The full council will vote to approve the contract in March. There are several unique features of the arrangement. If the service performs better financially than expected, the city subsidy can be reduced. Second, a number of HMOs in the region have agreed to use the city contractor to transport their members to hospitals in emergencies. This helps make all of the proposals more financially sound.
Private services have much higher collection ratios than does the public sector.
How-To Guide No. 14, Reason Foundation, May 1996.