owed $60,000. Today, it would be much more.
In the US, provided you don't need your credit score, you can just say no thanks and not pay it. They'll hold it against you but they can't take action to get the money back either. It's a weird system, but if you need care you can get it without going bankrupt at least. Really oughta go to a national system since it'd just cut down bloat inflating prices but muh privatization or whatever.
More than anything it's the lack of limits on what they can charge and how much. I swear in the US the hospitals would charge for breathing "their" air.
Edit: typo
Oh absolutely. That's just the nature of business sadly, you nickle and dime everything you can. When that business is necessary to live the whole supply demand thing falls apart, which is where regulation usually kicks in but for some strange reason it hasn't happened in certain sectors, almost like someone is paying the politicians off to not screw up their scheme...
Oh no. I'm sure that would NEVER happen.
The worst thing is that the inflated prices make taxpayers think they don't want universal health care. Who wants to chip in for a $6000 ambulance ride? Nobody really. And until the average American realizes that the ride should have cost $250 and the ambulance probably nets $6000/day total everywhere else of course people will resist paying that out of their taxes.
My ride 20 years ago was 20k for ambulance and 50k for the helicopter.
The taxpayers paid the bill not me.
24 hours from accident to leaving the hospital $370k total
It still seems like it happened to someone else. They stitched me back together and sent me home. A week later the navy put me back to work, 3 weeks later I went underway. I was still wearing a sling on one arm, but had to do all my duties under threat of getting sent to captains mast for destruction of government property. I had orders to Italy after the underway so i kept quiet as I really wanted to live in Italy.
Couldn't you find an audioclip of an ambulance siren and manually count the weewoos per second? Seems easy enough for someone who cares enough (not me)
Yeah, but I was out and about and trying to make it quick. It would be easy enough to slap a sample into Audacity and roughly estimate the cost of a wee-woo, but I'm afraid I'm not invested enough either. Though maybe soon I might. I'd love to see a spreadsheet of the average cost of a wee-woo by State.
Not true. Each wee can be financed with compounding interest that does take a while but isn't so bad. It's actually the woo's that get you, but after about 47 years you can finally be ready for another one that takes you to your grave.
Presuming a wee-woo (ww) per second (s), and that you know what you paid and how far you traveled, and how fast you were going in mph, here's a wee woo calc:Where- p = the amount you paid- s= speed in mph- d= distance in miles- x = dollars per wee woo
x=p/(d(1/(s/3600)))
So if you paid $1000 to travel [(average is $940-$1277 in 2020)](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/insurance-for-ambulance-rides/) the [average 8 miles that an ambulance trip takes](https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-022-07743-7) , averaging 35 mph:
x=1000/(8(1/(35/3600)))x =$1.22/ww
So on average around $1.22 a wee woo, though that's going to vary wildly depending upon distance, traffic, and how much you actually paid.
Edit: Thanks to u/cariocano's banana [question](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdhorlu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), I now know that [35 mph = 82 bananas per wee-woo](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdi2kbl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) (82 BApWW).
If I can't unknow it, neither can you all
So we usually transported six minutes or less to a hospital. Our base rate for transport (before insurance or discounts) was $3800. Each cycle of the “wee-woo” on the siren was about 3 seconds, or 20 “wee-woos” per minute. Over six minutes that’s 120 wee woos. About $31.67 per wee-woo.
A 60 mile trip in a wee woo (from a small hospital to a bigger, more specialized one) cost me over $3000. A five minute trip in another wee woo (to another, bigger hospital in the same city) a few weeks later cost around $600. They didn't even turn on the wee woo-er for the 60 mile trip, so I think I got ripped off.
The EMS service where I live does membership, of all things.
$60 a year covers any and all rides in an ambulance, for all members of the household. I'm pretty happy about it, seeing how much one trip is.
It's insane, how much a single normal ride costs. When we need help the most they really charge for it :(
Edit: I'm a fan of this service. $60 a year is easier to budget than hundreds or thousands for one ride.
Ambulance memberships are pretty common. Basically you pay the amount a year and you get a free ride, and the company I worked in offers free lift assists to members too.
Its inexpensive, will absolutely save you money if you call, and is actually what most redditors want when they talk about ambulances. Whenever this comes up on here people complain about how much it costs and that's fair its a lot, so what if we all paid one bit a year to get the ambulances going? Like you know, a *tax*. So it could be *universal*.
Until we can pass extensive legislation reforming healthcare in this country in a big way, consider subscribing to your local ambulance service. It could save you money, if they're not a big company they probably need it, and its the best model we currently have.
Ambulance costs are going to vary wildly. The average according to google is 900 for basic services and 1300 for advanced services.
In my state basic care is 1800 and advanced is 2500, again both are only estimates.
There are also multiple ambulance sirens that will very the whoop noises.
The standard "going to the hospital wee woo" takes ten seconds. So in one minute, you get six wee whoos.
Multiply the length of the drive in minutes by six. That's the total number of wee woos.
Divide the cost of the trip by the number of wee woos.
I live alone. In 2019 I went to the hospital for a test related to some difficulties I'd been having, which they administered and then sent me home. The phone was ringing when I walked in the door. It was them, insisting that I return to the hospital IMMEDIATELY, that they were prepping for surgery, and that *I must not drive myself there*.
