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by MichaelCollins 1321 days ago
And the firefighters either got paid by the local government, or they are a charity and work as volunteers.

But my point is that if hospitals help firefighters treat patients without charging the firefighters, then why should the firefighters charge the hospital to help the hospital treat patients? That's not reciprocal.
1 comments
willcipriano 1321 days ago
Hospitals don't "help treat patients" without charging the patient for it. The guys charging $100 for a box of tissues don't get to become collectivists all of the sudden.
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MichaelCollins 1321 days ago
Hospitals help not only the patients, but also the firefighters who are responsible for those patients before handing them off to the hospitals. And they provide that service to the firefighters without charging the firefighters.

> The guys charging $100 for a box of tissues don't get to become collectivists all of the sudden.

When you say "don't get to be", do you mean shouldn't get to be? Are you sure the firefighters did actually charge the hospital for this?

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willcipriano 1321 days ago
They don't provide the service to the firefighters, they provide it to the patient at a massively inflated cost.
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MichaelCollins 1321 days ago
They do both, they are related but distinct services.
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JshWright 1321 days ago
What service do they provide to firefighters? That's like saying a concert hall provides a service to the taxi cab driver who drops off a patron.

(Paramedics do _way_ more than just provide a taxi service, but that's the bit that's relevant to the analogy)

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kayfox 1321 days ago
Two things:

Hospitals do consult on EMS calls at times, often without billing for it.

Not all hospitals bill for every little thing, that really depends on the hospital and how they are funded. For example there are a number of children's hospitals that are funded by grants, donations and endowments. And some hospitals like the VA hospital system are funded by the government to serve specific segments of the population.

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JshWright 1321 days ago
> Hospitals do consult on EMS calls at times, often without billing for it.

They don't bill on a per-call basis, but you can be sure that if a hospital is providing medical control services to an EMS agency there is a contract in place and they are being compensated for it (either a flat annual fee, or by some other means)

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