Comedy -Influencer Robby Witt Called out the state laws in California for recent laws that have added new reimbursements and confusing insurance “discounts” to First Responder Services. One of these laws made it so that the bill for the ambulance ride of his young daughter became more than twice as expensive after he had provided proof of insurance.
In an exclusive interview with FOX News Digital, Witt led the legislators behind AB 716A law that came into effect last year in California that gives uninsured individuals discounts on health care payments. In the case of Witt, having an insurance policy doubled the price of the ambulance account compared to whether he was not insured – the “opposite” of how he thought it should work.
“Your whole life is told, right? Like, you want to buy a health insurance policy, so that if something – forbidding God – happens, you get a lower rate than if you don’t have the insurance. Like, that is what all of us has been told all our lives. And then exactly the opposite happened,” Witt, Witt, who has more than 580,000 ticktok -followers.
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Tiktok -influencer Robby Witt spoke with Fox News Digital about how his ambulance account doubled after he had provided proof of insurance. (Getty | Fox News Digital)
Although he comes from the Los Angeles region, Witt also tore the San Jose City Council for this week’s unanimous vote to let his fire brigade take the local population into account $ 427 for medical emergency care from 2026.
As room NBC Bay Area Affiliate reported“The demand for medical assistance for emergency situations increased considerably after the COVID-19-Pandemie-with 911 incidents that have been reaching high since 2022,” leading to the proposal from fire commissioner Robert Sapien.
“The implementation of a first response compensation will tailor the Department to other medical care providers, which helps our community to help critical life safety services through cost repair of medical care payers,” Sapien told the San Jose Spotlight.
With the approval of the city, the San Jose fire brigade is joining 23 other fire brigades in the entire state that have implemented first responder costs.
Witt told Fox that he does not agree with the extra costs.
“We pay high taxes in Ca to the fire brigade. I don’t like the idea of ​​turning into nickel and dime in their time of need. As Americans, we are always told that you pay your taxes and that goes to the police and fire, etc., “he said.
“And now you still pay your taxes, but here is an extra bill. That is not good,” he said, adding his own advice for the government: “If the states/provinces/cities can combine some operational efficiency with our tax dollars (they) can retain these services without the need to enter into citizens for new reimbursements. That is the recipe.”
The San Jose city council has just voted for the local fire brigade to charge the “first response costs” of residents if they use the medical services of the department. (Mom & paparazzi for Fox News Digital)
The State of California AB 716, however, is the one who hit the young father too close to home.
Witt went Viral on Tiktok Last month with a video with his telephone conversation with a care company after his daughter had brought an ambulance to the hospital for an allergic reaction to food.
During the clip, which has been viewed more than 30 million times, Witt described his confusion to a customer service member about the $ 600 ambulance account in one way or another in an account of $ 1,300 after he had provided proof of insurance.
“We got an account and then we realized that you did not have our insurance, so we sent you the insurance and it seems that the bill went up,” Witt said the representative in the Nu-Virale Clip.
“Ok, yes, so the first thing you have received is a discount that you have received when you are uninsured. So you are not eligible for the discount because you are insured,” the person responded to the line.
As the representative explained to him, Witt’s insurance paid $ 1,078.85 out of $ 2,342.14 ambulance ride, so he had almost $ 1,300 to pay. If he had never provided proof of insurance, the California law would have taken out his payment at $ 600.
“OK, so I get cheaper health care when I’m uninsured?” Witt asked the representative, pointing to the ridiculousness of his situation.
As the representative explained during the call, the original account of Witt was so low to the Californian law, which is mandatory that “a ground ambulance provider no longer requires a uninsured patient or self-paid patient to pay an amount more than the set payment by Medi-Cal or Medicare Fee-For-Service amount, somewhat greater.” “
The father told Fox that he found the reasoning behind the law problematic and noted that people could simply unsubscribe from insurance to pay less.
“My real problem, I think, is that it is based on insurance and why this bill was not written on the basis of income … So in fact you could have a family with a higher income than I say to say, you know what? We are not going to buy insurance. And now, suddenly, their theirs Ambulance accounts will be cheaper, even if they are a higher income. “
He then called the legislators who came with it.
“And so, you, sometimes, when they go laws, I don’t know if they don’t have any more IQ points to get it done, but it’s just not logical for me that you would offer discounts based on whether someone is insured and not based on their W-2 income.”
By putting the whole situation in perspective, he added: “I paid $ 10,000 in health care premiums per year, and I was worse off on an ambulance ride than if I didn’t do that. So only on the ambulance ride I would have to have an extra $ 10,000 back in my pocket, and I would have received a cheaper bill.”
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