California town to charge people $300 to call 911?!
In an outrageous example of government failure, the town of Tracy, CA has decided to start charging residents to use 911 for medical emergencies. They can choose to pay a $48 a year “subscription” or pay $300 per call. If you’re an out-of-state resident dialing 911 for a medical emergency, then you get charged $400. Unbelievable:
This is going to do nothing except discourage people to call 911, which is a very bad thing. Apparently, that’s what Tracy officials want — if there’s not a fire, a burglary, or a car wreck, then don’t bother authorities. Suck it up and get to the hospital on your own!
Of course, driving yourself or someone else to the hospital when there is a serious medical emergency is an extremely bad idea. Ambulances and EMTs are vital for a reason. They can administer IVs or — in a worst-case scenario — use a defibrillator. EMTs and paramedics are trained to get you to the hospital alive. You can’t do any of that in your minivan or your SUV.
What’s so outrageous about this is that this is what your taxes are supposed to pay for. Of course, there has to be some government official saying that they just have to charge this money or else funding from mysterious, unnamed programs will be cut. And it’s always these vital programs that get cut: police, fire, emergency services. Cutting back on welfare? Absolutely out of the question. You would think that city taxes would first and foremost go to emergency services, but clearly in Tracy, that isn’t the case. So that makes me wonder: what are their first priorities with tax dollars?
Also, what will happen if someone can’t pay for their $300 911 phone call and they have to call again? Will emergency services just not show up? And to hear a city council member shrugging it off, saying, “What is someone’s life worth?”, sent chills up my spine. Is the lesson basically that you have to decide whether or not to call 911 for Grandma, and pay $300, or risk letting Grandma die? Apparently, the attitude of the Tracy city council is that if you aren’t willing to pay the exorbitant fee to have emergency services come and treat you, then your life must not be worth that much to you.
The other problem with this is that there are plenty of residents who might stop being good Samaritans. Facts tend to get garbled as they get passed around, and people might incorrectly think that if they report that their neighbor’s house is on fire, they’ll get charged $300… and so they don’t make the call. Even if it is a medical emergency — let’s say you’re sitting in the park and have a heart attack — and a stranger has a cell phone, they might decide against calling 911.
Perhaps its time to start privatizing emergency services.
Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!
Email This
Posted by Cassy Fiano on February 22, 2010 8:31 pm
» Filed Under Crime, Democrats, Government, Government corruption, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, Government tyranny, Healthcare, Hypocrisy/Situational Ethics, News, State Government, Stupidity, Taxes, Video, extortion/blackmail, liberalism, taxation without representation
Trackback URL:
- Rhymes With Right: When Public Officials Get It Ass-Backwards...
Comments
5 Responses to “California town to charge people $300 to call 911?!”
-
-
-
Affiliations
The Giants
Advertise
-
-
Our Store
- Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!
-
- More blogs about the ACLU
Syndicate Me
The problem isn’t that they are gonna charge people; the problem is that there has been too much wasted spending and now they have no money left.
Liberals want to use examples like this to say, we need higher taxes, but the fact is we need less spending.
That’s okay! They have a “blue light special” if you wait until non peak hours to call!
(Seniors can call before 5PM and beat the ptomaine rush!)
Wouldn’t it make more sense just to charge people for non-emergency calls?
Um, no.
Research before ranting, please.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0223/Charges-for-using-EMS-a-California-town-s-plan-sows-confusion
Sounds like another greedy uneducated govt body screwing the people living here. how about the firemen, cops, lame teachers and all govt in this city take a 25% paycut, and pick up the tab for their own pension. Better yet, everybody just move away, leave them with their shiny red trucks.