From: Tony Williams 

Adam > wrote:
> Tony Williams wrote:
>>Adam wrote:
>>>C) Once on the ambulance the job of the crew is in part to rifle
>>>through your possessions looking for health cards or credit cards.
>>>
>>(C) matches my personal experience closely enough. I had insurance so I
>>can't vouch for the rest.
>
> Were you taken to a hospital run by/in an agreement with your health
> insurance or the nearest?

It was a car wreck (learned the hard way that people run red lights here
...), and I was in a bit of a daze. The cop asked if we needed an ambulance
and a few minutes later one arrived to take us to the nearest hospital
about 5 miles away.

They spent the next year or so squabbling about who got to pay the $880
ambulance bill - I was working on a temporary visa so it was either going
to be my personal travel insurance or the company's group insurance and
both wanted the other to fork over the money. That's one of the things I
dislike about privatised medicine: the inefficiency and hassle of dealing
with several different insurance companies and providers. I'd sooner pay
one National Insurance charge and be done with it.

> Apparantly this has killed in the past but dem's de breaks i.e. if
> having a heart attack & the blue cross hospital is 50 miles away but the
> xyz hmo hospital is only 5 miles away....but your insurance states blue
> cross.....prepare for a 50 mile journey....

Obviously it's an unwise "life choice" to be poor and living in a
rural area.

--
Tony

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