Lovely city- our favourite to visit and relax. I'd love to find a cheap retirement property in the area.......
Good luck!! Most of the people I knew and worked with (how hadn't purchased a house greater than 10yrs ago) travelled 70+mi from out of the city into downtown/bay area because that was the closest they could find an affordable house (unless you're super-rich, then LaJolla is beautiful with some amazing houses). Taxes are high (not as high as BC/Canada, but high by US standards), crowded highways, TOO many people at every outing (beach, parks, city, etc), homeless at every corner (which I have sympathy for, mind you, but some are unhinged), petty crime every day (had 3 things stolen from behind an unlocked gate on a dead-end street), most of the beaches except for LaJolla have cigarette butts/crap/plastic all over them. After living there for awhile, I found myself seeing only the bad more than the good - probably a personal issue but I was OK to leave.
Back to topic: had similar issues with health care in the US. Its a for-profit system - the insurance companies are incentivized to save money/make money, so its worth the time of an admin person to hunt you down for $1.7k. They don't exist to REALLY help someone (tho they advertise as such). The bottom line issue with me on US healthcare is you have ZERO visibility on what anything costs when you arrive. How would you react if you brought your car in and 30 min later they came to you and said "Well, we think you just had to change the oil, but we also did full diagnostics, changed the shocks, changed transmission fluid, put in new wipers, changed headlights, put in Ferrari-grade synthetic oil. Your $30 oil change will be $800 please." You'd be (rightfully) furious and that place would be highlighted on the local news for its practices and likely out of business in a year! But you go to a hospital, you're at the mercy of "experts" (who are often pretty good but make mistakes too) who prescribe tests based on your insurance (better insurance = better testing) and might prescribe meds or treatment as a precaution to cover all their bases, versus prescribing what's best for you. You go in with a pain in your shoulder and come out with $thousands in bills for MRI, X-ray, exotic painkillers, $500 slings, schedule for surgery, etc. Its asinine and nothing will change w/ the gutless govt's in the US because insurance companies have such power and clout.
I'm continuously amazed at medical care here. The 3 times I've been to the ER so far, I may be the only guy in the ER who's smiling and practically singing songs of joy (the waits are no worse than what I experienced in the US, btw) - I get prudent,careful care, doctors are just as good if not better (hey, they're Canadian so they're polite and humble by definition! lol!), and I walk out without paying a cent. I pay more taxes this time around but for me, its completely worth it.
Good luck with that ambulance claim - in my experience, complain and be as much as pain in the ass to all levels of management and don't let them get away with taking your money. It was their mistake, they need to own it.
