The one place where Swiss health care and American health care have something in common is ambulance service. While my care in the hospital was incredibly cheap, my bill for the ambulance ride was $730, which is about what I expect it would have cost me in the US (maybe a little less). One difference though--most of that bill would be covered in Switzerland. I'm less confident about getting reimbursed by my Blue Cross plan, though. They'll probably figure out some way to weasel out of paying for it.
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DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-area journalist. He has written for years about the US health system, including his book "Marketplace Medicine" (Bantam Books, 1992). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net
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