Kentwood, MI charges for emergency services

[bulrush]

(The purpose of this post is not to bash the City of Kentwood, but to show people the serious situation the various governments at all levels of the US are currently experiencing.)

From the Kentwood Advance:
A disabled man in an electric wheelchair, taking his usual "roll" around the neighborhood encountered construction. So he went an alternate route. While going over a curb his wheelchar tipped over and he fell into a busy street. A passerby noticed him and called for help. The city fire department and police responded, and the man was taken away in an ambulance with 2 broken hips. Since this man is disabled his only income is $180 per month from Social Security disability. (My food bill alone is $300 per month and I am single and do not eat expensively.)

The man later received a bill for $177.90 for emergency services. Citing his unusually low income he refused to pay the bill.

City officials said that due to a shortfall of federal funds (that means your congress critters are unable to do a simple thing like balance the budget), the city decided, during a 2006 "retreat", to pass a law to recover the costs of emergency services if a victim has to be transported, which is what happened in this case.

[nell67]

I see they kept the ambulance bill below his monthly income,how gracious of them!

I was in a car wreck 9 years ago,broke my ankle and was transported less than 2 blocks to the ER ,the bill for the ride??? $560!

[Rick]

That's not unusual at all. Medical services (EMS) for Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS/Paramedics), Medevac, as well as Hazardous Materials, Dive Team, and Tactical Rescue response are being charged back to the individual/home owner. Where folks have insurance, the insurance usually will pay some or all of the bill (depends on the coverage, obviously). Think about the cost of a 30 minute Medevac trip or the cost of a Hazardous Response team because your car leaked gasoline onto the highway because of the wreck!!!!!!!

Here is a report put together by the University of Iowa:

http://www.dps.state.ia.us/fm/fstb/PDFs/assessingfees.PDF

Another from FEMA:

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-141.pdf

[Riverrat]

Here in New Brunswick, we do have to pay for ambulance trips now, we did a couple of years ago, 160.00 set price, but the gov has stopped charging. We never had to pay for fire, that is paid through our taxes.

[nell67]

That's not unusual at all. Medical services (EMS) for Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS/Paramedics), Medevac, as well as Hazardous Materials, Dive Team, and Tactical Rescue response are being charged back to the individual/home owner. Where folks have insurance, the insurance usually will pay some or all of the bill (depends on the coverage, obviously). Think about the cost of a 30 minute Medevac trip or the cost of a Hazardous Response team because your car leaked gasoline onto the highway because of the wreck!!!!!!!

Here is a report put together by the University of Iowa:

http://www.dps.state.ia.us/fm/fstb/PDFs/assessingfees.PDF

Another from FEMA:

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-141.pdf

I didn't have to pay it,her insurance did,but I got copies of all the bills because I asked for them.
Maybe I shoulda charged her for them having to cut up my favorite pair of Levi's,but then again,they did make some nice cutoffs after that :D

[bulrush]

The $177 did not cover the ambulance. His medicare probably covered the ambulance. The $177 was for the fire/EMS and police to come out and direct traffic and help him out until the ambulance came. Ambulance was, I'm sure, a totally separate charge.

Nell, a $500-600 ambulance charge is pretty typical but often covered by insurance.

[Chris]

I understand the city governments have shortfalls.

However what are property taxes for? Seriously. We all pay them, even if you rent you pay them via proxy.

I think most cities could probably find room in their budgets to do their jobs without charging additionally for them, they'd just have to cut unncessary spending. Pet projects, **** like that.

[tacmedic]

Some states, such as Maryland I believe,have state funded aeromedical transport that the residents of the state are not billed for the services. Which is a pretty good deal when you consider the costs of running a helicopter. When I flew for a flight service here in Iowa, our lead pilot told me that it cost us $1500 just to fire up the engine and take off. This cost is including the fuel, and required maintenance on the engine/hour running or/start.

Most emergency services have no choice but to charge for the services they provide, as the taxes collected by the municipalities they serve do not even begin to cover the costs of running the service. In the city I currently work for (ground ambulance servce) we receive about $50,000.00 in tax revenue per year for ALS ambulance coverage. This is about enough money to run the service until March or midway through April and then that's it. The rest of the money has to come from somewhere. We run about 1700-1800 calls per year. Add to this fact that Iowa has the lowest rate of medicare reimbursement in the nation and it is very hard for many places to staff ambulance services.

This year our fuel costs nearly doubled, and our administration is pretty firm about us not going over our budget, so we had to cut other things like training and new equipment to keep the wheels turning until the new fiscal started in July and we were able to ammend our budget.

[Rick]

I would bet if you figured in on board equipment, insurance, salaries, et al. that chopper probably had a loaded hour cost of 8-10K.

[trax]

I have to agree with Chris, last year the city put in a paved walking/biking path that cost $3million, that 2/3rds of the population wasn't the least bit interested in. Next year they're putting in a multi-million sportsplex that most of the city can't access because there's no public transit. Brilliant

[Fletcher]

One thing I can't understand is two choppers we'll say they are uh1h. Both are the same..........the only difference is the paint job.....one says EMS the other says JOES chopper rides..............one cost $1500.00 to start up the other is $25.00 for fifteen mins. Am I alone on this? Am I the only one that can see?

[crashdive123]

Seems like Ole Joe may not have the room for $100,000 worth of vital medical equipment and a crew of trained, life saving professionals. Other than that, probably not much difference.

http://www.helibuilder.net/Pictures/MeFly.jpg

[yellowcab]

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[yellowcab]

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