A man has been charged $780 dollars for an ambulance that reportedly arrived too late. Yahoo News reported that Durand Ford Jr. from Washington DC says that he got a bill from the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Service department for the sum of $780. His father Durand Ford Sr, 71, died while waiting for more than a half hour for an ambulance to arrive on the morning of Jan. 1.
There were no ambulances available in Washington DC so they ambulance had to come from nearby Prince George's County, Maryland.
"I'm disturbed that we even received this bill. ... My sister and I are still grieving about the situation. [We're] very angry about what happened and the service we did not receive from the district," Ford said to NBC Washington.
Ford Jr. spoke out last month about DC ambulances and how they were staffed at low levels the morning that his father passed away. That day on New Years more than 50 firefighters called in sick but a spokesperson for the department said there was no "coordinated sick-out that night," NBC Washington reported.
Ford Jr. added, "I feel angry. Upset," over the situation and the bill.
Council member, Yvette Alexander, who represents the Fords said to News 4 "Based on my experience in similar circumstances, DC Fire & EMS has not billed. ... This seems quite unusual, and I will help the family resolve this matter."
Ford Sr. passed away just 13 days before his 72nd birthday said his obituary in the Washington Post. He worked as an advisory neighborhood commissioner in D.C.'s Ward 7 and was an Air Force veteran.
With the ever increasing debate over the American healthcare system, ambulence bills are a high point of controversy. In Nov 2012 The Huffington Post reported that a man in Sacramento, Tom Kosta, was charged an ambulence bill over $3,000 to be transported next door. He was at the doctors at his local medical center for dizziness when he started spinning and doctor's said he needed to go next door to the hospital for an MRI.
When he couldn't get there himself in a wheelchair doctors insisted he ride in an ambulence. He was sent a bill for $1,500 which was the part of the ambulence ride not covered by his insurance.
"For less than $3,000, I could get a round trip ticket to North Carolina to visit my grandchildren," Kosta said to CBS Sacramento.
"American Medical Response, the ambulance company that picked Kosta up, said that patients often don't realize that they aren't just paying for the cost of the ride when they are billed for an ambulance. They are also helping to pay for paramedics that are on standby 24 hours a day each day of the year," reported The Huffington Post.
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