Ambulance Membership Offers Solution To Out-Of-Pocket Expenses

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Residents have a low-cost solution to costly ambulance expenses thanks to Sunstar’s FirstCare Ambulance Membership. The membership plan provides financial help for individual patients or families on out-of-pocket expenses for ambulance transportation.

The estimated average cost of a single ambulance transport is $796. Annual membership fees for the Sunstar FirstCare Ambulance Membership plan are $83 for a single membership and $125 for a family membership. Membership covers 100 percent of expenses associated with deductibles and co-payments and 50 percent of medically necessary trips denied by insurance. Uninsured members receive a 20 percent discount on medically necessary ambulance transportation.

In 2020, the membership plan saved residents an average of $180 per transport.

The family membership covers people who reside in the same household related by blood, adoption, marriage or registered domestic partnership.

The Sunstar FirstCare Ambulance Membership is not an insurance plan. It is a Pinellas County government program that works with a person’s insurance company to minimize out-of-pocket ambulance expenses.

Those interested should enroll as soon as possible to receive additional coverage. New enrollees, paid in full prior to March 31, will receive more than 12 months of coverage for the cost of the one-year plan.

For more information and detailed plan coverage, call 727-582-2008 or visit www.pinellas.gov/membership.