Injured woman begs people not to call ambulance because she can’t afford it

A woman trapped between a train and a platform in Boston, with her bone exposed through her thigh, pleaded with bystanders not to call an ambulance, asking them “do you know how much an ambulance costs?”

The accident happened on Friday, and a Boston Globe reporter on the scene described how the woman slipped between the subway train and the platform, trapping her leg. Left “in agony and weeping” as commuters rocked the train back and forth in an effort to free her, she begged them not to call an ambulance, as she said, “It’s $3000...I can’t afford that.”

In a series of follow-up tweets this Tuesday, the reporter explained that the woman was eventually freed from the five-inch gap and suffered no broken bones. Sitting on the platform in pain, she was reportedly crying, worried about how the accident would affect her financially.

Emergency personnel on the scene bandaged the unidentified woman’s wound, and sent her to the hospital. While she had no broken bones, they still said her injuries would require surgery.

According to the reporter, Maria Cramer, the woman’s ambulance ride cost her roughly $1,200, still a hefty fee for anyone. That price tag does not include the cost of actual medical care, room and board at the hospital, drugs, bandages, or ay of the myriad of other expenses that make American healthcare among the most expensive in the world.

Cramer’s tweet went viral, and it is being held up as a damning indictment of the American healthcare system.

People in the US spend more on healthcare than people in other first-world countries. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, hospital costs in America are 60 percent higher than in 12 other developed nations.

People insured under Obamacare are not any better off. The lowest priced ‘bronze’ plans came with deductibles of over $6,000 last year, the third year-on rise in a row for consumers that are covered under the state-provided insurance.