The COVID-19 pandemic took a brutal toll on Danielle Miele’s family, but after two exorbitant ambulance bills she’s afraid to call 911.
Her teenage son attempted suicide in 2022, Miele said. His mental health deteriorated during the pandemic, and he needed an ambulance transfer from the Roseville emergency room where Miele took him to a treatment center in San Mateo. The ambulance company hit Miele with a $9,000 out-of-network charge, which was sent to collections “almost immediately,” she said.
The virus also left Miele with seizures that mimic the symptoms of a heart attack, she said. Miele called 911 the first time a seizure happened. The 15-minute ride to the hospital cost $4,000 without help from insurance.
…
A new California law taking effect Jan. 1 targets the kind of “surprise” ambulance bills that put Miele’s family in debt even though they had medical insurance. These bills take the form of out-of-network charges for commercially insured patients who have no control over which ambulance company responds to a call for help.
Under the new law, patients will only have to pay the equivalent of what they would have paid for an in-network service. Health insurance and ambulance companies will have to settle the bill directly even if they don’t have an existing contract.
Do Americans also get billed for calling the police or the fire department?
Not anymore, at least with fire. Fire departments used to essentially sell insurance and would let your house burn if you hadn’t paid.
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna39516346
What the fuck.
This was the libertarian utopia they wanted I would bet.
Right up until it affects them.
This one has been bouncing around in my mind since I read about it a few hours back.
Imagine picking up the phone to a fire call and saying “nah, sorry, your house has to burn” and thinking that’s OK over seventy five fucking dollars.
I’m really having trouble wrapping my head around it.
It’s kinda the way taxes and insurance works. It wasn’t $75 - if you divide the annual costs of a fire station by the fires put out it’s probably $100-500k/fire. Or $75 from everyone whether they have a fire or not.
Which is also why the fire department kinda has to let it burn - because no one would actually be ok getting a $100k bill to put out their fire.
Can you imagine not paying the $75 for fire coverage? Surely the county could have just added it as a tax…… and actually provided fire coverage.
But this guy wouldn’t have voted for it almost certainly….
Not yet but I’m sure they fix that
AFAIK in South Africa you can call the police, but they’re pretty much useless. If you actually need help you call one of the private companies doing police business, but naturally it’s going to cost you.
There might be extra fees if your house alarm has multiple false alarms and the police show up each time.
I think businesses get bills from the fire department, but not individuals.
We just get shot by the police when we call them.
I wanna say no, but I think there are some situations where, say a bar or tavern regularly has to bring the police in for fights, etc. in certain areas the owner might start getting billed for not handling security properly. That’s probably not a direct PD bill, but some sort of permit violation.
But in general, no.