But surely there's no reason for a simple ride to an ER to cost $900-$2000, is there? You could hire someone to drive you in a Ferrari for that.
It works this way whether you're talking about a city-owned ambulance at the fire station or a privately-owned one idling in a parking lot somewhere. In either case, you (or your insurance, or your city, or your state...) are paying for a driver and at least one paramedic to sit around at the ready, not just for the quick trip.
If that were true - if the price was based on the cost - you would have small towns & rural areas where it would be so expensive, no one could use them, and cities where even though there were more ambulances, EMTs, etc, the cost would be spread so thin as to be barely noticeable
I don't believe the price is tied so directly to cost of service
Regarding rural areas and small towns: they often keep costs down by having crappy medical services in general, and slower response times specifically. It's not always that bad, though. If a town isn't sprawled out response times shouldn't suffer so much.
I have heard on more than one occasion that the reason emergency services (ambulances, ER, etc) are so expensive is to recover the cost of all the uninsured users.
People can be refused at a clinic if they have no insurance, so they go to ER for everything, where in many places they cannot be turned away. Hospitals therefore have to bill YOUR insurance to recover these costs
That's why your ambulance ride is so expensive.
> Hospitals therefore have to bill YOUR insurance to recover these costs
You know who takes an even bigger hit? Uninsured but solvent patients. Insurance companies have greater bargaining power.
None of that has anything to do with the ambulance business.
You're not only paying for the time you spend in the ambulance, but for the paramedics to be on standby, and for technicians to clean and prepare the ambulance for its next trip afterwards.
Both in the ~$200k neighborhood.
There was a public investigation in Paraguay when a public entity paid 200k for an ambulance, they should cost 100k at the most.
In Peru the cost of transforming a van into an ambulance is 14.000 dollars.
http://www.laestrella.com.pa/online/impreso/2011/10/05/dispa...
http://www.larepublica.pe/11-03-2007/hubo-sobrevaloracion-en...
We're in the processing of spec'ing two new ambulances. We're looking at 'mid-range' rigs, and most bids are coming in around $185k-$190k.
I've heard that a lot of medical expenses in the U.S. are due to the high amounts of litigation (I still can't believe the stories of healthcare costs in the United States).
The provider is Anjo Tech, according to the article.