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C0NEYISLANDWHITEFISH t1_j9rix6y wrote

Reply to comment by ActualBlueCheckMark in FDNY wants to up the cost of ambulance rides by more than 50% by NYY657545

So why don’t we do that, instead of charging everybody?

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1martini t1_j9s4w99 wrote

Because when you send an EMS bill to most people (ie people that aren't abusing the ambulance service) it gets sent to insurance and paid or paid out of pocket. However, when the ambulance picks up a john doe who doesn't have their insurance and never even provides a real name or contact information, there's nobody to send a bill too. You can't "just charge the people abusing it" because it's not a service that gets denied if people don't pay.

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See u/knockatize's post. You think someone who calls thousands of ambulances actually pays for each call? How about somebody who overdoses in the street?

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C0NEYISLANDWHITEFISH t1_j9t7ylt wrote

Why not have that law on the books, but charge those who abuse it either financially or criminally? I’d rather it be free and the abuse that’s rampant now continues, versus the current rampant abuse in addition to charging people who have the audacity to give their real name and insurance info, ya know?

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1martini t1_j9t8k1s wrote

How do you charge someone financially or criminally though? If they won't give you any information, your options are to either release them and never see any money, or call the police and never see any money; not to mention the countless legal and ethical issues with trying to legally charge people who use medical services.

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It's not just people who call 911 for fun, it's drug addicts who repeatedly overdose and will never pay, and people without health insurance who call an ambulance and go to the ER for routine issues. You can't just deny care because they won't pay, there's an obligation, both legally and ethically, to treat and stabalize them, yet you're never going to see a dime from them.

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C0NEYISLANDWHITEFISH t1_j9tlwqe wrote

I don’t think anyone is saying deny care to people. I think it’s that if it’s determined to be medically egregious to call an ambulance for something, then they’ll be charged for it.

Either way, even if they didn’t implement that, it doesn’t change the amount of abusive 911 calls in the system, so why punish those who carry insurance or give their real info? Seems by not making it free for all, it continues to encourage those who abuse the system to use it while discouraging those who might truly need it - a worst of both worlds situation, right?

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