Price of a 5 minute ambulance ride to the hospital

Hi! Paramedic here. Request an itemized bill, request to see how much is charged per mile, and call your insurance provider (if you have one) and request to get what is covered in writing. If all else fails, tell AMR (they are an awful company to work for and are notorious for predatory billing) you’ll pay $X.XX and they can go fuck themselves.

Just so you’re aware, Paramedics and EMTs do not make a livable wage, the CEOS and shareholders get the lionshare of the profits and we are left to run 911/IFT calls with ambulances that have bald tires, inoperable a/c in the cabs, and a litany of other unsafe working conditions IN the ambulance. We hate seeing our patients refuse treatment and transport because it’s too expensive.

Fuck AMR and fuck that bill.

Edit: a word

Edit: Holy shit, my most upvoted comment is telling someone how to stick it to the man? AND I got an award? Thanks guys!

That’s a disgrace. I can’t even imagine anything like that. The idea of having to pay a bill for needing an ambulance, like being ill or injured isn’t enough.

I had a seizure one time and my brother called for an ambulance. I have zero recollection of what happened but he said I was screaming at the EMTs that I was fine and to just leave me alone cause I couldn’t afford the ambulance bill 😅

Friend was hit by a truck on his motorcycle several years ago. Airlift was $20,000+, level 1 trauma center for almost 2 weeks was well over a quarter million dollars.

It was nice of them to hire a designer to create such an elegant layout for reminding people about a crushingly high expense.

I’m a severe asthmatic and the doctors and nurses would look at me bewildered when I’d tell them I drove myself to the hospital while having an asthma attack.

Get the bill. Have a heart attack. Back to hospital in ambulance. Repeat cycle.

And this is why the car salesman told me they (and the banks) don’t even look at outstanding medical debt when determining loan approvals, because 85% of Americans are carrying some degree of medical debt.

I live in Minnesota and needed an ambulance. My bill was about the same. My insurance wouldn’t pay it because they said it was out of network. I had lotsa calls with lotsa people to no avail. So finally I get a collection notice from the St Paul Fire Dept & Emergency Services and I call them to make a payment plan. The guy says, do you know about -and I don’t remember so this is made up-Section 651 24 G? I said no of course and he said Call your insurance back and ask them if they have ok? Because in MN they are required to cover it. So I called them back and the first guy says he’s never heard of it but he’ll transfer me to his boss right away (LOL) the boss says he’s not authorized to cover it, but he could hire an outside contractor to investigate it. It didn’t make sense so I was silent … stunned. So he asks sir, do you want to proceed with the investigation and I said yes. The bill was paid.

I can’t imagine living in the states..

As an ems member, I will recommend if you aren’t at risk of serious injury such as paralysis or death I suggest you just go in a car.

If it’s less than 15 minutes go by car. And if it’s something minor definitely go by car.

Saves you from the bill and the extra time on scene. Because most of the time we are not going to the hospital running lights and sirens

Check with your insurance asap. Under the federal “No Surprises Act,” you are generally not responsible for out-of-network costs on an ambulance ride if it is considered an emergency medical service; meaning you should only be charged your in-network cost-sharing amount, even if the ambulance provider is out-of-network with your insurance plan. Good luck!

‘Murica. Most powerful country in the world where 1% of the population controls 30% of the wealth. Bills like this is why.

Meanwhile i’d pay $20 in Sweden. Even if it is a helicopter. And staying at a hospital is $11 per night the first 30 days then $5 per night after that.

are you happy you lived? How about now?


This is why I always tell the folks who know me if in the moment I ever need an ambulance to call an uber instead

Well who’s the CEO?

Ambulance rides should be free; paid for by the government, just like other emergency services. That said, riding an ambulance is, and should be expensive. This is what you’re paying for: at least two trained, certified EMTs or medics, with constant training and licensure, and regular benefits. You may have only had a five minute ride, but they received the call, responded, treated and assessed you where you were at, loaded you and transported you, transferred care to a hospital, then wrote out a medical report about the call- time spent minimum 1 hour. A custom built vehicle fully equipped with radios, electrical inverters, lights sirens, wi-fi, computers, gps, ekg defribrilator, several cylinders of oxygen, rescue equipment, a full assortment of medications, ppe, and all the other medical equipment you may need. A fleet of mechanics to maintain the vehicles. Insurance for the medics and the vehicles. Cost to staff and equipment the 911 call center. You still need a full staff of administrators to support the ambulance: managers, training personnel, hr, payroll, schedulers, community outreach people, and other staff to coordinate care across your municipality. Training equipment- everything from cpr mannequins, to books and computers, and old junk cars to practice crash rescues. And you also have to pay for the ambulance to be ready so they are staffed and nearby when you call. Rent for wherever the ambulance calls home: you usually need a secured lot with an office building for administration, then, depending on your municipality, maybe a few stations where crew and rigs can be ready and equipped between calls. Fuel, utilities, etc. to keep everyone and everything running. So $1800 for all that seems downright cheap.

Looks like we need to take out an ambulance company CEO next, boys.

Hopefully change is coming to these crazy prices… ya know.. like someone do something about it 👀

I end up in ER 4-5 weeks ago via ambulance, 4-5 hrs in ER with some tests 15500+ I need to pay 1300$… this is on top of 100s i pay every paycheck. BCBS PPO…

I’m so over the cost of healthcare. I just stopped paying on my $8000+ balance. Can’t get blood from a stone. Sent me to collections. IDGAF

The trick I’ve found is to get SO MANY ambulance rides that your deductible and out of pocket max get met. Then boom, free ambulance the rest of the year.

Oof. I took an Uber to the hospital. Even with insurance my hospital bill was $3k 🙄