Universal Health Care in the EMS setting

[mshow00]

I was wondering if anyone can tell me what effects universal health care has had on your EMS system. I am looking towards any changes in call volume, changes in the amount of "BS" or non-emergency emergency calls, changes in billing/amount received etc. I am curious to see what, if any, changes will come to pass in the American EMS system as a whole where we ever to go the universal health care.

[WolfmanHarris]

That's going to be a hard question to answer as the initial onset of socialized health care in Canada or the UK predates modern EMS. Furthermore, public health care is not a static system. For example while the Canada Health Act initially only dealt with hospital stays, health care in Canada is constantly changing (I'll leave the value judgements out for now). I'll admit I haven't looked, but I don't know any jurisdictions that have brought in socialized health care recently.

[mshow00]

Let me try to expand this a little...

What/if any changes do you see for EMS if the U.S. were to go to an universal health care system? Would this be a chance to save EMS (give it a chance at a fresh start-see any of the hundreds of topics for example) or would it put the final nail in the coffin so to speak? Would the money "trickle down" or stay at the top amongst the big whigs? Would the private services prosper or coming crashing down? What about the municipality?

I am interested in what others here think. I do not know enough about how Universal Health Care works, and my best examples of government run health care are Medicare and Medicaid- not very promising future IMHO.

[Arizonaffcep]

I think it would lead to big changes. Don't see too much of a change for public sector EMS, but possibly a BIG change for private EMS. Would be interesting to say the least. Could be good, could be bad. I'll wait to see.

[CBEMT]

Universal health care operates on the principle that the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was an efficient, organized, life-saving operation.

[Just Plain Ruff]

take for example, Massachussetts, they have government mandated healthcare - it may not 100% be provided by Uncle Mass but they mandate that you have health insurance or I belive you get a fine.

I'd be curious to see what EMS's call volume was before and after this was implemented.

[HellsBells]

Universal health care operates on the principle that the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was an efficient, organized, life-saving operation.

You want to explain what this means? Or is it just a specious statement?

[Just Plain Ruff]

You want to explain what this means? Or is it just a specious statement?

That is the crux of the issue - I believe that efficient, organized and lifesaving is not any where near what the government can do. That the term efficient and government are diametrically opposed to each other.

I was reading somewhere that massachussetts government mandated program for health insurance would cost X number but it had ballooned to 3 times that much. I think the original number was 400 million and now it's 1.2 billion. So much for well run healthcare. I don't have a source but can find one if needed

[BEorP]

Canada has universal healthcare but the Canada Health Act definitions do not include ambulance rides as a medical necessity so they do not need to be covered by the provinces who actually pay for the care. This means that even if you were brought to the hospital in Ontario unconscious with a heart rate of 22 you would still be billed $45 for the ride (and that is just because OHIP pays for a good chunk of it even though they are under no obligation to under the CHA).

[CBEMT]

You want to explain what this means? Or is it just a specious statement?

It means that if you think the government did a good job with Katrina, than you probably think they'll do a good job running everyone's healthcare too.