Quote:
Originally Posted by Argie's Wife
Residents without medical insurance are not charged for transport. Period.
Residents with medical insurance - the insurance is billed appropriately.
Another reason I love my town!
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You know, for the people of Alton without health insurance, that sure sounds like one heck of a good fire department ambulance system. It probably helps build a lot of good will between the Alton residents and the Alton town government.
In Meredith, going back at least to 1992, Meredith has never had its' own fire department ambulance and has always contracted out with Stewart's Ambulance Service. Stewart's is located about one mile away from the large, new Meredith Fire Dept building, and is out behind the former Jackson-Star Market store.
Keeping the Alton Fire Dept ambulance staffed w/ an EMT on a 24-hour basis must be very costly for the town. I know that Meredith has one and only one salaried firefighter, the fire chief, and everyone else is an on-call, paid firefighter. Everyone in New Hampshire today is faced with the same high costs for electricity, gasoline, heating fuel, food, clothing, and either property tax, mortgage, or rent; so finding a volunteer EMT to work for free is in all likelihood a total no-go in New Hampshire-2010, and understandably so.