Study: People May Be Choosing Uber Rides Over Ambulances
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A new study appears to show that people who need to get to the hospital are increasingly choosing Uber rides instead of ambulances.
The study was conducted by David Slusky, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Kansas, and Dr. Leon Moskatel, an internist at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego.
They examined ambulance usage rates in more than 750 U.S. cities nationwide, specifically between the years 2013 and 2015, when UberX was introduced in those markets.
The data appear to show that ambulance usage rates declined by at least 7 percent in those areas.
The switch from ambulances to Ubers may result from the increased cost of ambulance rides, the study suggests.
"Even as it provides a critical service in the emergency medical services (EMS) framework, modern ambulance transportation has grown ever costlier," the study reads. "Emergency medical transport in an ambulance can easily exceed over a thousand dollars, usually with great surprise to the patient -
and with insurance often only partially covering the expense or outright refusing to pay for transport deemed not medically necessary."
Also, "many patients don't need something that can break traffic laws and don't need something staffed by paramedics with a bunch of fancy equipment," Slusky told CBS News.
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