American health care in a shell: Ambulance driver injures cyclist then charges him for a ride.

I try to veer away from having or at least exhibiting my political opinions in this thing because what I really want to do is to point out the ridiculous reporting or ridiculous situations that end up happening around the world.

I don't think that many people can seriously look at the American health-care system and say "yeah, that's the way it should be" no matter where they lie on the political spectrum though. When you have a health care system that is so broken that people are genuinely afraid to go to a doctor due to the fact that doing so could bankrupt them, you have a broken health care system.

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I see stories and images online about how people were rushed to the hospital or their father had a heart attack and they did what any son or daughter would do and help to save their life in any way necessary only to be hit with a quarter of a million dollar bill after the fact. These stories are rare but the fact that they happen at all is a true travesty. There are also stories about how government funded health care actually succeeds in pushing the cost of health care up the same way that student loans for all pushed the price of college tuition to intentionally debt-inducing levels.

There is a lot of information out there but when I hear various politicians talking about how there needs to be this tiny adjustment or that tiny adjustment, they are all full of hot air. You can't make something that is ludicrously overpriced achievable by pretending as though it is "free" just because the government pays for it. The health care industry loves it when the government does this and likely spends billions lobbying to ensure that it doesn't change.

But before I go off on too much of a rant lets look at a situation that is truly crazy that took place in the extremely liberal state of Oregon.

It was a while ago but not long enough ago that it isn't relevant to today. A cyclist was riding down the road, probably in an assholish way that cyclists tend to ride, when all of a sudden the rider of the bike was struck, and injured by an ambulance of all things.

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The injuries were relatively minor when you consider that someone was hit by a loaded up van in that the rider had a fractured nose and cuts and scrapes. I'm no doctor, but these are not life-threatening or something likely to cause chronic pain or recurring issues. The ambulance drivers, as you would expect or perhaps they are obligated to do, picked up the rider of the bicycle and drove him to a nearby hospital. This is all fine and dandy until we get to the next part.

They later sent the 71-year old rider of the bike a bill for over $1800 for the ambulance ride. What get's even crazier is that his total medical expenses for a broken nose and some road rash, sent the bill skyrocketing to $47,000.

Apparently and according to the cyclist and as been admitted by the ambulance personnel, the vehicles were riding side by side in a residential area when the ambulance took a right and therefore cut off the cyclist and then ran him over a bit.

This is where things get a bit shady. Cyclists are assholes all over the world. Looking out for other cars is work enough and we have all seen how cyclists will create little avenues that they honestly shouldn't be in that are in the blind spots of other vehicles then they get hit. I don't know the specifics of this particular incident but I seriously doubt that this, or any other cyclist is completely free of fault as to why the accident happened. That isn't the point I am trying to make.

The point is that the ambulance could have been at fault and when they picked up the cyclist and drove him to the hospital, that should have been a Good Samaritan act but instead these guys had the gall to charge this guy nearly 2 grand for something that at least in part, they were responsible for.

The story doesn't get any less ridiculous though. The cyclist is suing the Columbia River Fire & Rescue group who operates the ambulance, for $900,000. The cyclist claims this is for "pain and suffering" but come on now, we all know what is really going on here. Dude is looking for a payout and well, you know what, I don't blame him. This all could have been avoided if the drivers of the ambulance simply did the right thing at the time and just helped someone that was in need.

If you want to read the full report you can see it here

We'll never know who was truly responsible but in my mind it doesn't really matter. A $2000 taxi ride, which is essentially what this was because the rider was in no danger or death, is absolutely absurd, and even though I think the lawsuit is completely frivolous, I hope he wins it.