Your comment made me look up the way Maryland does it, and yes, it varies a lot by county.

Have you received care from EMS without being taken to the hospital? The case posted by OP did not involve going to the hospital, and so I used an example that did not involve going to the hospital. I had a vague impression that if you require transport to a hospital, you are more likely to be billed for it.

It’s not that I disagree that our system is shit, it’s more that it seems puritanical to require the US to be totally standardized across all 50 states. We’re 50 different states because we don’t like each other, and the animosity is growing. It’s enough to maintain the union with crazy red states trying to role back rights and illegally imprison people.

I don’t see Europeans standardizing social programs across all the different countries within the EU. Germany was loathe to even lend money to Greece following the 2008 recession.

I am not going to defend the US Healthcare industry, but EMS is often? usually? a service of your local government in the US.

Here in Maryland, our ambulance are stored in the firehouses next to the fire engines and staffed by the firemen… Paid for by the county.

When I went to Austin for a bachelorette party, one of the girls passed out and hit her head and the ambulance that came to check her out was also free of charge paid for by the city. Now, their dismissive paternalism was also free of charge because it was Texas, but my point is: emergency services are frequently not part of the predatory American healthcare industry.

You mean Russian asset Edward Snowden?

Does “bugs” have a scientific meaning? I was assuming it was a layman’s term that I could abuse.

Not sure what your definition of people is, but Mexicans, Ugandan, and Koreans all eat grasshoppers (and probably others). I know crickets are eaten in Southeast Asia.

Ants seem too tiny to try to eat, but a Google search reveals they are eaten in South America and Southeast Asia.

Shrimp, lobsters, and crabs are kinds of bugs.

Exactly. Hence the name distinguishing it as the “American” one… People (Americans?) are so dumb.

I think my husband and I learned to parent from Daniel Tiger.