By Eric Licas
The Review
South Pasadena Fire Capt. Daniel Dunn was off-duty and hosting relatives about three years ago when his father-in-law suddenly passed out and was taken to a hospital. Doctors determined that his loss of consciousness was related to a cardiac issue that was serious enough for him to need surgery to receive a pacemaker.
Dunn’s father-in-law recovered, and his health insurance paid his medical expenses, but not right away. Despite collapsing in front of his relatives, insurance claims adjusters initially deemed his 2-mile ride in an ambulance as a nonessential service and declined to cover it.
“He had this $4,000 bill, collections was calling and it’s very frustrating just trying to deal with that aspect of the insurance company,” Dunn said. “He was calling them time after time, and it took two years of talking to multiple people to get that bill erased.”
Many Americans with health insurance do not realize that the cost of an ambulance ride might not be automatically covered by their policies, Dunn said. That may leave them saddled with thousands of dollars to pay out-of-pocket.
That’s a large part of why South Pasadena and a growing number of other cities began offering an ambulance subscription program. An annual fee of $95 dollars per household or $106 for businesses covers the cost of ambulance rides and pre-hospital emergency care beyond what an individual’s insurance provider covers. The service covers every resident or up to 10 employees at an address; for more than 10 employees, the city charges $20 for each additional 10 employees. Pro-rated fees are available for those subscribing later in the year.
In 2023, 285 households had subscribed, with a total of 718 members enrolled in the program, according to South Pasadena Fire Department management assistant Kevin Tiet. As of last month, 271 households have signed up for the program this year, covering 726 people.
The paramedic subscription program could potentially save people thousands of dollars in the event of a medical emergency, especially considering that the price of ambulance service has risen over the years. In 2014, it cost an average of $1,044 for a basic paramedic response and $1,609 to send out a crew with more advanced lifesaving equipment, if necessary, according to data from the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency. That’s the organization mostly responsible for setting local ambulance rates.
Since then, the equipment and training needed to field these teams has become more expensive, Dunn said. Now, basic life support response costs a minimum of $2,024 and the price of an advanced life support response starts at $3,038, according to the L.A. County EMS Agency.
Even if a person is fortunate enough never to have to make use of paramedic subscription program, it can offer valuable assurance and peace of mind in case of an unforeseen medical event, Dunn said. Occasionally, he has seen patients struggle to decide between immediately seeking care for an injury or delaying treatment in order to avoid paying for an ambulance.
“Some people, they get that sticker shock when it’s $3,200 baseline just to get to the hospital,” Dunn said.
More information about the paramedic subscription program as well as a sign-up form can be found on the city’s website at the bottom of the following page: southpasadenaca.gov/government/departments/fire/administration.
First published in the April 4 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
