the Cost of Ambulance Rides

Ambulance ride of an unconscious patient (me) after a car accident. Insurance covered the entire cost of the transportation.

I presume that, like most ambulance companies, they also do hospital to hospital (and to hospice or nursing homes) transportation, but I don't know for sure.

Well, I missed the whole thing, what with being unconscious and all. But I'm still alive (only a concussion) so it couldn't have been that bad.

But for $2500 I'd have expected a bit more than some oxygen and having my blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate measured a couple times. The itemized bill the insurance company forwarded a couple weeks ago when they received it from the hospital (almost two years after the accident!) said that's all that was done. To be honest, considering the level of care, $2500 is utterly preposterous for a ride to the hospital. It even cost less than the CT scan to diagnose my concussion.

EMTs are glorified taxi drivers and are paid as such. They also (at least around here) foot the bill for their own malpractice insurance. So do paramedics, but at least they can give you drugs and earn a decent salary. But neither that nor the cost of maintaining the ambulance and crew at ready explains the steep cost of the service.