Originally published June 29, 2009 at 03:40p.m., updated June 29, 2009 at 03:49p.m.

Ambulance rate increase for the severely obese

By Gena Terlizzi

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Ambulance costs going up

AMR ambulance costs are going up- but only for certain people.

Monday morning Shawnee County Commissioners approved a rate increase for AMR.

AMR (American Medical Response) is the third party ambulance provider that services Shawnee, Wabaunsee, and Osage Counties.

And starting July 1st, residents of those counties will pay more for ambulance service if they are severely obese.

Severely overweight patients, known as "bariatric" patients are those who weigh more than 350 pounds.

Their rates for a ride to the hospital will go up from the current base rate of $629 to $1,172.

The per mile rate is going up as well, from $11.09 per mile to $16 per mile

Operations Manager Ken Keller says the increased rates will help pay for additional equipment- and manpower.

"We see patients often who are 3-350 pounds, often up to 7 or 8 hundred pounds. 8.46.41 And these are patients that need resources that are stronger, to support them, wide to support them, but also allow us to move them in a safer manner," Keller explained.

Keller says the goal is safety, and these rates are not a matter or discrimination.

"Oh, no this is actually a matter of providing resources that actually in many instances accommodate those special needs for patients," he said.

Critical care patients to pay more as well

Critical care patients will also pay the new, higher amount beginning July 1st.

In this case, most of the transports that will be affected are trips from one hospital to another.

Reader poll

Should ambulances charge more for people who weigh more than 350 pounds?

  • Yes 69% 1410 votes
  • No 30% 614 votes

2024 total votes.

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Comments

vickieseastrom (anonymous) says...

if they charge more for over weight they SHOULD charge less for thin people and its less work when your small and childern. It would only be fair to the smaller people to pay less if large people pay more. vickie ;; emporia

June 29, 2009 at 6:14 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

OversizedLoad (anonymous) says...

@vickieseastrom - there is a standard fee for standard equipment. They can't charge less for someone who fits on a regular ambulance. It's not about "work" for heavier patients, but the necessary additional/different equipment.

They're only charging more for the wider ambulance with stronger shocks, the additional people needed to move the bariatric patient (down several flights of stairs), and specialized/xxxx-large equipment (from wider stretchers to blood pressure cuffs that will fit around huge arms).

June 30, 2009 at 1:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

MsT303 (anonymous) says...

Why not? I think this is great! Just as we discriminate against smokers, we need to start discriminating against the OBESE.

June 30, 2009 at 1:49 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

panzanita (anonymous) says...

I would not be overweight except my medications add weight. I can do nothing to lose the weight so why should I be charged because I am ill and the cure is making me overweight. Just listen to the side effects of any of the meds advertised on TV - most say "swelling" "weight gain" then list the other side effects!

June 30, 2009 at 4:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

EMT (anonymous) says...

How about charging the drug addicts double, the drunks triple, the idiots quadruple. Where does it end?
Can't find an IV site and need the bone drill because the addict has bad veins, thats special equipment.
Drunk driver causes an accident that involves multiple patients that uses all your trucks, charge him/her triple.
And don't forget those cardiac arrest people they use the most equipment and drugs lets charge then $4-5,000 because dang doing chest compressions wears us out.
If you have that many bariatric patients then go pro-active and get them the information and resources to loose the weight! Work with your patients not against them.

June 30, 2009 at 9:24 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Phat_N_EQUAL09 (anonymous) says...

MsT303...must be their IQ cause heaven forbid its their weight size!! They even write Obese in big letters, like its suppose to make us cringe! PLZ! We r so bigger than you that if you met one of us on the street you would probably hide in anguish waiting for us to just walk by you, for fear we might squash your puny a**. Must make you feel BIG to talk smack without us knowing who you are!! What a loser! I can't believe somebody even gave the time to upload your comment...and whoever it was, I hope for your sake and conscience, I hope they get fired!!!

July 1, 2009 at 12:44 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

pennpeach (anonymous) says...

Some of you people need to come to grips that there is the need for the increase on charges. I work in EMS and until you have walked a day in our (emergency medical personel) shoes where you have that supersized patient that needs urgent care you really dont understand. There is the fact that they need larger equipment to keep them and us safe.. ie the bariatric back board, the bariatric stretcher, and in some cases a ramp system that enables the patients to be loaded in to the ambulance. Not only does that equipment cost more but so does the exrta personel. We are not working against our patients if that was the case we wouldnt have the supersized equipment. If a patient really wanted the "help" with their weight problems they would have gotten it before the point of morbid obesity.

July 1, 2009 at 12:45 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

beckylh (anonymous) says...

So, is dispatch going to start asking how much I weigh if I am having a heart attack? How will you guys know which AMR van to use or are you just going to make the switch to all things with a possibility of a bariatric patient?

July 2, 2009 at 3:33 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

hutchfirefighter (anonymous) says...

I was on a flight from chicago to KC a few years ago. A large gentleman a few rows up pushed the flight attendant button as we were all loading into the plane, because he couldn't get his seat belt buckled. He asked the FA for an extension, and the FA turned, yelled down about a third of the plane "Hey, Jodie! will you get 14B an elephant strap?"

I cant imagine how embarrassed that guy was, and if it was me the airline would have gotten a letter.

We move big folks all the time. Its never the healthy in shape people who have health problems. We even have a pt that requires the services of 3 engine companies to get him out of his house and into the back of the ambulance, where he barely fits. Patients this size are, quite honestly, a danger to the EMT's responding to them, just because of the effort required to move them. Many of these patients that we run on need to be in a nursing home where they can get the attention they need. Perhaps these fees will make them and their families evaluate the cost of a nursing home vs. the cost of transport every couple of weeks.

These fees shouldn't necessarily be for everyone, just the ones that use the system more than 3 or 4 times a year. Pay as you go.

July 23, 2009 at 4:05 p.m. ( | suggest removal )