A petition, for the Trump Administration, asks for a federally mandated minimum wage for EMTs and paramedics.

“According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for EMTs and paramedics was $31,270 . The best-paid 10 percent in the profession make approximately $54,710, while the lowest-earning 10 percent make approximately $20,420. If you look at the lowest salary for EMTs and paramedics, it comes out to $9.81 an hour.

Further, in the seven years since the downturn of the economy in 2008, most EMTs and paramedics have gotten little or no raises, and their health insurance premiums continue to rise.

What’s it worth?

What is it worth to the public to know that help is coming when they have a heart attack? What is it worth to them to know that when their child has fallen off playground equipment, is drowning in a pool, is having uncontrolled seizures, is choking, been abused or beaten, or been ejected from a car that EMTs and paramedics are coming? No matter what the emergency, EMTs and paramedics are the first to respond—many times in less than four minutes in most major cities and suburbs.

EMTs and paramedics do everything they can to stand between the general public and all the evils of the world. We’ve seen so much death and destruction that some of us will never be the same again. We know the smell of burning bodies, and it will haunt some of us to our last days. Some EMTs and paramedics have lost their families to divorce, committed suicide, abused alcohol or used drugs because they didn’t know how to cope with what they’ve seen and experienced. EMT and paramedics are cursed, struck, spit on with saliva and blood, talked down to and treated as sub-humans, only to arrive at the station the next day to do it all over again. Over the course of their career, an EMT or paramedic working in a big city will probably be shot at, threatened with knives and other weapons.

In exchange, the pay range for these dedicated servants can be as low as $20,000 a year with some benefits.”

Source - https://www.firehouse.com/careers-education/article/12066710/ems-increase-pay-for-emts-paramedics

In sum

The petition states that, being the source of income for EMS providers largely dependent on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to agencies, EMS personnel should qualify as providers of a service to the States and the Federal Government.The petitioners ask that EMTs be paid a minimum of $20/hour and paramedics a minimum of $30/hour.

The petition says EMS providers’ work is significant enough to warrant a higher wage due to the training required, the number of hours typically worked, and the nature and dangerous conditions of the work.

EMTs and Paramedics deserve a living wage. Fast food workers in Washington State make more than 75% of EMTs. Unlike Firefighters, EMS lacks union representation. Without a union to negotiate salaries EMS gets taken advantage of. 

The petitioners ask President Donald Trump to sign an Executive Order mandating that any EMS agency receiving reimbursement for services through the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services be mandated to pay their EMTs and paramedics said minimum wage. They further ask that failure of those agencies to comply result in their disqualification from receiving reimbursement.

"We, the undersigned, believe that such an Executive Order would result in an improvement of service quality, a reduction in turnover, and an increase in industry-wide morale, all of which would ultimately realize a higher productivity in healthcare that could be a true source of cost savings," the petition states.