3 ms·

Our model (Canada) doesn't include free ambulances or drugs, it's better to compare to the European model. We do have good welfare programs here however, and dr

• plumednom 7y ago
  Any good model does it's best to prevent ambulances. The kink in the USA is that if you cannot afford to go to a family doctor, you call 911, they send you an ambulance, you get a free ride to the general hospital emergency room where you then sit for 5 hours to be told you have bronchitis. That taxi ride cost the taxpayers about $2500, and then the hospital writes off another $1500 (which is what the emergency room would charge you for 10 minutes of doctor time. Really). I moved from San Francisco to Istanbul a few years ago, and now every time I hear an ambulance or a firetruck I am blown away by the fact that I heard one. In SF you don't hear them because they're going 24/7, mostly for stupid reasons (certainly not fires). Ambulance frequent fliers also really gum up the works. Take for example Bruce Myers, an alcoholic drug addict who gets picked up in an ambulance on average 90 times per year. There's another drunk in San Francisco who averages 300 times per year and has cost the city $10m. Pretty much every single aspect of healthcare in America is broken.