Strapped Folsom to charge for emergency medical services
By CBS News
The fire department in Folsom will start charging $225 for emergency medical services, reflecting a trend of financially strapped cities taking unusual steps to close burgeoning budget gaps.
The Sacramento County city begins implementing the new policy Monday, according to CBS Sacramento.
“The real issue is how do we provide the essential services the community is seeking from us?” Folsom Fire Chief Ron Phillips said.
Currently Folsom residents are treated by paramedics for free because it is covered by the Fire Department. The fee is an additional cost on top of taxes residents already pay and applies whether or not the patient is actually transported to the hospital.
The new revenue — expected to bring in $250,000 in the next fiscal year — will go toward gas, supplies and paramedic personnel, according to the report.
Our property taxes merely pay for them to show up at the firehouse. If we actually want them to DO anything, they want extra.
Bad call. It won’t endear the heroes to the citizens.
Everybody should take personal responsibility for their own property. If there’s a fire at your house don’t expect any help from me. harrumph. Let’s privatize, pay minimum wage and if you don’t pay then burn. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Those of us who DO write the checks to pay those tax bills know exactly how much we are shelling out for service that we rarely actually need. Most often the people who receive the services are not paying in. But that’s okay, it is still worthwhile. But to demand extra money from us is insulting.
So gradually the folks who neither understand the working of society nor accept the concept of government find a way to pass on their responsibilities. Disgusting.
“The new revenue — expected to bring in $250,000 in the next fiscal year — will go toward gas, supplies and paramedic personnel, according to the report.”
So that the city of Folsom can do exactly what the State of CA is doing with the rural fire fee that all us property tax payers are stuck with this year. They are NOT improving service. The equal amount of money that is going INTO that department will be removed and put back into the general fund for other uses. It is a shell game. It is the producers who get abused again.
mojo— In early America people bought fire protection if they wanted it. There were different fire companies and when you bought their service you placed their metal plack on your house. If your house caught on fire the company you hired would put it out while your neighbors helped. Sounds like a good system. I lived where I purchased private fire protection. When local government drove them out and replaced them with a city fire department, my bill went up by a factor of 3. I want free enterprise, not government services because I can’t afford them.
Stop sending the fire truck along with ambulance calls. And vice-versa. And especially for downed wires like cable TV.
Folsom FD is only going to charge you if you call 911 for a medical aid and decide not to go (it’s called an AMA). If you catch your house on fire you will not be billed the 225. That is part of your property tax. There are a lot of people out there that think it is ok to call 911 for toe pain, chronic back pain, I ran out of medication, i am suffering from anxiety, I got a paper cut on my finger, I am cold and homeless, I am hungry etc. if they do an advanced life support or “ALS” assessment on you, it’s 225. Folsom is a middle class city though with medically insured residents. They bill should go to their insurance company.
If you want to be upset, think about the people who don’t work and use an ambulance as a “free” taxi ride to the hospital because they don’t have to pay the bill. It either gets paid by medical (your tax dollars) or gets passed onto you and your insurance company through higher premiums. A free taxi ride in the ambulance costs at least 1000. The private transport company’s charge more.
Steve the reason a engine and a ambulance show up is one, there are more engines in a city than ambulances so the engine usually shows up and begins treatment sooner. Two, if it’s a serious call, you can have up to 3 people in the back of the ambulance and one driving. You can’t do that if two guys on an ambulance show up without help. You could theoretically dispatch just an ambulance but the dispatch would be taking on a huge liability if they got it wrong, someone died as a result, and sued. Best to error on the side of the patient.
Dogula is right, most people have never called 911. But there are a lot of system abuses out there that everyone else subsidizes. Until we as a country become callous enough to say ,” don’t have the money, don’t get any help” the system will remain broken. For everyone else that works for a living, pays taxes, and takes responsibility for their actions, better work harder. Millions on welfare are counting on you
Check out the latest Grand Jury report to see the easy life these “first responders” lead. Pathetic cry babies, the whole lot. Thank you Grand Jury
When your “job” is walking out to the mailbox to get checks I guess it’s easy to call our public servants that put their lives on the line for our community “pathetic crybabies”.