Thursday Morning – Why Does The Ambulance Have a Credit Card Reader?

Ever since municipalities found out that they could charge ambulance patients for care and transportation and get away with it, the practice has become universal along with the higher health insurance premiums that have been jacked up to pay for them.  It has always been my opinion that if the EMS is part of a government agency and thus funded through the tax base, then it is immoral and just plain wrong to tack more charges onto the emergency for the helpless victim.

Many areas are served by volunteer rescue squads and I don't have a problem with them billing the insurance because they have to "fund raise" in any method that works for them.  But a governmental agency?  Nooooo.

With the current economic dip that is bringing in reduced taxes that fund things like fire departments and, in some areas, ambulance service, there seems to be two philosophies on how to make up the shortfalls that are confounding the governing bodies.  Cities and counties that are served by private EMS companies start eyeing those lush bills for service (pretending that all of them are collectible) and they say, "Let's take over the ambulance service, stick it under the fire department, and then WE can collect the bills.  We need the money."  On the other hand, some scheming councils where the FD is already providing the service decide that it's too costly and choose to dump the EMS from the city's service and contract with the private firm to run it, letting them collect the payments and try and make ends meet.  They usually do that by using lower-quality ambulances and equipment combined with lower salaries and benefits that insure a constant turnover in EMT's and shoddy service.

Neither one of those solutions work out because one basic principle still applies:  You can't get something for nothing!  Although I believe that part of the decision-making is based on just postponing the inevitable to balance the current budget and put off the responsible decisions until later.  That's the kind of policy that has led scores of cities into near-bankruptcy.  They won't face up to the fact that if you want a well-trained ambulance crew to show up in a servicable vehicle, then you have to collect the money and pay for it and that usually involves taxes being used.

But now a third, and perhaps more effective way of collecting the funds needed to keep the rigs on the road has surfaced.  The AP is reporting from San Juan, Puerto Rico this week:

Puerto Rico police have detained two paramedics suspected of fatally shooting a competitor from another private ambulance company whom they accused of stealing one of their patients.

Police Capt. Maida Ortiz says 31-year-old Luis Deida Martinez was eating breakfast at a bakery Wednesday when two men walked in, shot him and drove away in an ambulance.

Ortiz says the victim had argued with the two men on Tuesday after his wife picked up a patient that the alleged shooters claimed should have gone in their ambulance. The wife is a paramedic for an ambulance company she ran with her husband.

It's whatever works best for you, I guess.

And what works best for us is to start the shift with a good equipment check and get ready for the day.  I'll get some more coffee started before somebody shoots me.  See you back in the day room later.

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