The Emergency of Paramedic User Fees

I am a paramedic/fireman for a department in Orange County. I live in an area serviced by Orange County.

Recently the Orange County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that would begin charging for paramedic services. In lieu of a charge for each use of the paramedic service they offered a subscription fee for an annual, unlimited use of these services.

I feel that this is wrong for several reasons. Let’s call it what it really is. A user tax. Another end run around Proposition 13.

Not all who use the service will pay or even be able to pay. Statistics have shown that other paramedic services have a collection rate as low as 50%. This will become an administrative nightmare. Early fire services used to be run and managed by private insurance companies. You paid for fire protection to an insurance company to protect your home or business. Each building had an identification plaque. If you had not paid and did not have an identification plaque, the building was often left to burn while fire companies sat in front and watched. We have come a long way since then and have realized our folly. Paramedic services, however, seem to be regressing back to that level of service. Oh, we will still respond and render aid, but eventually the level of service rendered will diminish for those who do not subscribe. That will happen despite the disclaimers from our politicians.

The Orange County trauma system’s days are numbered. Too many people used the service and didn’t pay. Paramedic services are declining every day with reconfiguration of delivery systems. We cannot foresee when we will need these services. Accidents, fires and life-threatening medical problems can happen to anyone regardless of prosperity or ability to pay. When these services are needed you cannot shop around to get the best price.

First-rate emergency medical services are expected and wanted by most Orange County residents. The emergency medical system has become a safety net to catch us when we have a heart attack, car accident or other medical emergency. Because our elected officials do not have the moral fiber to call a tax a tax and fund these programs, the very fiber of that safety net rots more and more every day. Some days that net catches us, but more and more often it is too weak to hold us and we fall through, dying or suffering needlessly.

ROBERT A. PINGLE

El Toro