Citizens of developing countries are often quick to criticize their governments for the poor health care they have.
They will often describe without missing a word the glorious ‘American Dream’ and stand by its ‘excellent healthcare’. Believing that everything in the USA is rosy, easy and free.
Gina Pellegrino an American HVAC Technician thinks otherwise though as she claims to have been charged $1700.00 for an ambulance ride to the hospital.
In answering a question a user asked about whether it costs money to be on an ambulance in the US on the Quora platform, she narrated her own experience when she was involved in an electric scooter crash, she said.
“The day I learned that there are places in the world that don’t charge for an ambulance ride, I realized the “American dream” is called that because you have to be asleep to believe it.
I crashed on an electric scooter one night on my way home from a new job. I woke up in an ambulance, and immediately started to panic, not because of my injuries, because I knew I couldn’t afford the ride. I even asked the paramedics to take me home! I said it as a joke, but, I was only 5 blocks from my house when I crashed.
I had two weeks until my insurance kicked in. When I got to the hospital, I asked to sign a waiver and be discharged, no way I could afford any treatment! The nurse talked me into a tetanus shot and sent me home. The bill for the ambulance was $1700.00.
It’s now in collections and keeping me from getting a home loan, or car loan. This is a picture I took of myself when I got home from the hospital.”
Well, one would expect that the worlds most powerful and richest nation would be able to afford a sort of universal social health care for all its citizens.
Unfortunately, it appears one needs to be packing serious cash when you find yourself in an emergency and in desperate need of an ambulance ride as the chances are you will be charged for it.
