it's so over

Why American ambulance rides are so expensive (Score: 150+ in 7 hours)

Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6YcaD
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6YcaD

In July 2023, a 25-year-old man named Jagdish Whitten was out for a run in San Francisco. As he crossed a busy street, a car hit him; he did, in his words, “a little flip” over the vehicle, landed in the road, and dragged himself to the curb. Those who had seen the accident called an ambulance for him. But Whitten waved them off and called a friend, who drove him to a nearby hospital instead: “I knew that ambulances were expensive,” he said, “and I didn’t think I was going to die.”

Whitten was right on both counts. At the hospital, doctors found that he had a mild concussion, a broken toe, and a few bruises—nothing too serious. But because he’d suffered a traumatic injury, they were obligated to send him to San Francisco General, the city’s only designated trauma center. This time he didn’t have a choice. He was loaded into an ambulance for a six-mile transfer, evaluated without additional treatment, and sent home the same night.

Over the weeks that followed, Whitten got bills from both hospitals. Everything was roughly what he expected, and all of it would be covered by his insurance plan. But a few months later, Whitten got another bill—this time from American Medical Response, the ambulance provider that had transferred him between hospitals. The ambulance ride, he learned, would cost him $12,873: $737 for the miles traveled, $314 for monitoring his heart on the trip, $151 for infection control, and $11,670 as a “base rate.”

every day i pray whatever entity i wasn't born there

polishitians and j🤢urnalists who say "you need to get used to the high temperatures" need to be burned to the stake just to tell them "now get used to the fire boiling your useless body from the inside and scorching your meaningless skin 🥰"

me and who??? ❤💞

PSA1: TELEGRAM MAY ASK YOU MONEY TO LOGIN FROM NOW ON, EVEN IF YOU HAVE A TOTALLY NORMAL NUMBER AND YOU ARE A TOTALLY NORMAL USER, REGARDLESS OF YOUR MOBILE CARRIER'S FEES, AND EVEN IF YOU HAVE OTHER ACTIVE SESSIONS

Why??? Telegram has become for-profit for a while now, it was to be expected that its greed would come to this extent.

How do I avoid this??? I will update this post as soon as I know other methods, but for now if you are on Android and have an active session somewhere else you can downgrade to Telegram APK 11.5.4 (worked for me at least), and your login code will be sent to that active session as it normally should.

And in the future??? The downgrade method eventually is not going to work. If you are a rooted Android user, you can copy your Telegram data from the app's data, and the sessions should be maintained.

These are obviously not viable methods for most people. I strongly suggest you to start saving all the important chats and data and start migrating to better alternatives.

(PSA1 UPDATES ARE AT THE BOTTOM)
PSA2: TELEGRAM ALSO SENDS LOGIN CODES THROUGH TELEGRAM USERS CHOSEN AT RANDOM, WHO, THEREFORE, HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR NUMBER AND YOUR LOGIN CODES (AND YOU COULD HAVE ACCESS TO THEIRS)

To help ensure that users in all areas can reliably receive OTPs, Telegram offers a Peer-to-Peer Login Program (“P2PL”) that allows users of the direct Telegram for Android app (“Telegram App”) to volunteer their phone number as a relay for SMS login codes, words and phrases, in exchange for a Telegram Premium subscription.

2. Scope
By joining the P2PL Program, you acknowledge and agree that Telegram may use your phone number as a relay for a maximum of 150 OTP SMS messages per month. You understand and agree that SMS messages sent from your number as part of the P2PL Program may incur charges from your mobile carrier or service provider.

https://telegram.org/tos/p2pl

THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A HUGE SECURITY RISK:

This has sparked security and privacy fears as the company's terms of service indicate the potential exposure of users' phone numbers, leading to possible unsolicited texts or calls

https://alternativeto.net/news/2024/3/telegram-s-new-p2pl-program-offers-premium-subscriptions-for-exposing-your-phone-number/

While Telegram prohibits contacting numbers sent codes, there’s no evident blocking mechanism. This system could expose users’ numbers to strangers, potentially leading to data leaks, harassment, and spam.
Telegram acknowledges regional limitations but doesn’t clarify its phone number sharing practices in its privacy policy, possibly violating it.

https://www.fonearena.com/blog/420212/telegram-peer-to-peer-login-program-security-risks.html

THIS IS NOT THE MOST WIDESPREAD METHOD TELEGRAM USES, BUT THERE'S NO SPECIFIED REGION WHERE THIS COULD HAPPEN (AND "REGIONAL LIMITATIONS" DO NOT SEEM CONSTRAINED TO ASIA NOR AFRICA)

How do I protect my account??? Set up a password to avoid anyone being able to login to your account just by using login codes.

What about my number's privacy??? At this point you have no way to know whether or not Telegram will use this method with you next. The best thing you can do is to avoid SMSes at all costs by setting up an email account, by always keeping active sessions, downgrading if asked to pay for SMSes, etc

UPDATES TO THE FIRST PSA:
- This may not always happen. For now, the confirmed cases where this happens are in Asian/African countries (reason why the P2PL bullshit exists), for virtual numbers, and for ""weird IP activities""
- The best way to avoid it for now are to USE EMAIL LOGIN CODES (by setting up an email) AND TO ALWAYS KEEP ACTIVE SESSIONS. This, however, is not guaranteed to save you from Telegram asking for your money.

Fun fact, telegram is over.
If you make a new account, they will force you to buy Telegram premium in most countries.
Durov learned to be a moronic asshole from his Emirati masters.

this except that now it happens to shitalian users without VPNs (me and someone else i know) so it may happen in the rest of europe?
also happened with an old ass account

my account has been there since 2018/2019

also, the sms fee page was brought with the ui change 🥰

only the pre-ui change version does not ask for the fee

ui change "fans" have been real quiet since this dropped