A woman trapped between a train and a platform in Boston, with her bone exposed through her thigh, pleaded with bystanders not to call an ambulance, asking them “do you know how much an ambulance costs?”
The accident happened on Friday, and a Boston Globe reporter on the scene described how the woman slipped between the subway train and the platform, trapping her leg. Left “in agony and weeping” as commuters rocked the train back and forth in an effort to free her, she begged them not to call an ambulance, as she said, “It’s $3000…I can’t afford that.”
Awful scene on the orange line. A woman’s leg got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform. It was twisted and bloody. Skin came off. She’s in agony and weeping. Just as upsetting she begged no one call an ambulance. “It’s $3000,” she wailed. “I can’t afford that.”
— Maria Cramer (@NYTimesCramer) June 29, 2018
In a series of follow-up tweets this Tuesday, the reporter explained that the woman was eventually freed from the five-inch gap and suffered no broken bones. Sitting on the platform in pain, she was reportedly crying, worried about how the accident would affect her financially.
Emergency personnel on the scene bandaged the unidentified woman’s wound, and sent her to the hospital. While she had no broken bones, they still said her injuries would require surgery.
According to the reporter, Maria Cramer, the woman’s ambulance ride cost her roughly $1,200, still a hefty fee for anyone. That price tag does not include the cost of actual medical care, room and board at the hospital, drugs, bandages, or ay of the myriad of other expenses that make American healthcare among the most expensive in the world.
Cramer’s tweet went viral, and it is being held up as a damning indictment of the American healthcare system.
Incredibly sad. A woman badly hurt in the Boston subway system begged good Samaritans not to call an ambulance for her. "Do you know how much an ambulance costs?" https://t.co/QqlPnAOxfP
— Andrea Swalec (@andreaswalec) July 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/Millicentsomer/status/1014549423366365184
https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1013939163039592448
https://twitter.com/nyhcmaven84/status/1012861455165730816
People in the US spend more on healthcare than people in other first-world countries. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, hospital costs in America are 60 percent higher than in 12 other developed nations.
9/ In Massachusetts, people are required to have health insurance but deductibles can add up to $6,000 for individuals and $12,000 for families, according to Brian Rosman, policy director of Health Care for All – @HCFA
— Maria Cramer (@NYTimesCramer) July 3, 2018
People insured under Obamacare are not any better off. The lowest priced ‘bronze’ plans came with deductibles of over $6,000 last year, the third year-on rise in a row for consumers that are covered under the state-provided insurance.
https://www.rt.com/usa/431753-woman-afford-ambulance-healthcare/
‘Freest nation on earth, greatest country in the world’
Repeat 20 times per day
I know the feeling. Right now I’m avoiding a lot of necessary health care because I don’t want the bills.
Health care bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcies in America today, and there are a lot of people living in the street because they needed to see a doctor.
Take my ass to the local vet, would cost less and probably not get shafted by unseen “costs.” If he aint in, here’s a bullet, do me the favor because I am in the same boat as that lady if anything happens.
I get the sentiment Vekar , but the Veterinarians these days are playing the same game as the human DR’s .. bring you in( or in this case your pet and play on your heart strings etc.. especially if there is a kid in the room) as much as possible for tests and repeat visits for $$ to fill their pockets
plus they can only diagnose 1 problem at a time, you have t$ come Ba$k for the ne$t te$t another$day …cha ching
I was referring to the old farm vet who gets paid in chicken eggs like when I was a kid, guess that profession has gone down the shitter too.
Ahh , yes the “ol days … so sorely missed
“People in the US spend more on healthcare than people in other first-world countries.”
And it’s killing them.
Literally.
Other than my own husband, a paramedic, I do not trust ANY health care provider in the US! And since we live less than 100 miles from the Mexican border (Constitution-free zone), I have told him that if a situation arises where we can’t afford “what Medicare does not allow” and all that crap, then either bring me to Mexico for health care services (and LOTS of Americans go to Mexico for health issues now, especially dentists), or let me die. I will NOT be a financial burden to him. I don’t earn much from Social Security (since I had to stay home and bring up and homes school my kids), and at least 70 percent of it now goes toward medical (Part B and Medigap Plan F). Ridiculous! And the medical care SUCKS!