This week Facebook provided the usual ton of garbage available in the human race! This week a friend shared a posting about how Americans are calling Uber instead of an ambulance; not because Uber is faster, but because ambulance rides are so much more expensive. This was what appeared to be a legitimate hit piece (I say it was done as a publicity stunt). But here’s the thing… if you can use Uber to get to the doctor I would say you were NOT in need of an $8,000 Ambulance emergency transportation or even an ER for that matter. This is the stupidity that drives up health care – using emergency services when emergency services are NOT needed. To compare a ride in a 2010 Hyundai to one in an ALS (or even a BLS) ambulance is just stupid and to complain about the cost is even more stupid. A new ambulance will cost around $150K, add on another $75K to equip it, and then to staff it 24/7-365 days/year another $200K/year for the two TRAINED EMTs (most are now EMT-P). Throw in vehicle insurance, malpractice insurance, fuel, maintenance for the unit and its equipment, restocking after each run, and continuing education costs for the staff and we are approaching $500K/year to keep that ambulance on the road. SO when you need EMERGENCY HELP, they are just around the corner – or as FB also showed us this week you can call UBER or better yet take matters into your own UNTRAINED hands and let this happen
NOTE: this behavior is NOT covered under any “Good Samaritan” laws I am aware of unless of course my CPR training has expired in the past 6 months and this is the new technique.