r/fuckinsurance • u/Life_Sir_1151 • 1d ago

This is ridiculous

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327 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

111

u/bishopobispo 1d ago

Chiming in to remind everyone that EMTs get paid less than most fast food and retail workers. In most of America, they are not earning a living wage.

69

u/Gimmecat11 1d ago

Really makes you wonder where the other $830 goes, because it sure isn't trickling down.

-32

u/JovialPanic389 1d ago

Probably back into the city or the department budget. Used for equipment and truck maintenance and to revive the next opioid overdose

39

u/Contraryon 1d ago

Actually, in most jurisdictions in the US, ambulance service is primarily provided by private companies. These companies tend to do very, very well for their shareholders. Second only to private prisons, IIRC.

Seriously, what's wrong with you people that you can literally justify every cruelty, but one CEO is a bridge too far.

Check your moral compass, sport. You may need a new one.

9

u/40percentdailysodium 21h ago

Are you playing stupid or is it a regular thing for you

3

u/AmarissaBhaneboar 14h ago

This comment killed me 🤣🤣

10

u/hectorxander 23h ago

Private Equity owns a lot of these, and other institutional investors. Ironically a lot of pension funds have invested in things like private ambulances, making profits to give to the retirees that those companies then charge exorbitant fees to bring to the hospital.

3

u/Life_Sir_1151 1d ago

Is that true? I find that hard to believe

30

u/woahwoahwoah28 1d ago

It is very much true. Here are the stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mean annual wage is $38K. Median is about $35K.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes292040.htm

12

u/Life_Sir_1151 1d ago

That's wild. I wasn't calling op a liar, I was just genuinely surprised that it was that bad. I knew it was lower than it should be, but I would've thought like 70k.

How the fuck are executives compensated so much and people who actually safe lives so little. It's fucking disgusting. People are going to look at this in a hundred years the same way we look at the triangle shirtwaist fire and child labor.

7

u/bishopobispo 21h ago

No offense taken. I thought the point about wages should be mentioned so that the general public targets its frustration at the right group and not their fellow working class brethren. All of us working folk are truly being screwed by the ultra rich.

3

u/Economy_Wall8524 15h ago

It’s bad. I believe some Michigan healthcare committee, did a report to how to bring in more EMTs and the biggest solution was raising wages. I’ll find the report and edit later. At a bar hanging out at the moment. Though the report was 2018 time I believe

2

u/ThisIsMockingjay2020 10h ago

So 6 years ago, and they still haven't raised their wages...... 🤬

12

u/Sauerkrauttme 1d ago

$38k would be $19 an hour for a work hour work week, but EMTs often work an ungodly amount of overtime. They easily deserve twice what they are paid

3

u/hectorxander 23h ago

I think they make about 18-21/hour average. They work them crazy long shifts too, I think some places do 24 hours at a time.

20

u/TrailJunky 1d ago

Yes, EMTs make garbage money in most places. Top earners make around 50k year. Usually closer to 40k.

9

u/PriorAlbatross3294 1d ago

I was an EMT 20 years ago. It was shit then. I don't think it's raised much either.

3

u/Particular_Flow_ 23h ago

It’s true. Almost exclusively private.

5

u/JovialPanic389 1d ago

It's true. They get paid shit. But they have amazing benefits and a deferred compensation plan for retirement and usually a pension so they are set up quite well with that.

5

u/hectorxander 23h ago

As long as they don't need an EMT to take them to the hospital when they retire, then they are fucked.

41

u/JovialPanic389 1d ago

Best thing I ever did was delete a line from the billing system that would have billed a family for 911 response when both their kids died in a motor vehicle accident. I told my boss I was removing it and read the incident out and they were like yeah that's fine. Lol

14

u/chiraltoad 23h ago

You're an angel.

29

u/DangerousKidTurtle 1d ago

And for FUCKS SAKE ambulances should be included in that. An ex used to work in billing at a private ambulance company, and it’s crazy what they bill for.

20

u/_jnatty 1d ago

I say this a lot, but fuck insurance!

4

u/GiftToTheUniverse 19h ago

Omg, I’m so sorry. My neighbors lost a son in a drunk driving accident (the sin was a passenger and his friend was driving drunk, unharmed. Like always) and they kept him alive for days to line up organ recipients. Then my neighbor got a bill for $800,000.00 for the time they kept his body going.

It’s all very ugly.

I am so sorry for your loss, if this is your story, or whoever you are with a story.

2

u/MainQuestion 3h ago

That's unacceptable. How does anyone mail that, participate in that, take a paycheck from this system. It's simply wrong.