Socialized medicine: good or bad for EMS?
A popular topic often debated in political races and among health care providers is the need for nationalized health coverage (socialized medicine). Several other countries like Canada, England and Australia use such services. A popular argument in favor of nationalized health care is the availability of insurance to all citizens, regardless of their financial situation. On the surface, the idea sounds reasonable, but in a nation run by private enterprise it may cause more trouble than it’s worth.
Insurance coverage provided by the state and federal government has proven to be inadequate and bad for business. As it stands, government funded health insurance pays pennies on the dollar for emergency and non-emergency medical care. Many hospitals, private doctors’ offices and medical facilities are turning away these patients due to a significant lack of compensation.
EMS providers are in a bad position as they do not have the option of turning away non-payers or government-funded payers. This leaves ambulance services and emergency departments dependent on private insurance companies to offset significant losses caused by government-funded insurance. Switching to a nationalized health care plan would surely put most private providers out of business.
The loss of private EMS services would require state and local governments to pick up the slack and provide the service at taxpayer expense. Of course, this would significantly increase income and property taxes to pay for insurance and services provided in lieu of private medical operations.
Sure, having more government jobs could lead to retirement plans and nice benefits, but the number of available jobs could quickly dwindle. Budget cuts and increased cost of doing business would result in increased taxes or reduced jobs. Once the government bureaucracy comes into play, you can be sure that the number of ambulances on the streets will decrease. Local police agencies are a good example. It’s hard to find a police department that claims to be adequately staffed. Socialized medicine would leave EMS agencies in exactly the same situation.
Our health care system in the United States is far from perfect. Abuse in the system, lawsuits, and uninsured patients are constantly driving up the cost of providing health care. Work needs to be done to solve this problem, but not at the expense of taxpayers.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me.
