Finest health care system in the world.
Tracy [CA] residents will now have to pay every time they call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency.
But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary.
Or, there’s the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.
“A $300 fee and you don’t even want to be thinking about that when somebody is in need of assistance,” said Tracy resident Greg Bidlack.
Residents will soon receive the form in the mail where they’ll be able to make their selection. No date has been set for when the charges will go into effect.
There’s going to be lots of dead people in Tracy.
#39 Fortunately, there’s a toll-free number to report dead people. They only charge if someone is alive.
Well at least Iraqis and Afghans will have free, nationalized health care.
What a load of crap! As citizens, 911 should be a right not a privilege.
Something like this probably wouldn’t be necessary if we didn’t have complete idiots abusing the 911 system. For example, you don’t dial 911 when McDonald’s runs out of Chicken McNuggets.
911 call centers are financed through telephone taxes. I seriously doubt any court would uphold charging extra for protection. I can see the Constitutional arguments already.
#42 Santa Maria,
Are you serious?! You don’t have to wait, if that’s what you’re looking for try Somalia. I’m sure you’ll find that total freedom is a very intense but brief experience. Enjoy!
No matter which way you look at this, its monstrous! I was under the belief that part of every telephone service’s bill was to provide the 911 service.
Ridiculous.
Every other industrialized country people don’t have to worry about paying a fee if they are in a medical emergency.
The ‘richest country in the world’ cannot.
What about the complexity here? Wheres the efficiency in this? Forms? Admin? Processing? Its madness.
Not only do other countries not need this, they can provide arguably better health care for towards a third of the price, and such that everybody can have it.
But we can’t do that. Instead we have crap like this. Idiotic.
The US is burying itself in debt – and going forward a huge part of that is health care costs. We’ve got the wrong system. We need a viable public option and universal health care. Don’t do it for you fellow man (although that’s a good idea) – do it for yourself, your family, your children and the future wealth of the nation.
http://tracypress.com/view/full_story/2737469/article-City-Council-OKs-fees-for-paramedic-use
This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. Sorry, but these people pay TAXES which have extra fees specifically for 911, and paramedics, and the like.
AND WTF, $180 if you lock yourself out, and call 911. What in the HELL are people doing calling 911 because they locked themselves out? Call a locksmith, you morons! Break a window. Leave a key with a friend, or leave one out in the garden somewhere, under a mat..who cares?
The problem is…people are stupid and call 911 for no apparent reason.
So, the question remains…do I get charged if I call 911 because my NEIGHBOR’s house is on fire?
In Canada they charge 25 cents a month on your phone bill. 3 bucks a year. Seems to cover the costs.
Might be because there is no Co that needs to pay shareholders.
There is 11 cents “State 911 tax” on my California AT&T wireless bill. So, cell phones DO pay tax. Note that my total bill is like $25, and I don’t know if the tax is “per phone” or a percentage of the bill.