> if you fall into a puddle and somebody calls an ambulance would you rely on the ambulance driver's judgement to decide if you need the $10k ride to hospital?

> if you fall into a puddle and somebody calls an ambulance would you rely on the ambulance driver's judgement to decide if you need the $10k ride to hospital? In the US, the fire department shows up first and administers first aid. Private transport to the hospital is arranged after that if needed. The problem is all the advance-fee bullshit. You're billed $1000 per minute starting with your occupation of a gurney, and that doesn't guarantee you will receive any sort of treatment once you get to the hospital. If you're not destined for a trauma ward, you'll sit in a room for six hours, be discharged without even a diagnosis (or the lolworthy "mild concussion"), and have incurred a debt equal to the cost of a new car for the experience. These days, you don't even get a bottle of Oxy as a consolation gift-- you get nothing. It's exploitative even when good faith operators are involved.