WHO GETS BILLED FOR A 911 AMBULANCE CALL? THE PERSON THAT CALLED?
This was a question posed by Jim Dunlop at yesterday's Neighborhood Watch Block Captain meeting. Frankly, that had never occurred to us but Jim may have a point... After all as a good Samaritan, you call and then get billed if the person you call refuses to pay the bill?
At first blush that just doesn't seem possible but this is an instance where it is best to know the facts and not spout what I think are the facts. So I posed the question to our CERT Advisor, Retired Newport Police Sergeant Dean Sawyer (27 years on the on the force and recently retired) He is now the Emergency Coordinator for the tribe in Siletz... He knows his stuff.
Here is his answer by email....
Ok here is how it goes.
The person calling does not get billed. The person that receives the service gets billed, his insurance first, then what is not paid gets billed to him. If he does not pay then they go to collection agencies.
If they show up and the person is not transported, they have a response bill. The bill goes to insurance first then to the person.
If the person is unconcioous, they transport him to the hospital and bill insurance.
If the person refuses services, they bill a response fee.
Hope that helps
Later, Dean called me and pointed out some other points.. Most everyone up here has Medicare and there is no problem when they get the bill.
In short this is a non-issue. If you need to call 911 for an ambulance DO IT.
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