EMS Subscription Plans

[joesph]

So in discussion yesterday a idea was brought forth to sell ambulance insurance to help make the ambulance service solvent. The Idea is sell a policy to each adult (kids ride free)that is in our area for say 75 bucks and if they need the ambulance it is at no charge. If they don't buy it no problem they will be charged the standard rates and that's fine too. If we need to transfer to ALS ground or air that is covered as well if they rendezvous with us , if they come to the seen we will refund there 75 bucks. Know I know some people are so tight they would risk there lives by refusing ALS to save a buck and I am still trying to solve that one and people will call for the ambulance when they wouldn't before and I suppose that's OK too. The win for us is this could potential create funding to operate on a pay per run basic or even paid staff if everyone buys in. What do you guys think seen anything like it before?

[Dustdevil]

Check the legalities. I believe in some states this is considered "insurance", and is professionally regulated by the state insurance commission, prohibiting any Tom, Dick, and Harry from doing it.

I've heard of a lot of services doing it, but never heard of any of them getting rich off of it, that's for sure. Can't say I have checked that deeply into it though. There is currently a movement to prohibit flight services from doing it in the future.

[CBEMT]

http://www.wfsb.com/health/20592120/detail.html

[joesph]

http://www.wfsb.com/health/20592120/detail.html

Thanks you to dustdevil I can see wording would be critical and I will check the legality in MT

[letmesleep]

I'm just curious why taxes are not supporting your department/ district. Are you a private service? Are there taxes in place? Do you bill insurance and/or the pt? I admit that I'm ignorant about MT laws, but with that said I also realize that there are numerous places out there that still rely on memberships and donations. WHY?

In this area we have a helicopter service that sells memberships to the public for approx $50/ year. The problem with this is that we have a couple of these services available to call, and we (on the ground) will use the closest in a critical situation with NO concern of any membership. We have had pts who call this service for transport, but by state law, whatever ground service covers that residence has first response rights, and usually will cancel the inbound air craft for various reasons. I realize that this may be apples and oranges, but in my case, memberships make no sense, so I'm looking for clarification on the topic.

Here we have property tax in place, and we have (in the past 3 years) a sales tax in place to cover the majority of our budget, but we still charge for services. Are these possibilities for you in MT? Why and/or why not?