Car accidents aren’t something anyone likes dealing with. The expense of an insurance deductible and the physical damage could be extraordinary. Drivers now have something even more unpleasant to deal with. There is a new idea that emergency service departments are beginning to use, called a crash tax. You obtain a bill, and a big one, if you receive in an auto crash away from your home area if EMS even shows up to talk to you.
The ‘crash tax’ is assessed irrespective of fault
The ‘crash tax’ is not complicated. Let’s say an individual gets in a vehicle crash away 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 not astronomical. However, it is far from reasonable. Typically, the bill is for a couple of 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 asked for treatment of any kind from emergency service personnel, nor had to seek treatment from a hospital.
You will find some bans in position
More states have crash taxes than not. However, the number of states with a ban on the ’crash tax’ is growing. So far, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, as outlined by Injuryboard.com, have banned a crash tax. However, often the decision is not made at the state level, but by municipalities. Also referred to as “resource recovery,” the primary motive is to recuperate funds lost by providing response personnel at the scene of an incident to individuals from out of the district. True to form, crash taxes are the highest in California.
Insurance policy does not include it
If a person declines medical assistance, an insurance policy company will not pay it. Insurance policy companies oppose it. There are 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