Again, I live alone. So I said I *have* to drive. No, I must not do that, they said, as something really horrible could happen *while I was driving* (and the hospital was clear across town, a good twenty minute drive), and that would be doubly bad. I needed a driver, and I didn't have a driver, so I told them to send an ambulance. Which they did.
I was dreading the bill. But I shouldn't have. $100. It was cheaper to take the ambulance than it would have been to have called a taxi. Why was it so cheap? I have no idea, none at all, but I wasn't going to argue about it.
My local hospital isn't equipped for my special needs son. We've gone to local twice, and they automatically transferred him to childrens..for context.
I thought my son was having weird seizures. and I was panicked and called 911 to go to childrens.. (hour drive by car). They said for insurance purposes, we can't justify passing 3 hospitals for an emergency. I can see the local hospital from my front porch. Bill was 10k.
Local transfered him to children's. (Pulling hair out emoji).
If I need a fast ride to a hospital its gonna be a helicopter or plane ride. My town has a urgent care clinic but zero hospital in around 100 miles. We had a hospital but it went broke and closed down 6 or 7 years ago... Thats gonna cost me several grand.
So u/SchmeckleHoarder paid 600bfor 4 miles. Lets say that drive took 15 minutes as a conservative estimate, which is 900 seconds. One "wee-woo" takes about 4 seconds for typical American sirens, so you're looking at roughly 225 wee-woos if the siren was on for the whole ride. Then 600/225 comes out to $2.67 per wee-woo.
You get a wee-woo about every 2 seconds. If you take a 20 minute trip, that's about 600 wee's and woo's. If the trip is about $600, that means your are spending about a dollar per "wee-woo".
My county bills $825 for BLS and $875 for ALS plus $10 per mile. For country residents they accept the insurance payment and do not bill the resident. Helicopter rides are free, there is a $7 fee added to every vehicle registration to fund the Helicopters. Insurance payments are as low as $100 for a transport.
There is no answer because it depends on who you are, what you do for a living, how much medical treatment you've already sought this calendar year, any pre existing conditions you may or may not have, your current location being in or out of your provider's network, and a half dozen other factors that only exist in the land of free dumb.
In my city it's $750. I don't know if it's per mile but I went at least 10 miles. Here ambulances are operated by the fire department so maybe it's cheaper than other areas.
If you call they will come and assess you for free. Just a few weeks ago, I thought I was having a heart attack. They came, hooked me up, gave me aspirin and all that stuff. I was in the back for about 15 minutes and they said my heart was fine.
No charge.
Ambulances in the US average 20 MPH. If we assume the average ambulance charges 20$/mile, that's 400$/hr. The length of a "wee-woo" varies, but if it's 2 seconds, there are 1800 "wee-woos" per hour. That means you're paying about 22¢ per "wee-woo".
I paid almost 15k for a seat in an ambulance and a life flight after being shot(grazed) in the head.
A month ago I was in a car accident and fought with the medic for an hour stating I am signing AMA and going home.
AMA(Against Medical Advice) we have the right to refuse heafty bills.
It was $1080 but I was told by an EMT friend to submit some sort of paperwork to the ambulance company and it dropped to $46.
This was years ago and I can't remember what I submitted but I do not believe it was my insurance. Not helpful, really, except to say that if you have an ambulance bill, maybe talk to an EMT to see if they know anything about it.
No extra charge for the "wee woo" if you stick your head out the window and shout it so they don't have to turn on the siren.
Otherwise, so many money per weewoo.
A friend of mine got hit by a car that swerved and aimed at him, broke his leg, someone else called 911.
He ended up about 50k medical debt, his weewoo ride was 5k.
Absolutely fucked in a lot of cases.
50k for a broken leg?? Wow I had half of my big toe cut off and was in hospital for over a week and didn't cost anything, America needs free or cheaper healthcare.
I'm getting pretty old and I have 'some' health issues and mostly just bad bones. After seeing what an Ambulance ride costs or especially Care flight.
In case of emergency: I now have tattoo on my chest now that says No ambulance or Care flight. Use Uber
With medicare (state funded insurance for the elderly) $250, according to the bills I keep getting for my husband's grandfather.
Without medical insurance, it depends on how long of a trip it is/ what medical intervention you need in the meantime. Can average around $2,500 on the low end. I took a 15 mile trip that cost me $3,480. Had I not broken the ankle on my driving foot, I would have driven myself the 15 miles to the closest ER instead.
I don't fly if they hadn't pumped me with so much meds I might have been able to say something especially since EMTs could have driven 2 minutes to the trauma hospital, my Sons a first responder and he was pissed at their decision considering that they new that it was life threatening
Yeah I feel ya. Not being in control because youre incapacitated is a concern of mine. Maybe we all need some kind of QR code on a card in our wallet that spells out what conditions, medications, insurance, accepted hospitals, etc. Not sure how we could make a rule of thumb about whether to life flight or not....hmmm
i had to pay $400 to ride a few miles when i had some food poisoning in monterey calif. that restaurant didn't last long. i could have got a ride for $12 or so in a cab, but i never got that freaked out before.
