Every neighboring county charges health-insurance companies for ambulance service. Why the hell shouldn’t we, county council member Marc Elrich wants to know.
“I’m having a hard time seeing what the harm is,” Elrich said during a public hearing on the matter last Tuesday night. An inability to pay hasn’t deterred the county’s uninsured from flooding emergency rooms. It won’t stop them from dialing 9-1-1 for emergency transport, the at-large Dem deduced.
Proposed by MoCo exec Ike Leggett (D), the tab for ambulance service would go to insurers, and the proceeds would go to cover the fire and rescue service’s existing expenses. People without insurance could have the fee waived, the proposal states.
Tom Carr, chief of fire and rescue services, testified that the county has few options. Without an ambulance fee, the county could be forced to increase taxes, slapping everyone with the bill, he said.
But opponents contended a fee would be dangerous, dissuading lower-income residents and immigrant communities from hollering for help.
“In our community, we found a good number of people who said they’d be deterred by these fees,” Darian Unger, a member of Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board and a volunteer fire fighter, testified. John Thompson, a Kensington town-council member, called the fee “an immoral proposition”.
But there haven’t been any problems in Fairfax County, Va., said Ron Mastin, chief of that county’s fire department. The number of calls into 9-1-1 haven’t gone down since they started billing for ambulance rides in 2005, he said. The county’s “compassionate” billing program also cuts the uninsured a break.
Currently, MoCo residents (or their insurance companies) are billed whenever they use ambulance services in Fairfax County. Prince George’s County in Maryland also hits MoCo residents with a bill for emergency rides there. Up to 4,500 MoCo tax payers are charged annually for ambulance services in neighboring jurisdictions, MoCo fire and rescue’s Carr explained.
Flip the script, and more than 6,000 non-residents catch rides on MoCo ambulances each year. For example, volunteer ambulance units in Silver Spring and Bethesda/Chevy Chase often respond to emergencies in adjacent neighborhoods of The District. None of those patients receives a bill from the county, Carr added.
The county council’s public-safety committee mulls over the proposal next Thursday.
Lead image courtesy of Flickr user Kenney_R1.
Aug 28, 2008
6 Comments at "County council considers ambulance fee"
I think this logic is flawed. If they bill insurance companies and cut the uninsured a break, then the rates for the insured will go up and their taxes will still have to pay for the uninsured. Why not spread it across the entire population through existing taxes? Cheaper for everyone and everyone pays.
I agree with Elrich. Let the insurance companies pay for the ambulance fees. As part of the premium that I pay the insurance company, emergency ambulance service is covered. Lets not give the insurance companies a free pass on their responsibility. I am in disbelief that there is this notion that poor people are too stupid to call an ambulance in an emergency. Show me one person that would not call an ambulance if their loved one was having a heart attack because they are concerned that they will be charged a fee. It has been stated time and time again that no one who is a Montgomery resident will get a bill. Only the insurance company will get a bill. Is it fair that my county tax dollars goes to funding ambulance trips for 6,000 non-county residents? Absolutely not. This proposal by Leggett is a no-brainer.
Montgomery County residents have become accustomed to the county paying for everything. You Rip what you sow.
“Government will take care of everything” boy are people in for a rude awakening with the economic depression we are facing.
“Tom Carr, chief of fire and rescue services, testified that the county has few options. Without an ambulance fee, the county could be forced to increase taxes, slapping everyone with the bill, he said.”
So unless we pay more through insurance premiums, we’ll pay more through taxes. It sounds like we are “slapping everyone” with the bill either way, but the bill will be even higher if paid through insurance premiums since the insurance companies will add their overhead expenses and, in many cases, profits. We’re better off paying through taxes. This fee is a bad idea. And what’s next,? … a fee if you call in a fire or need the police to come? Ambulance service is a basic public safety service. It should be paid for that way.
Insurance premiums already cover emergency ambulance service. There should be no increase in premiums. Why would I pay twice for emergency ambulance service (insurance premiums and increase in taxes)? This doesn’t make sense. Why pay for a health insurance policy if one will not take advantage of it when an emergency arises? I’m sure the big insurance companies love the fact that the county has not billed them for emergency ambulance service. How much money has the county lost by not billing the insurance companies?
With respect to “For example, volunteer ambulance units in Silver Spring and Bethesda/Chevy Chase often respond to emergencies in adjacent neighborhoods of The District. None of those patients receives a bill from the county, Carr added.”
BCC Rescue Squad is an all volunteer organization and does not receive any tax dollars from Montgomery County. Residents in Upper Northwest are solicited for donations, the same way that BCC residents are. Further, if the county collected ambulance fees, volunteer squads would not necessarily receive these funds for the services they provided.
Holler back.