Feds Stiff Arizona Border Town For Ambulance Costs For Immigrants

NOGALES, Ariz. — Many communities across the U.S. have problems getting reimbursed for sending ambulances to pick up patients, but for one community along the U.S.-Mexico border, the delinquent party is the federal government, which the city of Nogales says owes it hundreds of thousands of dollars for picking up immigrants.

The Arizona city billed the federal government for hundreds of ambulance sorties dispatched to calls from federal agents when they find someone injured, but the government has paid less than 20 cents on the dollar — leaving Nogales to bear the burden of more than $250,000 in the past fiscal year alone.

“We would love to be reimbursed 100 percent. If we were to be reimbursed 100 percent, we could provide a higher level of service to our residents in Nogales,” said Aaron White, the city’s acting finance director.
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