Whenever you have an emergency,it’s obvious the thing to do is call 911 and an ambulance will come to wherever you are and help. Most places,that’s a free service,except of course,Tracy,CA,where there is now a $48 a year fee if you happen to need to call 911. If you do not pay the fee, the price of the call is $300.The story can be found here:

http://cbs13.com/local/tracy.911.calls.2.1502690.html

Now,I understand that the economy is in poor shape and that anyone who is anyone is hiking up rates, raising prices, doing whatever is necessary to survive the recession. However, tacking $300 onto a phone call for help seems a little extreme if you ask me. I’d understand it if people were using it for situations that they could control without the help of a paramedic like a headache or the 24-hour flu or even to god forbid prank call 911, but to charge people the amount of money I make in three weeks is tragic.

What’s going to happen if someone is in a real emergency? Are they going to think twice before making a 911 call because they can’t afford the bill? It’s bad enough we have people in this country who don’t go to a doctor because they can’t afford to or don’t have coverage, now we’ve got the city of Tracy pulling this kind of crap. It makes me wonder what else city,state,and local governments are going to try and profit off of next. Has anyone told these pricks that not everything has to go for profit in this country? Have people lost their minds?And aren’t the tax dollars that the folks in Tracy pay and that we pay as well enough to fund this kind of service? At least I was under the impression that they were,I guess I was mistaken.

I think this emergency fee may come back and bite the city of Tracy where it hurts because now people are going to be too afraid to call for help and paramedics will have less work to do because of it. I hope this doesn’t last and I urge the people who run Tracy to grow a conscience and think before pulling crap like this. I’d ask what’s next but I don’t want to give anyone any ideas.