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I have a friend who is attending a prestigious college in the u.s. She's from Canada, and described that when someone gets hurt people don't call an ambulance. They feel like they're doing them a favor, because calling an ambulance for them might actually bankrupt them. So she once watch this drunk chick fall and knock herself right out. And people just stood around her trying to talk to her. No one would call 911. They just left her there.
Last time I almost dieded i called an Uber. And my insurance still refusing payment because I didn't know almost dying was a pre-existing condition.
Greatest health care in the world
I had a co-worker (Canadian)who crashed his motorbike in Montana. When the ambulance started to take him to an American hospital he nearly came to blows with the paramedics. They finally got permission to run him across the border far enough that a Canadian paramedic crew could come get him. This is the lengths people will go to avoid American healthcare costs.
I've been told that in Switzerland is almost the same. If you or someone else call an ambulance and you are actually not dying you would have to pay more than 1000chf. Anyone can confirm this?
Something I learned in my first aid certification this past year (and yes, American): you can call an ambulance for someone that is injured and the paramedics can provide care on the spot without the person being charged. They start charging you the moment you set foot in the ambulance. It's actually part of the training to inform the injured party of this so that they won't refuse an ambulance. That said, they still can't get the kind of care they'd get in a hospital so yeah, shit system.
*BONUS*