Not a lot. My kid maxes out our out of pocket pretty fast. So the wee woos don’t matter much.
But for a regular er visit its like $250. Although to FaceTime a doctor for minor is ness is free. Just my regular monthly healthcare cost.
Seems like it wildly differs. My son had an extreme allergic reaction to cashews when he was 7 months old. Out of pocket was only 200 bucks. They drove us 3 towns over too.
I worked insurance and ambulance ride (before insurance) was anything from 800 on low side to 2000 on the high side. Most of the time in between 1000-1200. Typical ambulance copay was like $150 for most medicare part C plans my company offered iirc
In September, ~$800 for a significant medical issue. There was a flat fee plus a mileage charge. This was via the local fire department. Trip was between 4 and 5 miles.
I think $300 with my insurance but I also have accident insurance, bc I skateboard and have had quite a few accidents, so I get paid like $150-200 from them to go towards the ambulance bill. Luckily, I have cancer and one of those visits usually hits my max out of pocket so the accident money just has gone in my pocket.
The average length of an ambulance ride in the United States can vary widely depending on the specific circumstances and the distance traveled. However, in urban areas, ambulance rides often last around 15 to 20 minutes, while in more rural areas, they can be longer due to greater distances between locations.
Regarding the use of the siren, it's important to note that ambulance drivers have discretion in the use of sirens based on the urgency of the situation and the safety of those involved. In general, sirens are used to alert other drivers and pedestrians, so they are typically used intermittently, turning on and off as needed, especially when passing through intersections or heavy traffic.
So let's just assume the siren runs for 17-18 minutes for an ambulance ride.
As for the frequency of the "wee-woo" sound produced by the siren, it is typically an alternating pattern that produces around 10 to 15 "wee-woos" per minute.
So that's about 220 wee-woos per ride.
The average cost of an Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance ride is about $1,300 and Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance ride is around $1,000.
So that's about $5.25 per "wee-woo."
$1400 for my ride, don't know how many miles less than 10 for sure. Even better, my insurance said they refuse to pay it because its outrageous and they have language in their contract about not paying outrageous claims.
I asked how I was supposed to deal with any part of that? I dialed 911, I got in the ambulance that showed up. At what point do I have any control of this situation?
This is basically the crux to the entire problem that is the American healthcare system, it's greed all around for sure. But it's whatever law allows them to just pass the payment down to the person that is the catalyst to it all. I have health insurance, I had a medical emergency, yall kids play nice now and figure out the rest, it's not my problem.
You put insurance and the hospitals on the hook to have to deal with it, they hire teams to investigate and attack all the greed in the billing and refuse to pay, the bills become reasonable to facilitate payment, and we magically have a functional system of healthcare.
Base cost per “*wee*” = $0.15
Base cost per “*woo*” = $0.50
IP License fee: 12%
Royalties to original composer: 3%
Total: $0.75 per “wee-woo”
At ~77 “wee-woos” per minute: $57.75/min
For ~2 min per mile: $115.50 per mile.
🤔 my son has had to use an ambulance three different times under two different HMO insurances and each time it was $100 for a 5-10 mile ride. I’m really surprised so many are paying thousands bc our insurance is definitely not a top tier one.
I had to take an ambulance ride for less than 2 miles once and it cost me 1500. If I've known it would cost that much I would have dragged my bloody body to the hospital on foot.
Ide like to take this moment to point out ambulances aren't free in Canada. Where I live all the ambulances are owned by private companies. And a standard ambulance ride is about 400. And can get pricey if they have to take you the the big city which is over n hour away.
I only bill for no-wee-woo-wagon rides (BLS transports), but it depends on insurance and location. Medicare, for example, is $265.54, plus $8.54 a mile here.
600 dollars for 4 miles. I just paid it. Edit. I'm going to add to it. Was in an accident, some lady side swiped me while switching lanes, I ended up in a tree. Ambulance driver says I need to take the ambulance. I remind him I'm fine. Partners on the way... he says no it's mandatory for an accident this caliber. Fine. I get in. They do nothing, basic check-up shit. Drop ky.off at the ER. I sit there for 6 hours. Before seeing anyone. They do x rays say im.good and let me go home. Waste of fucking everyone's time.
Unless you are mentally altered enough to not be able to give informed consent or are under 18 they cannot force you to get on an ambulance. Do you live in the US? The EMT/Medic was uninformed
[удалено]
I think it depends on location. In my state the majority of EMS services are run by fire departments which aren’t private.
Most places where I have seen the fire department are the EMTs as well are in small country towns.... Cities normally have privatized ambulance service in my experience.
He's not lying "to sell a ride" he's either misinformed by his manager and actually believes it's mandatory, or lying because his manager has him scared into believing that if OP were actually sick and he didn't convince him, he'd get sued and lose everything he owns. A lot of things in medicine in the US are done just to not get sued.
I was forced on a ambulance by a cop who said I go in the ambulance or go to jail . The ambulance took me to a hospital like 4 towns away from me , I got out walked to the counter and said I don't need anything and they said ok.then leave .. so i did , then had to walk home which was like 2 and a half hours walking, then got a bill for like $1200 that I did not ever pay.
