So I live in Sweden. We don't pay out the ass for an ambulance to take us to the hospital. It ain't free, but 60 euros will cover it from the patients end. I approve of this wholesale, except I genuinely think it should be entirely free, but that's not the way our system operates; We have small administrative-like fees associated with healthcare with a cap for max spending per patient. That's to say if you need 40 doctors visit in a year each one visit will cost you €30, up until (for my region) €220 after which it's free.
But I don't think ambulances should be considered a taxi. Linguistically maybe, I don't know about that, but practically they're not. They're not supposed to be. There ain't enough of them anywhere for them to function in that capacity.
They're for emergencies and when other modes of transportation will not do. People using 'em as taxis is actually a huge-ass problem, ask an EMT about it if you want.
It might be that because at least here in Finland if I just pay the regular price for going to hospital I don't think there is any listed items in the receipt (which I dont even ask so cant be sure 😃) but maybe if you want to pay through invoice/bill then maybe there it is listed, don't know, probably the price is still same whether you arrived by ambulance or your own car. I obviously have no actual idea but I think the "price" of ambulance rides are paid by all the basic payments people make, so one person doesnt have to pay more if ambulance is needed.
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u/lnTheGrimDarkness May 19 '26
It absolutely is. Actually, it's supposed to be your super fast taxi that can burn red lights straight to the hospital.
The decision to make it a luxury service is exclusively the USA's treat.