ie: An EMS service (where ALL overhead is payed for with tax dollars) offers services ALREADY BEING PROVIDED by private services at a rate the private services cannot hope to match (the fees charged are less then the combined pay and fuel needed to perform the service).
2007-09-10 07:08:40 · 5 answers · asked by gamedic6304 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
There really is no law preventing this. The government is free to compete against private businesses. The closest law to deal with this issue would be an antitrust claim, but the municipality would likely be immune, absent some additional unlawful practice.
2007-09-10 07:18:50 · answer #1 · answered by Tara P 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well the hope is that the EMS service funded by taxpayer dollars is that they will operate more efficiently and provide service to all citizens whether or not they can actually afford same. The private EMS company operates on a for profit basis and obviously charges more. They may bring a better service delivery to the table and they may even get to a patient quicker...but if the patient doesn't have insurance or money...the patient may be out of luck.
I do believe that having government involved in a business climate is bad for the community and bad for the citizens overall. I've never found an area where government competes with business and government wins. Taking your example....while pay and fuel costs are less than the fees charged by private EMS....what about the hidden costs....the costs of the EMT's....you must pay their salary and their benefits as well as their retirement plan. Additionally, all the associated costs of running the EMS, housing, supplies are not figured into the "fee".
Me....retired government worker who has always believed in privatization of non-regulated services.
2007-09-10 07:22:30 · answer #2 · answered by malter 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No matter how you look at it, it is completely wrong that a government entity can compete with a private business. They have everything going for THEM. They write the rules and regulations and often exempt themselves from some of them. Private businesses have no current choice but to knuckle under to the government s heavy handedness . They don t have to worry about a profit, or for that matter whether the business is going to collect enough money to pay employees and keep the lights on. As a government entity those things are of no consequence, and as such the government can quote on or provide services for whatever number they like without regard to anything. Ridiculous, and it s difficult to believe that this evil practice hasn t been stopped by citizens. In my experience I have had to bid on projects against government entities and I couldn t even get in the ballpark on the price. My wife has a preschool who I am now finding out has to compete with the local public school system. Her school has been one of the best in our area for almost 30 years, but now is going to have to face the possibility of shutting down if the government schools force rates down--and FYI our school hasn t been able to raise prices a dime for over 10 years due to other private school competition. Government competition could wipe out the entire private preschool "industry" in our area. This is just Wrong!
2015-05-22 03:36:40 · answer #3 · answered by Phil 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The government department is not competing, you are. Voters often agree to a tax for supplying emergency ambulance services. You will not get sympathy from me after having to pay $300 for a five minute ride (no extras such as IV's or such) or $4700 for a helicopter transport not asked for by me (school requested it) for 45 miles.
2007-09-10 07:19:28 · answer #4 · answered by sensible_man 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Nope, no laws regarding that unless there's some strange local law where you live.
There are government (public) schools, and there are private schools. There's FedEx and there's USPS.
2007-09-10 07:18:26 · answer #5 · answered by Michael C 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