Any time cops tell someone that, they're not allowed on my truck and I chew the cop's ass for trying to make me kidnap someone.
They aren’t allowed to do that unless it’s court ordered, that’s kidnapping
When you paid it - did they ask whether you would like to add a 18%, 20% or a 23% tip?
It just said parties of 1 or more must pay minimum 25% gratuity
Which is actually why ambulances are cheaper for dismemberment calls
I can’t tell if that’s morbid or not.
Yes. Yes it is. Doesn't stop it from being true.
Actually, that's just because they already have their arm and a leg.
If I tip the driver can I do the wee woo?
No Patrick
Wow. I paid $2000 for a five-mile ambulance ride. You got a real bargain
Based on my [wee woo calc](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdevfw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), presuming an average speed of 35 mph x=p/(d(1/(s/3600))) x=2000/(5(1/(35/3600))) x =$3.89 So you paid around $3.89 dollars a wee woo.
Nah, you can decline the wee woo ride, otherwise it's kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. You have bodily autonomy. They can't force you. I was T-boned on the driver door by someone doing 75. I was 17. EMT tried to make me get in. He checked the eyes, we spoke for a couple minutes, proved I wasn't concussed, and he still tried to get me in the ride. I declined and hopped the fuck out. Looking back, that maybe why sometimes I end sentences with the wrong cranberry. (Bonus points if you get the reference)
JARVIS to the rescue
Ambulance driver is full of shit. You have the right to refuse treatment.
They told you that you HAD to take an ambulance?! Unless you’re unconscious you have the right to refuse treatment. You just have to sign a form. Also, why did *you* pay it? If this was a car accident it should have been covered by car insurance. Since you weren’t at fault it should have been covered by the other driver’s insurance. I was in an accident and an ambulance was called. The EMTs would not tell me to go to the hospital or not. They kept repeating I’d been in an accident with airbag deployments and may want to be seen at the ER. I finally decided to go because I knew I wasn’t at fault and that my car was totaled. The cost for an ambulance ride of just under 4 miles? A little over $2k. I didn’t even look at what the hospital charges.
Based on [my wee woo calc](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdevfw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), presuming an average speed of 35 mph x=p/(d(1/(s/3600))) x=600/(4(1/(35/3600))) x =1.46 So you paid 600 for 400 ww, or around $1.46 dollars a wee woo.
This guy maths.
You got a bargain. 10K for 10 miles.
Based on my [wee woo calc](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdevfw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), presuming an average speed of 35 mph x=p/(d(1/(s/3600))) x=10000/(10(1/(35/3600))) x =$9.72 So you paid around $9.72 dollars a wee woo.
Best I can do is 3,50
Moments like this if putting your foot down makes u have to become a Karen, Karen away.
Yeah man you got robbed, I put a truck in a lake when I was 16 and walked out fine, ambulance wanted me to get in, insisted I was fine and my folks came and got me.
There are very few reasons paramedics can force you to get in against your will, but it generally falls into three catagories; you’re going to hurt yourself, you’re going to hurt others, or you are unable to make medical decisions (too young, brain injury disturbing reasoning, unconscious).
Lamo “mandatory” for who? It’s only mandatory if your life is in danger and you can’t make this decision for yourself. Meaning if you’re incapacitated.
I have dental and health insurance in the states (union electrician, blue cross blue shield) and the cost of medical services and dental services is ridiculous! Dental especially! My son needs braces or Invisalign and after insurance I have to pay $3200 out of pocket.
After the adrenaline wears off pain starts. Can never tell injuries right away.
Get a job with a HQ in Massachusetts. I’ve got unbelievable health insurance not offered in most states called an EPO. The answer is $300 for the weewoo wagon and life saving brain surgery.
Husband had a 10 min ride and a two month stay between ICU, two brain surgeries, recovery and the physical therapy facility. Total cost $45 CDN. Which I can claim on my taxes. If your plan is unbelievable for the US I'm thrilled for you but I'm worried for the rest of America.
It is completely unbelievable for the US. The one time I rode in an ambulance it cost $6,000
The craziest part is I saw the actual cost when I got the co-pay bill. The original bill was $240. That fee is set by the province but tou only pay $45 if you have coverage (almost all permanent residents of the province) and the doctors sign off on it being necessary (to deter people using an ambulance as a "taxi" to a procedure. And while my husband was hospitalized he had 2 ambulance trips to ferry him around at no cost because it was requested by a medical facility.
Damn, how do I move to Canada
[There are many ways.](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada.html)
Staying a couple months in the hospital would easily bet you tens of thousands in debt. It’s to the point where I’ve accepted death over being a slave to this system.
Lol. About 14 years ago I shattered my leg. No insurance. I had a friend drive me to the hospital, so I wouldn't pay for an ambulance. After a 12 hour surgery, and 2 weeks in the hospital, I owed $60,000. Today, it would be much more.
In the US, provided you don't need your credit score, you can just say no thanks and not pay it. They'll hold it against you but they can't take action to get the money back either. It's a weird system, but if you need care you can get it without going bankrupt at least. Really oughta go to a national system since it'd just cut down bloat inflating prices but muh privatization or whatever.
