Posted on 04/15/2014 3:59:20 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
The federal Medicare health insurance program winds up paying the fare for many of the ambulance rides provided by the city of St. Paul. That's why the city in 2012 was one of the largest single recipients of Medicare payments among non-hospital health care providers in the state, according to data released this month by the federal government. Out of more than 19,000 health care providers during 2012 who cared for Medicare patients in Minnesota, the city's take of more than $2 million was the ninth largest individual sum. Whether they were providing ambulance rides or treating illnesses, the state's non-hospital providers collected less money on average in 2012 than their peers across the country, according to a Pioneer Press analysis of the data. Health care experts say relatively low payments in Minnesota make for a familiar story, since low use of health care services here means doctors and other providers tend to collect less overall from Medicare.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
One lady in NJ took a ambulance to her dental appt. In Fresno, Ca indigents used ambulance to get to doctors appt’s.
If they would deduct just $20 per ride from the persons Social Security or welfare payment that month, freeloader rides would drop to tiny levels.
Yep. I remember hearing stories like that all the time in any big city with a county government. I went to Fresno State. The bums would call 911 to get a rid to the valley medical center when it was cold just to get a ride.
I know just a person here in S.E. Michigan.....He had just arrived in town via bus from Texas last spring and had no where to stay so he spent his first night sleeping under a park bench when the weather was only 35 degrees.........
He's a special case that all of us fellow senior softball players banded together and helped him out. He's 72, a vietnam vet, uneducated and is just nuts............
This is why all healthcare should be completely privatized. There wouldn’t be anybody abusing the system because they would be responsible. When you subsidize something, people are going to take advantage of it.
As I have discovered working in an urban EMS system - there are no disincentives for system abusers. And the abuse is rampant, unabated, worsening.
Gibmedats need a ride.
it would be interesting to know how many ‘heart attacks’ happened at the casino from this group.
This is nothing new. Back in the early 80’s I did a stint with a mid sized northeastern city’s EMS.
We’d joke that the doors should be painted over to read
“D.P.A. TAXI”
(Department of Public Assistance)
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