In the United States, ambulance services are run by both private and public entities. Public ambulances are typically funded by taxpayers in their respective states, even if the taxpayer never uses their services, and also by fees charged to users who avail of the ambulance services. Privately funded ambulance companies, on the other hand, make up about 18% of the ambulance services available in the United States. They're solely funded through user fees.
Though publicly funded ambulances provide an important service, privately funded ambulances have a few real benefits over publicly funded. Here are four.
1. Non-Emergency Services
Publicly funded ambulances are almost exclusively for emergencies. If you dial 911, a public ambulance will respond to your call. However, if you require convenient and comfortable medical transportation to a health facility, nursing home, or hospital in a non-emergency situation, you're out of luck with public services. Private ambulances, however, do provide this service. In fact, it's one of the main services they provide.
2. Facility Choice
Another benefit of a private ambulance is that you have a choice in which facility you can go to. Public ambulances can only take you to the facilities within their regional coverage and that's typically just the nearest hospital within 10 minutes. If your insurance doesn't have coverage at the hospital, you could end up with very large medical bills that your insurance won't cover. With private ambulance transport, you can choose the facility where you would like to be transported.
3. Flexible Price
The third benefit of private ambulance services is flexibility in cost. Because public ambulance services are typically used in emergencies, there isn't a lot of choice in the cost of those services. If it's a matter of life and death, most people don't have the option to worry about the cost. Cost also varies by location. For example, the average cost of an ambulance ride with basic life support in Albuquerque is $512. In Chicago, it's $900. But with private ambulance transport options, at least you have a choice in how much to spend.
3. Private Hire/Standby Service
The fourth benefit of private ambulance services is that they are available for private hire, also known as standby service, by companies or corporations that need trained medical staff on hand for any company-hosted event where there might be a large crowd or the potential for medical issues. Publicly funded ambulances can't be used for this. Private ambulances always offer standby service as a standard service.
Learn more about your options by contacting local ambulance transport services.
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