FFS, you don’t even know how much you will have to pay yet. You are just getting your knickers in twist because they are not responding fast enough for you. Get off your high horse and go sign up for the supplementary insurance. Don’t blame others and the system for not having done your research.
In the same way that a police force might be expensive to run, or a fire department, or… an army (in a country that’s never at war)
Why do ambulances need to be for profit? The main goal is to save lives, why can’t it also be a public service? It would not be free to run but surely wouldn’t cost 1500.- per trip. Even if the insurance pays, it’s still passed down to us one way or another because insurers are also in it for a profit.
The fact that it can be abused isn’t a reason for punishing the vast majority who use it as intended. We’re all worse off because of a few offenders? That doesn’t make any sense. And it’s not like Uber where you get an ambulance sent by clicking a button. You have to talk to a dispatcher first who assesses the situation and can decide whether an ambulance is really needed or not. Yes people can lie but this is universally true and not limited to ambulances. Even then, it’s easy to see that the person wasn’t having a heart attack but got their finger in the door once the ambulance arrives: it was a lie → they get charged.
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Huh ? you asked if there is an effect to high cost and in a country where the costs are also pretty high it has actually been measured. So not sure where the Whataboutism is coming from…
Well actually if you take the total costs you would properly pay more. Problem is those cars are pretty expensive and have incredibly low runtime (since you have to have at least one for about maximum 10 min driving time). Basically, you are not only paying for the driving time, but for the infrastructure behind it (being close enough, having doctors available on call, having enough in case of multiple need at tge same time, the dispatch etc.)
Question is now : how much of this infrastructure is taken over by the community (through taxes) and how much is billed through the 10 min drive. And this differs from canton to canton (and can be seen through the respective tax rates).
And to the extend of my knowledge, the normal ambulances are state owned and are not making profit on the long run, they are allowed to only cover their long term costs (incl. provisions for renewal etc.).
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Sorry if that came out too rough. I was wondering what effect the current system and its cost could have in Switzerland and I didn’t see what the situation in other countries have to do with such question.
Just got this in a mail from Comparis, and suits this topic.
https://www.comparis.ch/krankenkassen/leistungen/krankenwagen-ambulanz
Of course Comparis is basically a sales site for insurance these days, so the recommendations will be biased.