Unless you hated your car, there is nothing good that comes from a vehicle crash. Auto insurance deductibles can be costly. The physical repercussions could be anything from annoying to disabling. If that isn’t an unpleasant enough contemplation, there is something else to make it worse. There is a new idea that emergency service departments are starting to use, called a crash tax. Fault isn’t part of the equation at all. If you get in an auto crash outside your home area, and EMS shows up, you get billed, and for lots of money.
You receive the crash tax irrespective of what happens
The way the ‘crash tax’ works is relatively simple. Let’s say a person gets in an auto crash from home. If emergency services shows up and checks them out, even if they don’t ask for it, the person gets billed. The bill is often never gargantuan, however is far from being innocuous. Usually, the bill is for a few hundred bucks. New York Times reports that one crash tax bill recipient was billed $200, and a Chicago Tribune piece profiled a woman who received a bill for $350. Neither needed hospital visits. Both declined to be checked out by medics.
There exists resistance
Several states have banned the practice, though they are a minority. As outlined by Injuryboard.com, you will find ten states that have prohibited it. So far, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, also as Tennessee have outlawed the practice. However, often the decision isn’t made at the state level, however by municipalities. The practice, also called “resource recovery,” is used to get funds back from people that needed emergency services but did not pay taxes in that area. True to form, crash taxes are the highest in California.
Insurance doesn’t include it
Often, a people could be billed for EMS response even if they do not themselves request to be checked out by medics, which an insurance policy company will not cover. Insurance corporations oppose it. You will find also other groups, such as the AARP, which oppose the crash tax.
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/05/automobiles/05CRASHTAX.html?pagewanted=1 and _r=1 and ref=automobiles
Chicago Tribune
articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-03-02/business/ct-biz-0302-problem-locklin-20100302_1_billing-ambulance-services-emergency
Sacramento Injury Board
sacramento.injuryboard.com/automobile-accidents/can-crash-tax-help-to-reduce-the-rate-of-accidents.aspx?googleid=284322
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