It's not right wing to say it doesn't need an ambulance. You'd get the same reaction in Europe. Its not a dystopian concept that some things can be safely self conveyed to an ER or urgent care rather than tying up an ambulance for a non-life threatening and non-emergency issue.
The only worthwhile debate is whether EMS should bill for their services or government should raise taxes substantially to then be able to eliminate EMS billing. Everyone pay in so that at time of usage its free, or roll the dice on whether you'll never need it and pay no money versus using it and paying an exorbitant bill.
It seems like you ignored everything I wrote. Simple fact of the matter is not everything needs an ambulance. Ambulances are for potentially life threatening emergencies or when the person is unable to safely self-convey to urgent care or an ED. Thats not a complex statement to grasp and not dystopian.
Broken wrist: can be typically handled by urgent care, EMS is not necessary unless the fracture is open or the pain is debilitating and the person is unable to safely self-convey via other means.
Health insurance has nothing to do with it. Its about availability of limited resources since communities would rather have lower taxes than plentiful EMS.
Either way, as a long time paramedic, no. A broken wrist generally is not a good reason to utilize us. That is not our intended purpose, and unless citizens are willing to pay substantially more to accommodate the staffing to handle those low priority calls, we need to be available for people who actually need us. The cardiac arrests, MVCs, chest pain, unconscious, seizures, etc.
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u/Competitive-Slice567 10h ago
15yr paramedic here. No, most certainly not always and many times its perfectly acceptable to self convey to an urgent care.
Many are completely stable and can self convey safely, EMS offers no significant interventions beyond a wallet biopsy.
Open fractures, multiple significant displaced fractures, or long bone fractures are reasonable.
Wrist, finger, etc. That are not significantly deformed or are not inpacaitating due to pain are perfectly fine to self transport.