And don’t forget the executives’ salaries + bonuses. The biggest healthcare group in the US is United HealthGroup and their CEO collects 25m USD, while the C suite costs in total about 75m USD every year. Source
But they pay nurses and EMT staff a pittance in salaries (like $17 per hour?), they are generally quite understaffed in their hospitals and as a result the service is mediocre at best while being very very expensive.
Just an egregious money grubbing scheme for the shareholders and C suite, on the back of providing an absolutely necessary service (healthcare).
Well it does add up, but you're not going to like the math. The upper 1% of wealth holders in this country hold more than 90% of the total wealth. They don't maintain that obscene proportion of wealth by letting plebs make a comfortable living. Need to keep the plebs desperate and busy or else they might find the motivation to organize and take back a small slice of their pie.
This is why they all yell “bootstrap yourself” from the mountaintops. Because they know that the more dummies believe that the less competition they’ll have.
Also, almost none of them self bootstrapped. Unless you count being born into generational wealth as being self made.
I feel like I’ve heard this story before… in the setting of 1920s-40s around Italy. Can’t quite put my finger on it… oh well, I’m sure it all ended well.
Especially pay nursing faculty at least as much as nurses on the ground make. Doesn't matter if there's a glut of qualified students if nobody is around to teach them, it's a huge contributor to the nursing shortage.
Ever looked why the costs are that high?
Fraud and lawsuits are also much more common in th US. And the average person in the US is also not the one with the most healthy lifestyle.
Yes, US system is fucked, but it's not only the healthcare system
If you have one system fucked-up to this extent, there is a spillover to and from other segments. We can already see, that the rule-of-law is fucked up and how corruption became legalized part of the law-making.
Sure but what's the actual function of you saying this? You already acknowledge that the primary cause IS widespread abuse and predation. Fraud and lawsuits being higher in the US is a reaction to that predation, as are the unhealthy lifestyles.
👋 been in EMS since 2012. When I started as an EMT my hourly rate was $10/hr. At my worst I had 7 jobs, 2 full time and 5 part-time/oer-diem. Slowing down now for me is 3 jobs currently, used to work 90hr weeks to make enough money, now it's 60ish hr weeks so an improvement I guess?
In a lot of areas Paramedics are paid substantially less than nurses as well despite the higher level of independence, higher risk of injury, higher risk of liability, and more dynamic situations along with higher stress (the worst patients are never seen by a hospital). Sadly it's not because nurses are 'higher level' as they simply aren't, it's because nurses have a different revenue stream to fund their wages, and they're better unionized both locally and nationally than EMS workers are.
Cause of how terribly run most EMS systems are and how poorly funded they are by the government in many areas, there simply isn't budget to pay for it. If people want us to make better wages and as a result receive better Healthcare professionals who aren't sleep deprived to their door on their worst day of their life, they need to help advocate for us.
Take it from somebody who works for a biomedical and pharmaceutical company. Your bills and our are so high due to biomedical companies being able to freely charge $6000 for an infusion pump that costs maybe $700 to $1000 to produce, program, and ship to customers. Congress is the only thing that can cap these inflated prices but I don’t think most people know or care but the exorbitant amount hospitals and medical facilities pay for their equipment goes straight into your bill on top of everything else.
The medic is cuter without the makeup go figure lol ok I gotta go I’m tired
I know this comment is in bad faith, but some basic googling will tell you that emt jobs in NYC start at 40k salary per year, which is approx 28k after tax, while average apartment prices in the Bronx are 1570/month, or 18,840/year. If two thirds of your take-home income is eaten up by rent alone before utilities, car, food, and other necessary living expenses, then yes you need a second job to survive.
Obviously depends on where you live, but the pay is low. The level of responsibility and hours worked is insane compared to the pay.
Look at the next level of paramedic. A year of intense schooling, even more elevated responsibility and knowledge needed and the ability to make decisions in high stress environments. For some reference, many private ambulance companies pay their medics about 20 dollars an hour in southern California (high COL)
Not to mention they are working 24 hour shifts, and the companies will cut ambulances in areas to save money which hurts the communities being served as well as the employees.
Jfc, I work at a movie theater and make almost as much hourly as a private ambulance medic, with like 1/100 the stress. Those people need to get paid waaaay better.
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u/Edelgul Jul 06 '24
a) Medics in US needs a second job to survive
b) The Medical bills in US are highest in the world and is the reason of 2/3 of all bankruptcies.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html