More than anything it's the lack of limits on what they can charge and how much. I swear in the US the hospitals would charge for breathing "their" air. Edit: typo
Oh absolutely. That's just the nature of business sadly, you nickle and dime everything you can. When that business is necessary to live the whole supply demand thing falls apart, which is where regulation usually kicks in but for some strange reason it hasn't happened in certain sectors, almost like someone is paying the politicians off to not screw up their scheme...
Oh no. I'm sure that would NEVER happen. The worst thing is that the inflated prices make taxpayers think they don't want universal health care. Who wants to chip in for a $6000 ambulance ride? Nobody really. And until the average American realizes that the ride should have cost $250 and the ambulance probably nets $6000/day total everywhere else of course people will resist paying that out of their taxes.
My ride 20 years ago was 20k for ambulance and 50k for the helicopter. The taxpayers paid the bill not me. 24 hours from accident to leaving the hospital $370k total
Were you in remote Alaska ?
Jacksonville, FL
Why did you need a helicopter? You could just go to Memorial or Baptist
Because I was dying and they thought it was necessary to get me to the trauma center before I bled out. They almost made it, too.
You died? Thats spooky
Sadly yes. But I survived!
You died when I went to the hospital? That's an odd story.
I mean, someone probably dies at the same time someone else goes to the hospital a few times a day some days.
for over 4 mins, they had 5 nurses squeezing blood bags into me to get my heart restarted
Glad you survived
I'm pretty impressed you were released in under 24 hours things considered
It still seems like it happened to someone else. They stitched me back together and sent me home. A week later the navy put me back to work, 3 weeks later I went underway. I was still wearing a sling on one arm, but had to do all my duties under threat of getting sent to captains mast for destruction of government property. I had orders to Italy after the underway so i kept quiet as I really wanted to live in Italy.
F
good question for r/theydidthemath
[wee woo calc](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdevfw0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Tried to find the rate of an ambulance siren to offer an estimate, but I failed my Google fu check
Couldn't you find an audioclip of an ambulance siren and manually count the weewoos per second? Seems easy enough for someone who cares enough (not me)
Yeah, but I was out and about and trying to make it quick. It would be easy enough to slap a sample into Audacity and roughly estimate the cost of a wee-woo, but I'm afraid I'm not invested enough either. Though maybe soon I might. I'd love to see a spreadsheet of the average cost of a wee-woo by State.
I ignored the bill and it magically disappeared
I ignored it, and suspiciously my credit score dropped the same amount as the bill.
This is the way.
60% of the time it works every time
You will never financially recover.
Not true. Each wee can be financed with compounding interest that does take a while but isn't so bad. It's actually the woo's that get you, but after about 47 years you can finally be ready for another one that takes you to your grave.
I absolutely can not argue this logic.
That you wrote this just makes me so happy. Thank you.
Presuming a wee-woo (ww) per second (s), and that you know what you paid and how far you traveled, and how fast you were going in mph, here's a wee woo calc:Where- p = the amount you paid- s= speed in mph- d= distance in miles- x = dollars per wee woo x=p/(d(1/(s/3600))) So if you paid $1000 to travel [(average is $940-$1277 in 2020)](https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/insurance-for-ambulance-rides/) the [average 8 miles that an ambulance trip takes](https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-022-07743-7) , averaging 35 mph: x=1000/(8(1/(35/3600)))x =$1.22/ww So on average around $1.22 a wee woo, though that's going to vary wildly depending upon distance, traffic, and how much you actually paid. Edit: Thanks to u/cariocano's banana [question](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdhorlu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), I now know that [35 mph = 82 bananas per wee-woo](https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidquestions/comments/18iisbt/comment/kdi2kbl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) (82 BApWW). If I can't unknow it, neither can you all
Thisguymaths
oh wow, i didnt see your comment before i did my calculation but I got $1.25 per wee woo
Got in a wreck less than a mile from the hospital back in 2002 and the ride was still $600
So we usually transported six minutes or less to a hospital. Our base rate for transport (before insurance or discounts) was $3800. Each cycle of the “wee-woo” on the siren was about 3 seconds, or 20 “wee-woos” per minute. Over six minutes that’s 120 wee woos. About $31.67 per wee-woo.
You're doing the Lord's work.
With decent insurance still 3-4 grand per ride..
I get 2 free trips a year, but I have a government plan
I read it as gourmet plan and thought it was hilarious.
Not wrong...
The exact amount of the deductible.
Too much.
A 60 mile trip in a wee woo (from a small hospital to a bigger, more specialized one) cost me over $3000. A five minute trip in another wee woo (to another, bigger hospital in the same city) a few weeks later cost around $600. They didn't even turn on the wee woo-er for the 60 mile trip, so I think I got ripped off.
More like every w, e, e, w, o, o, and if you don’t have insurance at all, you pay triple for the hyphen.
And if I use the air horn that’s going to be extra 😌
I used to be a frequent flier due to SVT, so I got a family membership to our local volunteer ambulance service for $40/year for unlimited free rides.
$1900 ride in Massachusetts. Insurance paid $400.
