In the US, people have to pay for their ambulance rides; within our specific county, it's 500 bucks a pop for an in-county resident, plus an additional fee per mile. 600 for out-of-county. Even so, by no means do the poor shy away. 70% of our calls are still the homeless regulars, the drunks, and cold/flu-like symptoms. EMS is here to help you when you're seriously down, not to wipe your nose. The public doesn't understand this... and frankly I would go so far as to say that more have died because of time-wasting calls than that would die if they were concerned with the cost.