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Pinellas program helps to pay for ambulance ride

By Will Van Sant, Times Staff Writer
In print: Saturday, March 15, 2008

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Getting a handle on what you could pay for ambulance service may not seem like a top priority, but in Pinellas County a ride to the hospital could cost roughly $500.

And the costs go up if you're a frequent rider.

So now Pinellas County is enrolling people in a program that could help ease the expense. The enrollment period began Jan. 1 and ends March 31.

Individuals pay $45 a year to join the county's Sunstar FirstCare Ambulance Membership Plan. You can get a family membership for $70.

Members who lack Medicare or insurance get a 20 percent discount on their ambulance fares. The plan also takes care of out-of-pocket expenses, such as co-payments or deductibles, for members with Medicare or private insurance.

The program is designed to help people with low incomes or those who may have to make regular use of an ambulance, such as nonambulatory dialysis or chemotherapy patients.

"If in the event that you have to go by ambulance for some reason you are not going to get hit with an unexpected expense," said Chuck Kearns, the county's EMS & Fire Administration director.

All trips must be medically necessary and must begin and end in Pinellas County. That requirement was put in place shortly after 1987, the year the program began, because a plan member called and requested a ride to Tampa International Airport, Kearns said.

Last year, the program helped or completely paid for 1,224 ambulance transports. There were 3,353 individual members and 1,603 family memberships.

Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or 445-4166.