By Bruce Watson
Daily Finance
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Recently, some news outlets reported that the town of Santa Rosa, California, would begin charging for 911 calls and paramedic services. Hailing this as some sort of apocalyptic recessionary nightmare, the reporters seemed to suggest that this was a sign of vile things to come.
The truth is that the people of Santa Rosa already pay for 911 phone calls — as, in all likelihood, do you. Basically, almost all land lines (and many cell phone lines) charge a set fee for emergency call services. What Santa Rosa is doing is attempting to trim its budget by having citizens directly shoulder more of the costs of their emergency medical services. Again, this is a step that scores of other municipalities have already taken.
When most people take a ride in an ambulance, their minds aren’t on the price. However, emergency trips to the hospital aren’t cheap: from buying electrodes to renting back boards, ambulance passengers (or their insurance companies) can generally expect to pay a small fortune before they even get examined by a doctor. In New York, for example, the basic cost ranges between $515 and $850 per ride. Los Angeles charges between $712 and $1004 per ride, not counting a $15.75 per mile fee. By comparison, Santa Rosa would be a bargain at the proposed $350 per ride.
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