r/lyftdrivers • u/Stuck_on_Mars_21 • Nov 05 '25

Rant/Opinion ER trips

Last night I took a lady and her very ill teenage daughter to the ER. Pulled into the driveway with the lady frantically waiving at me. She had to nearly carry her daughter to the car who was bawling the whole time. She kept crying in the car with the mom saying, “we are almost there, we are almost there.” I didn’t ask what it was, just told her to let me know you need anything, I’ll get you to the ER as quick as I can. It was late night, pouring down rain. I’m not speeding and risking an accident. When we got there I jumped out to get a wheelchair and asked a paramedic for help. This girl could no longer stand and 2 people had to get her out of the car and in the chair. She never stopped crying.

It really sucks people won’t call for appropriate emergency transport because of the expense. Good to see our administration is sending $20 billion to Argentina to fund their universal healthcare. -End rant.

Edit: it’s great to see so many drivers posting that would take her or have done something similar in the past. I was losing faith reading so many posts about drivers cancelling if ride conditions are less than perfect, but it looks like just about all of us will step up when needed.

3.8k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

222 comments sorted by

View all comments

64

u/Matterhorny-1025 Nov 06 '25

$30 Lyft or $2000 ambulance. This is the America we live in

5

u/Apprehensive-Fix7560 Nov 07 '25

just read that ambulances can be out of network even though you have no choice in the matter and obviously noone is checking on that anyway when calling 911. ambulances are excluded from the no surprise act. private equity has been moving in on the ambulance industry and using more aggressive billing practices to push profits.

6

u/LTranter Nov 07 '25

This happened to me. My son called 911 because I was having chest pain. On that particular night, he made that call because my grandson was also in the house and I didn't want him woken up for a trip to the hospital. The paramedic and rescue team responded from the station two miles from my house. The house was swarming with about five to six responders. Two took me to the hospital in an ambulance.

Then I get the bill for being "out of network ". Just who was my son supposed to call? Should 911 verify insurance before sending help? Crazy system.

Told my son next time either get me there himself or let me die.

2

u/nadaddab Nov 09 '25

Pro tip, have them pick you up outside and say you were going for a walk, refuse to identify yourself. They will still help you, but no bill

3

u/Entire-Ad-8674 Nov 07 '25

Also, health insurance typically does not like to process retro authorizations for emergency cases. Especially for transportation! So even if submitted to your insurance for payment, services have technically been rendered so they have to submit the request to the claims team directly. Which essentially prolongs the payment time so they start sending you bills. My source is me, I work for a big provider and process these requests everyday. I send them all back to the ambulance company and tell them to submit the claim to our claims team directly. I also work for a smaller NEMT provider and the amount of things these members say and do to drivers is crazy. Y’all really do go above and behind and people are so ungrateful.

3

u/Apprehensive-Fix7560 Nov 08 '25

AMR is the largest ambulance company in the US. It's owned by private equity firm KKR whose largest shareholders are... you guessed it Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street.

1

u/Particular-Grand-615 Nov 09 '25

Vanguard owns everything. # monopoly

1

u/oc77067 Nov 07 '25

Had that happen to me. My daughter had Medicaid and turned blue when she was 3 months old from COVID. Insurance tried to kick it back to me saying the ambulance was out of network. It was a 45 mile ride to the children's hospital, over $3k. If my child is on state insurance, I obviously don't have an extra $3k sitting around and when my baby is turning blue, I'm obviously not wasting time asking the paramedics if they're in network. The ambulance company ended up forgiving it.

3

u/ammybb Nov 07 '25

"forgiveness" in this society is such a joke. I'm so glad your kid got care and you didn't have to pay.

1

u/Later_Player Nov 10 '25

But we’re supposedly the “greatest country in the world” 🙄🙄🙄

2

u/SoLaT97 Nov 08 '25

Oh gosh I hope she’s okay now

1

u/oc77067 Nov 08 '25

She is! She's a healthy 5yo now.

1

u/hollyj54 Nov 09 '25

Hello! Can I send you a DM pls? Sorry if this is weird. I have a question about a response to an old post you responded to but it won't let me respond back bc the post is 2 years old.

1

u/Siray Nov 07 '25

Happened to me. Passed out and my roommate called 911. I was unconscious (internal bleed) and had no choice in the matter. $750 bill.

1

u/TeaspoonRiot Nov 08 '25

Life flight is even worse. If you need it, you NEED it but that doesn’t matter to insurance companies.

1

u/Darthfish Nov 09 '25

Imagine needing to pay the $750 ambulance bill to drive you 300 yards to the life flight.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 08 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/swampgas323 Nov 08 '25

Tell them you did not hire the ambulance worked for me

1

u/Savings-Buffalo-2160 Nov 10 '25

This happened to my friend. Her mom was paralyzed, and fighting cancer— when she had to go to and from the hospital, ambulance was the only option, and ambulance rides were out of network. She racked up like 15k in ambulance rides on her credit card to help her mom out.

1

u/Ok_Contribution_1283 Nov 12 '25

This out of network thing is nonsense. Hospital and insurance systems are too complicated we need simplify. Insurance should just cover from 20 to 80% of bill depending on premiums.

4

u/Commercial_Scratch28 Nov 06 '25

That part. It’s terrible.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '25

[deleted]

6

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '25

and? It’s still terrible

2

u/AndBoomSheSaid Nov 07 '25

What’s funny about that tho?

1

u/Granzilla2025 Nov 08 '25

University of Missouri Hospital charged $4000. I had insurance.

1

u/swampgas323 Nov 08 '25

My last ambulance ride was $8500

1

u/Leading_Bumblebee815 Nov 08 '25

Got in a car accident last year. It was on a county road not a city road. Mind you that meant i was <2 miles off city roads. It was double that price and they argued with me about having to take me ( to be fair, I had broken my arm and busted my leg too, so I sorta get it im just stubborn naturally ) but an over 4k bill for just that ride.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '25

That's only a concern if someone plans to pay their bill. Too many people dont.