By an edhat reader
How much do Calstar helicopter rescues charge for emergencies? Is this something most health insurance covers?
Calstar Bills?
Anonymous
July 29, 2019, 12:36 pm
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It seems like whenever they have a stabbing or shooting in Lompoc or Santa Maria they helicopter them down to Santa Barbara cottage Hospital… Who pays for that and what is that cost annually
More than likely it goes to a bill collector. No, they don’t “eat it” or claim it as tax write off.
Why? Are you or you and a pal thinking of going out hiking in the front country without water, food, flashlight, warm outer layer clothing, etc?
KEYT ran a story on the bicyclist that was helicoptered down from Gibraltar and they were going after him for more than 30K in emergency bill, including transport. Once KEYT got involved and gave them bad publicity, I think they settled for much less.
Interesting question, two contexts: Medical emergency that cannot be foreseen vs. completely foreseeable problems ignored by idiots on hiking trails. Who pays for the idiots?
Cuz it’s hard to find LZs on the Eastside.
We pay on the theory that we don’t want to discourage people from calling for emergency services when they need them, whether it is a result of poor planning or not. If someone doesn’t call and then dies because they are afraid of charges, will that make us a better society? The needless death of anyone diminishes us all. Yes it would be nice if everyone was responsible and services were only dispensed to the truly deserving. But that is not the way the world works these days.
Heard a story where a crash victim refused an ambulance and called Uber to take her to the ER to avoid excessive charges……
I heard of a story where an Uber refused to carry an injured person and called an ambulance to take them to the ER.
Gizmo1 – what would you prefer they do with gunshot/knife victims from up North?