Ambulance Fees Increasing In July

It´s going to get more expensive to call an ambulance next month.

In a unanimous vote this week, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors agreed to increase the cost of an ambulance ride by 20 percent starting July first, and an additional ten percent a year later.

The reason for the price hike: decreasing payments to ambulance companies.

Three-quarters of patients who need emergency medical transportation are recipients of Medicare or Medi-Cal according to Tuolumne County Ambulance.

That company only gets reimbursed a fraction of the cost for patients on Medicare or MediCal, and the expenses are mounting.

And when you factor in the rising cost of gas and the ambulance company´s need for a new headquarters, being built on Tuolumne road, it adds up to the 30 percent increase approved this week.

It´s the third time in seventeen years that the cost of an ambulance ride has gone up.