Motorized Wheel Chair Source

It depends on the type of transport. Remember that you are paying not only for the equipment we used on you, but also for the fuel, the cost of buying and maintaining and ambulance (the purchase cost of a new one may be upwards of $100-200k), the cost of the personnel (highly trained, well motivated people working 24 hour shifts in some places), and the cost of insurance (our vehicle insurance and malpractice insurance premiums are high due to the high-risk nature of the work we do)

That being said, the base price of a Basic call can cost anywhere from $150 to $600 in most areas, and an advanced call can cost $800+. Some drugs used on advanced calls cost $200 a pop so that will get tagged on as well in addition to the basic call. Other costs may include the cost of oxygen, the cost of fuel, and the cost of any other equipment used (bandages, monitor strips etc)

Without reading the run report for your son, and without knowing which department transported him, how far (mileage), and area of the transport, it is obviously impossible for me to know the exact cost of the run. I would guess they would bill toward the upper range of a basic call for a fracture (I also don't know which bone in his arm he broke, the severity of the break, etc). This estimate is based on the assumption that they responded lights and sirens, made contact with your son, performed a rapid trauma assessment to make sure nothing else was wrong with him (he didn't accidentally also hit his head, or if he fell, if he was bleeding), took vitals, splinted the injury and immobilized it, took vitals again (and then once again every 5 minutes on the way there), transmitted a report to the hospital to let them know you were coming so they can get him in quicker, transferred care to the hospital with a written and oral report, and disinfected the truck afterward.

You said that this was a "severe" break so depending on what "severe" means to you, it might be an advanced call.

Regardless, if you have insurance most of them will only charge you a copay of $100 or so. If you don't have insurance and can't pay the full amount, they may write off some of it or all of it after they look at your finances. If you were treated by a private company it might be harder to get some knocked off your bill, but a lot of Fire Departments are more lenient when it comes to billing.

Around here: The Fire Department that I work for does not bill at all. We have an income tax that provides for our expenses in district, and when we respond out of our tax district, the surrounding district to the north east of us that does not have a fire department has a contract with us to pay us when we respond so they get the bill and none of our patients ever see the bill.

In the next district east of us, they will bill the patient, but if the patient has insurance, they will waive the co-pay.

In the district to the south of us, they bill only two rates, a Minor rate and a Major rate regardless of what equipment was used on the call. The only exceptions are Advanced Cardiac Life Support drugs that cost in the hundreds of dollars per dose, they will bill for those on top of it.

In the district to the west of us, they will bill the patient using a policy known as soft-billing. The will bill the patient 3 times, and collect what they can, but if the patient contacts them and asks for a waiver due to hardship, they will waive it. Also, unless the patient frequently calls 911 to abuse the system, after 3 bills, the FD will write it off.

The district to the north of us, similar to us, does not bill patients at all, but will send a statement of the costs of the run to the patient as they think that leaves a lasting impression of how expensive an ambulance run is and they hope that the patient will remember that the next time a tax levy is placed on the ballot. (These guys also seem to get more residents showing up with baked goods than we do... Maybe we ought to try that out!)

Finally, the private company I work for itemizes the bill. The billing department tells me they only mark up the cost of treatment about 10% (they are a for profit company and this is where the profit margin is) which is why they are less forgiving with writing off costs.

My best guess is that your insurance company will cover most of the cost of the ambulance run.

Finally, I think you made the right call. If you feel too shaken up to drive, DON'T! That's unsafe and your safety is our key concern. There is no point in putting yourself at risk and possibly causing more victims to succumb to this one incident. There is not a single EMT I know or have worked with that would refuse a patient because they don't have insurance or can't pay. Our job is to take care of you, and even if you can't pay we will take care of you. To anyone else that might be reading this, if you are having an emergency, NEVER hesitate to call us and don't worry about the cost. Our office phon