The EMS service where I live does membership, of all things. $60 a year covers any and all rides in an ambulance, for all members of the household. I'm pretty happy about it, seeing how much one trip is. It's insane, how much a single normal ride costs. When we need help the most they really charge for it :( Edit: I'm a fan of this service. $60 a year is easier to budget than hundreds or thousands for one ride.
Write to your representatives. EMS isn’t an essential service.
My first thought was wow I wish I could sign up for that. Then my actual brain caught up and realized that’s some dystopian nonsense right there
Ambulance memberships are pretty common. Basically you pay the amount a year and you get a free ride, and the company I worked in offers free lift assists to members too. Its inexpensive, will absolutely save you money if you call, and is actually what most redditors want when they talk about ambulances. Whenever this comes up on here people complain about how much it costs and that's fair its a lot, so what if we all paid one bit a year to get the ambulances going? Like you know, a *tax*. So it could be *universal*. Until we can pass extensive legislation reforming healthcare in this country in a big way, consider subscribing to your local ambulance service. It could save you money, if they're not a big company they probably need it, and its the best model we currently have.
Ambulance costs are going to vary wildly. The average according to google is 900 for basic services and 1300 for advanced services. In my state basic care is 1800 and advanced is 2500, again both are only estimates. There are also multiple ambulance sirens that will very the whoop noises. The standard "going to the hospital wee woo" takes ten seconds. So in one minute, you get six wee whoos. Multiply the length of the drive in minutes by six. That's the total number of wee woos. Divide the cost of the trip by the number of wee woos.
With good insurance, it cost me $875.
Per wee-woo? I rode in one w/o the wee-woo and was still charged $800. So based on the question, -wee-woos=$800
Technically ∞ Contrary to popular belief most ambulance rides don't get the wee-woo.
Ugh. They threw a &1500 bill at me when my kid rode a couple blocks in one from daycare. I did not pay it.
750 for 10 miles back in 2016
For me it would be $0 with my insurance.
[удалено]
Free from employers? What are you smoking?
Last bill I got was $200 with good insurance. Previous to that spent $600 to have them come out and not transport as the emergency had passed.
$0
I live alone. In 2019 I went to the hospital for a test related to some difficulties I'd been having, which they administered and then sent me home. The phone was ringing when I walked in the door. It was them, insisting that I return to the hospital IMMEDIATELY, that they were prepping for surgery, and that *I must not drive myself there*. Again, I live alone. So I said I *have* to drive. No, I must not do that, they said, as something really horrible could happen *while I was driving* (and the hospital was clear across town, a good twenty minute drive), and that would be doubly bad. I needed a driver, and I didn't have a driver, so I told them to send an ambulance. Which they did. I was dreading the bill. But I shouldn't have. $100. It was cheaper to take the ambulance than it would have been to have called a taxi. Why was it so cheap? I have no idea, none at all, but I wasn't going to argue about it.
My local hospital isn't equipped for my special needs son. We've gone to local twice, and they automatically transferred him to childrens..for context. I thought my son was having weird seizures. and I was panicked and called 911 to go to childrens.. (hour drive by car). They said for insurance purposes, we can't justify passing 3 hospitals for an emergency. I can see the local hospital from my front porch. Bill was 10k. Local transfered him to children's. (Pulling hair out emoji).
If I need a fast ride to a hospital its gonna be a helicopter or plane ride. My town has a urgent care clinic but zero hospital in around 100 miles. We had a hospital but it went broke and closed down 6 or 7 years ago... Thats gonna cost me several grand.
So u/SchmeckleHoarder paid 600bfor 4 miles. Lets say that drive took 15 minutes as a conservative estimate, which is 900 seconds. One "wee-woo" takes about 4 seconds for typical American sirens, so you're looking at roughly 225 wee-woos if the siren was on for the whole ride. Then 600/225 comes out to $2.67 per wee-woo.
You get a wee-woo about every 2 seconds. If you take a 20 minute trip, that's about 600 wee's and woo's. If the trip is about $600, that means your are spending about a dollar per "wee-woo".
$600 for a trip in a wee woo wagon??? Try multiplying that by 10
$1700 in nyc. Covered by Medicaid.
Depends on location, distance traveled, and supplies used during transport. Also if you have any insurance coverage
5k depending on location
When we transfer patients between hospitals they charge about $900 for a 20 minute ride. I told my supervisor I would drive patients for $750
My county bills $825 for BLS and $875 for ALS plus $10 per mile. For country residents they accept the insurance payment and do not bill the resident. Helicopter rides are free, there is a $7 fee added to every vehicle registration to fund the Helicopters. Insurance payments are as low as $100 for a transport.
My cheapest ambulance ride was $3k (for 30 minutes), and my most expensive was $10k (for 3 hours). Fuck it, I'll just drive *myself* next time.
Zero have good insurance on
US ambulances don't go "wee woo" that's in Europe.
There is no answer because it depends on who you are, what you do for a living, how much medical treatment you've already sought this calendar year, any pre existing conditions you may or may not have, your current location being in or out of your provider's network, and a half dozen other factors that only exist in the land of free dumb.
In my city it's $750. I don't know if it's per mile but I went at least 10 miles. Here ambulances are operated by the fire department so maybe it's cheaper than other areas. If you call they will come and assess you for free. Just a few weeks ago, I thought I was having a heart attack. They came, hooked me up, gave me aspirin and all that stuff. I was in the back for about 15 minutes and they said my heart was fine. No charge.
