On Feb 23, 2010, at 1:57 AM, Michael Pollak wrote:
> Basically they are saying that every ambulance pick-up costs the
> city $300-$400 -- which sounds about right to me.
>
> Now if everyone agreed to pay to pay slightly higher taxes, the
> annual costs could be covered.
>
> If no one paid it, then the only way to pay for it is to add it to
> people's medical bills (where it will probably barely be noticed
> amidst the 10s of thousands). They could have done this quietly and
> nobody would have noticed.
Here in Columbia County Oregon we have a $50/year ambulance insurance program that covers transport to hospital for a family. I haven't had to use it yet, but had incentive to join after a $1000 transport fee a few years ago, none of which was covered by my medical insurance program (BC/BS Fed). The 911 system is financed through a property tax.
martin