AMR Closes Massachusetts Operation

[News]

Failed union negotiations lead to consolidation and position cuts.

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[Just Plain Ruff]

BCBS Director of Public Relations Sharon Torgerson said the switch was made in an effort to rein in health care costs, citing examples of non-network ambulance services charging as much as 500 percent more than what the federal government, Medicare, pays for the exact same service.

So are you telling me that the same ambulance run for an in network patient costs 500% less than for an out of network patient? NO wonder why BCBS made the switch.

NOte to AMR and all the other health care providers out there, This has got to stop, there is no way in hell that the same ambulance ride or health care procedure done on the same day to two different patients can cost vastly different amounts. A ambulance ride or a CT scan costs exactly the same amount of money. But you bill the patients vastly different amounts. NO wonder why people are pissed off at you for your prices. A ct scan for one person that costs 5500 but costs another person 1500 is blatantly unfair. Make it one price for all and stick to it. This is why people are pissed off at healthcare costs. This is also why people don't pay their bills. They think that what insurance pays is what they feel that they only have to pay. Make it one price and stop gouging those who can pay. Stop making those who can pay, stop making them pay for the three who refuse to pay.

You cannot make up what you can't collect by forcing it out of the person who can pay. What I'm saying is that if I can pay my bill, do not tack on additional amounts to make up for the deadbeat who refuses to pay his bill. Don't make me pay the deadbeats bill just because I can pay mine. That's not fair and that's what pisses me off.