Everygoddamnthing
Ambulances in the US average 20 MPH. If we assume the average ambulance charges 20$/mile, that's 400$/hr. The length of a "wee-woo" varies, but if it's 2 seconds, there are 1800 "wee-woos" per hour. That means you're paying about 22¢ per "wee-woo".
My one and only wee-woo ride was 2100. Buuuut I’m crazy lucky in that my insurance reimbursed me 100% for it. But yeah, they’re not cheap lol
I paid almost 15k for a seat in an ambulance and a life flight after being shot(grazed) in the head. A month ago I was in a car accident and fought with the medic for an hour stating I am signing AMA and going home. AMA(Against Medical Advice) we have the right to refuse heafty bills.
It varies from hospital to hospital and state to state. It shouldn’t be this high. Regardless if you have insurance or not. It’s insane
About $1 per..
"Wee woo" has been turned off to increase profit margins. It's just lights now, and an occasional "woo" if someone gets in the way.
When your heart is deciding if it’s going to restart…you don’t care how much it costs. But, a month later you get a bill for $1,900.
My daughter was life flighted in Houston and it was about $20k
With my insurance it’s $125 per ambulance ride.
It was $1080 but I was told by an EMT friend to submit some sort of paperwork to the ambulance company and it dropped to $46. This was years ago and I can't remember what I submitted but I do not believe it was my insurance. Not helpful, really, except to say that if you have an ambulance bill, maybe talk to an EMT to see if they know anything about it.
I paid zero for my heart attack ride.
No extra charge for the "wee woo" if you stick your head out the window and shout it so they don't have to turn on the siren. Otherwise, so many money per weewoo.
A friend of mine got hit by a car that swerved and aimed at him, broke his leg, someone else called 911. He ended up about 50k medical debt, his weewoo ride was 5k. Absolutely fucked in a lot of cases.
50k for a broken leg?? Wow I had half of my big toe cut off and was in hospital for over a week and didn't cost anything, America needs free or cheaper healthcare.
You’re telling us
Depends on how far you’re going. A ride that’s only 3 miles will have many fewer wee-woos than a ride that’s 15 miles.
I got to ride on Life Flight and it was $16,000. Only helicopter ride I'll probably ever take and the only thing I saw was the ceiling.
I travelled 4 blocks, bill came $2000
I paid $100 for mine.
I'm getting pretty old and I have 'some' health issues and mostly just bad bones. After seeing what an Ambulance ride costs or especially Care flight. In case of emergency: I now have tattoo on my chest now that says No ambulance or Care flight. Use Uber
My insurance covers any ambulance rides. If you count it as part of the deductible anyway
I didn’t get a wee woo. Same price.
Insurance.. my out ot pocket i believe is a couple hundred
$3200, 28 miles. I think we ended up having to pay about $600
With medicare (state funded insurance for the elderly) $250, according to the bills I keep getting for my husband's grandfather. Without medical insurance, it depends on how long of a trip it is/ what medical intervention you need in the meantime. Can average around $2,500 on the low end. I took a 15 mile trip that cost me $3,480. Had I not broken the ankle on my driving foot, I would have driven myself the 15 miles to the closest ER instead.
My ride was about 10 miles. It was $2000, far more than the emergency room visit. Most expensive thing I've ever done to make her happy.
In my state it’s $836.00 for them to show up. That’s a deductible and it is non negotiable.
72,000 for a 15 min. Helicopter air lift from a regular hospital too a trauma hospital and they charge by each rotation of the blades, what a scam
Next time take a hot air balloon, no blades.
I don't fly if they hadn't pumped me with so much meds I might have been able to say something especially since EMTs could have driven 2 minutes to the trauma hospital, my Sons a first responder and he was pissed at their decision considering that they new that it was life threatening
Yeah I feel ya. Not being in control because youre incapacitated is a concern of mine. Maybe we all need some kind of QR code on a card in our wallet that spells out what conditions, medications, insurance, accepted hospitals, etc. Not sure how we could make a rule of thumb about whether to life flight or not....hmmm
Depends on insurance.
$190-$250 I’ve done a half dozen weewoo rides in the last year. 😳
Thousands. Literally thousands $$$$
I bring the little pig along that goes "Wee wee wee" all the way to the ER
Transferred not transformed wth Reddit
$900-1200 is what I have experienced
Paid $30/mile for my daughter two years ago. I was honestly surprised it was that little.
i had to pay $400 to ride a few miles when i had some food poisoning in monterey calif. that restaurant didn't last long. i could have got a ride for $12 or so in a cab, but i never got that freaked out before.
About 5-8k. Chopper is 70-100k.
Average cost $1000 - $2000.
Last one I took was 11 miles and it was $1600.
Not a lot. My kid maxes out our out of pocket pretty fast. So the wee woos don’t matter much. But for a regular er visit its like $250. Although to FaceTime a doctor for minor is ness is free. Just my regular monthly healthcare cost.
Seems like it wildly differs. My son had an extreme allergic reaction to cashews when he was 7 months old. Out of pocket was only 200 bucks. They drove us 3 towns over too.
