Every time I read an article like this I end up baffled. I don’t live in the US (or Europe) and even in this part of the world I know that my health is taken care of. I might get a higher bill by choosing a private clinic to get a single room or a hotel-like experience, but if I choose to I can pay zero for a broken arm or even heart surgery. If the ambulance is closer to a private facility, then there’s where I am taking to, I’m not paying extra for that.

My wife's experience with Zuckerberg hospital is very similar to this story. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance while she was unconscious. This hospital "took" her insurance info but it is actually out of network for private (employer-provided) health insurance. They also said that because it is out of network, everything in this hospital would be more expensive. The billing office made confusing bills and refused to work with our insurance company to clarify the bill. The billing office did not answer phone calls in stated business hours. A lot of other unprofessional or questionable communications. Avoid this hospital if you can.

I can almost understand the out of network model for normal preventative care, but emergency room care!?

So basically depending on where you happen to get hurt (and might not even be conscious to know where you get fixed) they can basically charge you whatever they want.

This country needs universal healthcare badly. So shameful for a country this wealthy. It’s utterly disgusting.

Combined with this news, it's so ironic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18851731