As the World is watching, there is a submersible somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean with five people on board. Missing. No one knows exactly where these intrepid explorers are. But by God though, we will find them.
Yes, they are in International waters but somehow the United States Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard are responsible for finding these chaps. This little sub is roughly 450 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in a fairly remote part of the Northern Atlantic so I guess bringing Coast Guard Cutters from Massachusettes and Maine makes sense. They are only 600 miles away. What’s even more amazing is that the French are sending some ship they have that is purposed for this very type of mission.
I don’t think there is really any question about the United States or Canada doing whatever they can to save these people. It is a truly frightening thing knowing that there are only so many hours of oxygen left and if they find them, the rescue operation may take more time than these people have. No one knows the condition they are in, and if that ship will have the required power to keep the atmospheric pressure inside stable. It will be a miracle if they all come back alive but we have seen miracles before so let’s just pray for their safe return.
Now comes my crabbiness to the whole thing. This little rescue operation is going to cost the good people of Canada and the United States millions of dollars. Even the French will be footing some part of this bill as well. I know it’s being petty but we always seem to foot the bill for someone else’s misadventure.
The participants in this little adventure knew the risks. They signed all sorts of forms to protect the operator of this submersible from claims. They paid a quarter of a million dollars to go look at a sunken ship. That already tells me that the men on this little tub, have an excessive amount of free cash flow and this multi million dollar rescue mission should be paid for by those men.
I say all this because I am reminded of what is a daily occurance across the United States. Accidents that require an ambulance.
You hurt yourself to the extent that you need to be transported to the hospital via ambulance. You get stitched up, casts are set or surgery happens. You come home in one piece and thank everyone responsible and then the bills come. Insurance covers a lot of your emergency room visit and it also cover some portion of your ambulance ride as well. It’s all good. You are ok but you start to wonder why you are getting a bill from the ambulance company or volunteer fire department. These additional bills are not insignificant.
Ambulance transport can cost as much as $5,000 and insurance companies will not reimburse the company for the full amount. They have set fees they will pay and thats it.
I am not one to tell people what they can and can’t charge for a service. I just don’t know what the right cost is for any medical service or treatment so I may be out of line here but charging an insurance company five grand for transport to a hospital 10 minutes away seems a little egregious. Yes, you are getting cared for by an EMT that could potentially save your life and you can’t really put a price on that but I think it’s more about charging as much as you can and hoping to get paid a certain percentage of the bill.
I might be wrong about this but I think there has to be a fairer way to pay for emergency situations. Remember, hospitals, doctors and ambulance services overcharging just makes things more expensive for all of us in the long run. Insurance companies are not in the business to lose money so when their costs go up, so do our insurance premiums.
Getting back to this little sub that couldn’t, will the US and Canada bill these people after their rescue (or God forbid their estates)? I doubt it.
The US Coast Guard’s mission is saving lives, protecting our coastline from terrorists and stewardship of that coastline. With that being said, they will put a full on effort to save these people and costs will never be a determining factor. That is another example of the United States going above and beyond without thinking twice.
Thank You for a different prospective. In Az we have the "Stupid Motorist" law. During our monsoon season, if you drive into a raging wash/creek and have to be rescued, You get the bill.