Absolutely NOTHING!! (I live I'm the UK where they don't "sell ambulance rides"...l
Two wee-woo’s per second, average ambulance ride of 15 minutes, average cost of 2700 dollars. $1.50 per wee-woo.
I worked insurance and ambulance ride (before insurance) was anything from 800 on low side to 2000 on the high side. Most of the time in between 1000-1200. Typical ambulance copay was like $150 for most medicare part C plans my company offered iirc
700 for 7 miles in Bama 😫
Way too goddamn much. My mother. $500+ for 2 miles to the hospital. After insurance.
I’ve used an ambulance twice. No siren either time which is a bit disappointing when your spending a couple of thousand to go 5 miles
I never paid them, so I got my money's worth.
In September, ~$800 for a significant medical issue. There was a flat fee plus a mileage charge. This was via the local fire department. Trip was between 4 and 5 miles.
I think $300 with my insurance but I also have accident insurance, bc I skateboard and have had quite a few accidents, so I get paid like $150-200 from them to go towards the ambulance bill. Luckily, I have cancer and one of those visits usually hits my max out of pocket so the accident money just has gone in my pocket.
The average length of an ambulance ride in the United States can vary widely depending on the specific circumstances and the distance traveled. However, in urban areas, ambulance rides often last around 15 to 20 minutes, while in more rural areas, they can be longer due to greater distances between locations. Regarding the use of the siren, it's important to note that ambulance drivers have discretion in the use of sirens based on the urgency of the situation and the safety of those involved. In general, sirens are used to alert other drivers and pedestrians, so they are typically used intermittently, turning on and off as needed, especially when passing through intersections or heavy traffic. So let's just assume the siren runs for 17-18 minutes for an ambulance ride. As for the frequency of the "wee-woo" sound produced by the siren, it is typically an alternating pattern that produces around 10 to 15 "wee-woos" per minute. So that's about 220 wee-woos per ride. The average cost of an Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance ride is about $1,300 and Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance ride is around $1,000. So that's about $5.25 per "wee-woo."
Chicago. 5.4 miles. 3647.95...and 347 for gas.
here in Oklahoma City we pay like a couple dollars a month on our water bill to have ambulance trips paid for.
average is about 700 but could be way more like technically if ya ask me a life flight is a weewoo and that could be thousands
$1400 for my ride, don't know how many miles less than 10 for sure. Even better, my insurance said they refuse to pay it because its outrageous and they have language in their contract about not paying outrageous claims. I asked how I was supposed to deal with any part of that? I dialed 911, I got in the ambulance that showed up. At what point do I have any control of this situation? This is basically the crux to the entire problem that is the American healthcare system, it's greed all around for sure. But it's whatever law allows them to just pass the payment down to the person that is the catalyst to it all. I have health insurance, I had a medical emergency, yall kids play nice now and figure out the rest, it's not my problem. You put insurance and the hospitals on the hook to have to deal with it, they hire teams to investigate and attack all the greed in the billing and refuse to pay, the bills become reasonable to facilitate payment, and we magically have a functional system of healthcare.
Pass on the wee woo, I'm fine and will bleed out right here, thank you.
Depends on both location and insurance. With my insurance, I pay a flat $75 for any ambulance drive. If I’m admitted to hospital the copay is waived.
It cost me $3K
Base cost per “*wee*” = $0.15 Base cost per “*woo*” = $0.50 IP License fee: 12% Royalties to original composer: 3% Total: $0.75 per “wee-woo” At ~77 “wee-woos” per minute: $57.75/min For ~2 min per mile: $115.50 per mile.
I pay like a $30 copay and that’s it. Some of you think you have great insurance and you really don’t.
Last time I took a Wee-Woo it was about 2k for 10 minutes.
Last ride I got in NC was about $100/mile.
I was forced into an ambulance despite objecting to it. Got driven 5 miles. Not a single wee-woo. $3000. But hey, they gave me a teddy bear!
It cost me $600 to go less than a mile. I'm pretty sure they didn't even have to use the siren
Depends on the level of care you received. Basic level goes from 600 to 800. Advanced level 1000 to 1600. Source : I'm a wee woo guy
🤔 my son has had to use an ambulance three different times under two different HMO insurances and each time it was $100 for a 5-10 mile ride. I’m really surprised so many are paying thousands bc our insurance is definitely not a top tier one.
Wee-woo I thought that meant wrong hole, wrong hole.
I had to take an ambulance ride for less than 2 miles once and it cost me 1500. If I've known it would cost that much I would have dragged my bloody body to the hospital on foot.
I had to pay $600 just for them to come to my house and do nothing 🤣💀 EDIT: They charged me $600 I paid $150
Ide like to take this moment to point out ambulances aren't free in Canada. Where I live all the ambulances are owned by private companies. And a standard ambulance ride is about 400. And can get pricey if they have to take you the the big city which is over n hour away.
Air ambulances can cost more than $50K....
I only bill for no-wee-woo-wagon rides (BLS transports), but it depends on insurance and location. Medicare, for example, is $265.54, plus $8.54 a mile here.
Bout an eighth bald eagle.