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The cost of an ambulance ride

Overmatter reports on a $900 bill, which includes more than $80 just in mileage fees, or about $54 a mile to get a friend who collapsed in her house to Mt. Auburn Hospital.

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That's because your subsidizing the ambulance ride for those who "can't" pay for it.. Lot's of people, let's say stub their toe, can't afford a cab, so call for an ambo and get a free ride. Of course medicare would get away with paying 250 for the same ride that cost you and me 900 out of pocket....

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My Dad, since deceased, told me a story concerning one of his doctors. When he (Dad) received a bill in the mail for something like $600 for a fairly routine office visit, he phoned the doctor's office to complain. The doctor asked if Dad was on Medicare. He was (as well as a fixed Social Security income.) The doctor apologized, explaining to him that he had made a mistake, and that he upped his charges to those patients NOT on Medicare, but still liquid, to make up for the non-payments he received from indigent or otherwise unable-to-pay-higher-fees patients.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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IMAGE(http://www.democracyarsenal.org/images/2008/07/02/security_premium_2.jpg)

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Lemmy see, anon...is that 'no blood for oil' or is it 'blood for oil'?
Seems to me that the Iraq problem is resolving rather well.
We usually get 'man down' calls several times a day. Amazing how many homeless out there are absolutely shitfaced by noon. I mean ossified. Since the Pine St Inn etc won't take them in that condition, they wind up in the E ward of a local hospital.
On your dime.

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i'd hate to see what would classify to you as "poorly planned, instigator of a decade of violence, and producer hundred thousand corpses"

so iraqi deaths are back down to a 2005 level, about 30 a day, and US deaths have come down to about 1 per day. That isn't "resolving well" in my book, especially when about a quarter of our debt from this war (the first in US history unaccompanied by a tax increase) is held by China. No, that is not a rosey picture to me at all.

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Do these people own cars/homes/expensive electronics? Liquidate them.

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That's completely out of line!!

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In February I had a stroke. While in the hospital I had to be transported to an MRI facility. The first one they sent me to was too small so it looks as if someone did'nt do their homework. I was moved to a second one where they did the MRI just 10 minutes from the hospital. I was charged over $6000 for this ride. When the insurance company got the bill they denied it as a non-emergency. The bill was reduced to just over $4000, which is around the cost of an average air-lift, as far as I can tell. Is there an agency that regulates these costs? I am now disabled and have no funds to pay these inflated charges. Any information would be appreciated.

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I just got a bill for $1575...

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im sorry but when you think about all of the people and resources it takes to get an ambulance to you... it makes a lot more sense than you might think...

Police dispatch....
Ambulance dispatch...
electricity to keep all of those EXPENSIVE tracking computers running 24/7...
gas to run those huge ambulances...
paramedic payroll...
emt payroll...
medications...
one time use IV lines/bags...
routine and not-so-routine maintenance on those ambulances...
computers to check out your heart(ex 20,000 a piece sometimes)...
and aaalllllll those lazy people out there abusing the "free" government medical coverage... which if you have noticed... come in part from YOUR paycheck...

I picked up a guy a few months back who LITERALLY had a 2-inch long MINOR scratch on his hand and demanded to be given a ride to the hospital... on YOUR dollar people... YOUR dollar because he said he had medicare...

So you wonder why its gotten out of hand...

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Needed a 5 minute 1-mile ambulance ride after I got struck by a car on my bicycle in Boston (driver was at fault). Received a bill for over $2000 just for the ambulance.

Fortunately/hopefully I will get this and the five-figure ER bill reimbursed from the driver's liability insurance. If the driver had made a run for it (happens too often) I would have been screwed.

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That's really out of line! Why should anybody be billed for an ambulance ride at all, especially if something occurs through no fault of their own?

too many people are into making money hand over fist...that's the problem.

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