The Daily Populous Sunday November 10th, 2024 morning edition
Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by Rd28T

Rd28T on November 9th, 2024 at 23:11 UTC »

To answer all the inevitable questions:

•The Royal Flying Doctor is funded by government (opex) and charity (capex). They cover the vast majority of the sparsely populated Australian continent which is out of reach of road or helicopter ambulances in any reasonable time frame.

They will land basically anywhere - a dirt strip lit by flaming toilet rolls if they need to, or a highway.

•No charge to any patient, no matter who they are, or where they are from. International tourists included.

•They have a fleet of 80 turboprops and small jets and land on roads, dirt strips etc etc, day and night, as needed.

•Some state road and helicopter ambulances charge for services, but insurance is very cheap, the poor don’t have to pay, and social/political pressure makes it impossible for them to collect the debt aggressively regardless:

https://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/ambulance-victoria-ceases-debt-collection-practice/

AbysmalMoose on November 9th, 2024 at 23:24 UTC »

I fell down the stairs in my house and needed an ambulance to the ER. It was $2,000 to dispatch the ambulance and $30 per mile for transport. Then I couldn’t tell you how much for the actual medical care once at the hospital.

steelcryo on November 9th, 2024 at 23:45 UTC »

This is the kind of shit you get with universal healthcare.

To any American that reads this and thinks this is somehow bad and private insurance is better, please explain to me why you think that.

The usual argument is that they don't want to pay higher taxes to pay someone elses healthcare, but basically all studies show you'd pay less in additional tax than you do in health insurance premiums. Which is obvious for two reasons. 1. If you're not paying a middle man who is trying to make a profit, you pay less and 2. If you have an entire goverment negotiating with drug companies, prices of everything drops, so treatments cost less, meaing the government needs less in taxes than insurance companies need even before they add their profits in.

The other is "private health care is better, less wait times", which often isn't really true. Sure, it's true if you're super low priority, but in that case, it doesn't matter, but if you're high priority with an actually serious condition, you'll often be seen pretty quick. Not to mention, pretty much anywhere with public healthcare also has private practices that allow you to pay for a one off consultation/exam if you really don't want to wait.

I just don't see the benefits where as the downsides are insane. Potentially becoming bankrupt just from having a baby or happening to get injured. Not to mention the whole "you were treated outside our area, so even though you have insurance, we won't cover it" bs.