Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board wants the 2009 operating budget to offer a free ride for some, a cleaner ride for others, and safe streets if you have to walk.
“Please do not impose fees on ambulance services,” board members implore in a wish list distributed at Monday night’s board meeting in Long Branch. “Emergency medical services should continue to be provided free of charge.”
At a previous meeting, board members said the county proposed to charge insurance companies directly for ambulance services, while uninsured patients would not have to pay. Stafford and King George counties in Virginia charge residents for ambulance services.
“Charging for ambulance services could cause many in our community to hesitate to call 9-1-1 in cases of emergency for fear of a financial bill they could not afford,” the board’s wish list states. “We believe this could be the case even if residents were not charged for what they could not afford.”
The board also calls for longer hours on the free Van Go bus, which loops an estimated 800 riders around Silver Spring’s central business district each weekday. Currently, the shuttle calls it quits at 7:00 p.m., but board members want those purple wheels to roll until 10:00 p.m.
“Downtown safety, mobility and commerce could all be helped if the hours of operation were extended,” the board argues. By comparison, shuttle service in Bethesda cruises until midnight on weekdays, and until 2:00 a.m. on weekends. A nonprofit group drives that operation using money from Bethesda’s parking-lot district.
Silver Spring’s Van Go shuttle gets its gas money through Ride On revenues, a state grant and county property taxes, according to MoCo exec Ike Leggett. He previously told the advisory board that expanding service wasn’t a realistic goal. However, the county will add one bus to the route to keep things moving when construction on Silver Spring’s transit center starts early this summer, Leggett wrote in a Feb 15 letter to the board.
If residents and visitors must pay for a ride, then make it a more eco-friendly one, the board says. In their wish list, board members hit the county up for more clean-fuel buses in downtown Silver Spring.
“As an urban area with traffic congestion and many buses, Silver Spring pedestrians are exposed to high levels of pollution,” the board writes. “Clean-fuel buses improve the air quality.”
According to the board, Ride On buses rolling on compressed natural gas aren’t eligible to cruise the county’s southern end because refueling stations are located upcounty. Ride On operates 42 natural-gas buses throughout the county, with 15 more in the works. The metropolitan transit authority currently runs 50 hybrid-electric buses throughout its system, with 100 more to be added each year until 2011.
And for those who insist on walking, the board asks for assurances that pedestrian and cyclist safety will be in check while construction on Silver Spring’s transit center cooks. They’d also like the county to continue funding on bike trail maintenance.
MoCo exec Ike Leggett submits his budget proposal to the county council next Monday. The county faces a $297 million budget gap in fiscal year 2009, according to The Washington Post.
Photo: A checkbook, used by people who have never heard of online bill payment. Courtesy of the city of Mount Vernon, Wash.
Updated Mar 11, 2008, at 11:25 a.m.
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Maybe someone from the citizens advisory board can explain their opposition to having the insurance companies pay for ambulance service. As I understand the proposal, those that have insurance will have their insurance companies pay for the ambulance service; those that do not have insurance will not have to pay for ambulance service. What is the problem? Insinuating that poor people may not call 911 in emergency situations due to a fear of getting a financial bill is fear mongering and is absolutely untrue. Maybe the right thing to do is to get the word out to the community that individuals will not have to pay for ambulance service. Let’s not give the insurance companies a pass on their responsibility- they should be the ones to pay for ambulance service.
WeCanDoBetter: Here’s my cynical view: MoCo is a very “progressive” (aka, left-wing) county. The people on the board want socialized health care. They’re starting with ambulance service. They’ll move onto other things soon.
I dunno… I view Fire/Police/EMS as fairly fundamental social ameneties… I don’t think maintaining that is a sign of socialized healthcare. Everywhere I’ve lived has provided that. Granted, that’s often laregly in the form of a volunteer first aid squad (supplemented by a Fire Dept EMS unit when no volunteers are available).
As for VanGo though…. why do we provide this?? MetroAccess is for the elderly and disabled, so that’s not why. Do we seriously thinks it helps commerce? I’m skeptical of that. It seems to me it’s a free bus service for folks who just so happen to live on the route… that doesn’t make a lot of sense in my mind.
In response to WeCanDoBetter. I think the problem with charging ambulance fees to people with insurance only is twofold. First of all it takes advantage of insurance companies and makes them essentially pay for not only their insurees, but also those who don’t have insurance making it more expensive for everyone. Secondly people with insurance still have co-pays and need to get insurance charges approved. That means even people with insurance will have to pay.
To trekkie: I don’t believe it takes advantage of insurance companies at all. People who are paying for health insurance have emergency ambulance care covered by their insurance policy. By having the county pick up the tab, that same person’s tax dollars are paying for the use of the ambulance that is already covered by their insurance policy. Why should the Montgomery Country taxpayer pick up the tab for a cost that should be paid for by the health insurance companies? Why pay for health insurance if you are not going to get the services that you are entitled to under the insurance policy? Montgomery County is projected to have a $400 million dollar shortfall in the budget for next year. The money needs to come from somewhere. Having the insurance companies pay for ambulance service seems to be an easy solution to decreasing the budget shortfall.
Concerning the proposed charge for ambulance service, we pay either way. If they bill insurance companies, our health insurance rates go up a little. If they don’t our taxes include the costs. I’d prefer to pay in taxes just to be sure that nobody ever hesitates to call for an ambulance because they think they might have to pay a co-pay on their insurance or think they will be billed. Better to save a life than bill insurance companies, since we’ll pay either way in the end. And what would be next? Charging for police or fire calls? Making 911 a toll call?
The impression that I am getting from some of the comments is that poor people are too stupid to do the right thing during an emergency. This is highly insulting. Does anyone really believe that if a poor person’s loved one is having a heart attack that they would hesitate to call for an ambulance because they are thinking about how much the co-pay is? I really am shocked that people are not willing to have the insurance companies pay for the services that are covered under the insurance companies policies. The money the county saves by having the insurance companies held responsible for emergency ambulance service could go to hiring more cops, firefighters, EMTs, etc.
“If they bill insurance companies, our health insurance rates go up a little.”
Really? I’d like some evidence of this. Ambulance costs are a _tiny_ part of costs for health care. I’d be surprised if it had any impact.