Why Ambulance Rides Are Very Expensive In The USA?

You might have seen at least one person in your lifetime who refused an ambulance ride due to the cost. The ambulance service is very expensive in the USA. And this is known by everyone. And even if you have insurance, there is a chance you have to pay some part of the bill. The emergency service is a necessity. It needs to be accessible to everyone regardless of their income. But ambulance rides are getting more expensive each day. What might be the reason for this? Let’s find out

According to a recent study, most of the service providers who have ambulances don’t accept patient insurance. So there is a high chance the patient would go into debt from the small ambulance ride. This is why they are scared to get in an ambulance. And for those who do have insurance, they would need to pay an estimated 500 Dollars out of their pocket.

No Surprises Act

Emergency ambulances are not protected by the No Surprises Act. This is where the standard charges need to be placed rather than what the company quotes. That way the patient can be protected and not be given a huge bill. But the ground ambulances do not have this act. So they can charge as they wish. People have taken cabs or walked to the hospital rather than taking the ambulance.

But this is not the case in other countries. Many countries like Belgium and Japan have free medical health care. The ambulance service would be only a few dollars or it would be insured by the company. They don’t have to worry about how large the medical bill would be. Even though Americans pay a huge amount towards Healthcare, they are not protected by it.

The insurance companies always try to find a way to not pay your bill. Even a small ambulance ride under one mile could cost nearly a thousand dollars. And all this money goes to the private ambulance company or the government.

And if you don’t have health insurance, that would be your worst nightmare. Because it would cost over 3000-4000 dollars sometimes. You need to spend a few years paying off that debt. And equipment inside the ambulance is very expensive as well. If they use the cardiac monitor, they would charge a lot for it.

Cost of Ambulance Service

The basic life support transport charges for ambulances in the USA are nearly a thousand dollars. And it would be nearly 1400 for the advanced life support. This is very high compared to other countries. Even insulins are very costly in the United States. Almost 1200% markup compared to other countries. This has been the case for a very long time. And there have been no changes to make it more affordable for the middle class and lower class people.

The things that contribute towards the cost of your ambulance ride are

1. How far it has traveled

2. What was used to help you in the ambulance

3. If you have insurance or not

4. Whether it was a private or a government-owned ambulance

All these factors into what the final bill would be. Most doctors don’t advise the patient to travel by their own means because ambulance rides are very expensive. The people choose the way that is cheaper and more affordable.

Most Americans don’t have much savings in need of an emergency. They borrow money from friends and family to pay for the ambulance ride and medical bills. The only people who can change this are the government and Hospital shareholders. They can try to make budget ambulances that are affordable to the low class income. But we don’t know when that might happen.