California E&S Insurance

First responder fee of ~$500 after 911 for medical check Hi all - my mom (in Fair Oaks) age 83 had a fall a couple months ago and we called 911 as a precaution, since she had been down for about 15 hours. They said she was OK with vitals, and that I could transport her to emergency room myself if I wanted her to be evaluated further, so I did. We later received a bill from Sac county for around $500 which is a "first responder fee". Since we DO NOT have a financial hardship, we had to pay it, they said Kaiser doesn't cover first responder fee. Just checking, other than having a financial hardship, is there any way to get around that $500 first responder fee when 911 is called? She is now in assisted living, she had a fall, and their protocol is to call 911 who can help her into a chair or bed. I expect we're going to get another $500 bill for a first responder fee after this fall in assisted living. Trying to avoid a $500 charge every time she falls. Anyone been through this and can offer any advice that would be great. Update - I'm going to call Kaiser to see if they do cover this fee. I was told by Sac county (actually their bill collector) that Kaiser doesn't pay, but now I'm thinking that was just a way to get the money for them as fast as possible rather than going through insurance :(. I will update with what I find out from Kaiser. Update #2. Just got off the phone with Kaiser. They said if I would have asked her to be taken to the ER, there would be no first responder fee and the urgent care copay is only $5 to Kaiser. I asked, even if the first responder's said she is OK and doesn't need any further medical attention, and she said yes -- it is up to the patient (or their legal representative as I am for my mom) whether they need to go to the ER. To cover my butt I am going to ask the assisted living place their experience with this. They must have other residents with Kaiser. Update #3. Talked with the supervisor of the memory care facility where my mom is, and she said it's common that they call 911 and 911 doesn't end up transporting the resident anywhere, and she said she's never heard a family inquire about a bill from Sac fire for a first responder fee. I would think that if family's were being billed for $500 each time 911 was called, they would have at least brought it up to the facility, but who knows. I'll see what I end up getting for today's call, and go from there. Update #4. Talked with a fire captain. He said if they just do a lift assist, there's no report and no charge. If they do some kind of medical check (I forget the term he used), that's when the first responder fee would be charged. If they transport, there is of course a fee for that (ambulance fee, reimbursed by Kaiser) but I'm assuming they don't necessarily have a first responder fee then because they didn't necessarily do that more involved medical check. When they called me this morning, they had only done the lift assist, not a medical evaluation, so I do not expect any charge. So maybe most of the time the assisted living place calls 911, they just assist the person getting up and do a quick check to ask if they are OK, so the first responder fee never comes into play since they aren't doing the medical evaluation. When my mom fell at home many weeks ago, and I got the $502 bill, they did not do a lift assist because we had already lifted her. They did their medical check, and I think that's why we got the $502 bill. I'm kind of assuming we would have still got that bill if they transported her to the ER by ambulance, but not sure.

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  "title": "First responder fee of ~$500 after 911 for medical check",
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