County council members on Tuesday announced a bill that would quash MoCo exec Ike Leggett’s proposed fees for emergency medical services.
Instead of charging health insurance companies for ambulance services, which Leggett pitched earlier this year, council member Phil Andrews (D-District 3) proposed to use red-light and speed camera fines to cover the ambulance tab.
“The county executive has posed the ambulance fee as the only way we could fund the purchase of new equipment for the fire and rescue service,” Andrews said in a press statement. “This bill shows a way that we could fund the purchase of much-needed equipment without implementing an ambulance fee, which most people in this county do not want.”
Under state law, MoCo must use speed-monitoring revenue on new public-safety programs, not to cover existing expenses. However, Andrews’ proposal would use half of that revenue to buy new gear for fire and rescue services. A quarter of it would go to countywide pedestrian-safety programs; 15 percent to the PD’s traffic-safety programs; and 9 percent to municipal pedestrian-safety programs.
It’s unclear how much money those speed- and red-light cameras haul in each year, though individual snapshots cost speed demons $40 each; red-light runners catch a $75 fine. Under Leggett’s plan, health insurance companies would be hit with a bill of $300 to $800 for each ambulance trip; uninsured patients roll for free.
According to Leggett’s advocates, health insurance companies already charge policy holders for ambulance services, and the county would be collecting nearly $15 million that’s already been paid for. Opponents worry that fees would dissuade the uninsured from dialing 9-1-1 during an emergency.
Council member Don Praisner (D-District 4), who sits on the public-safety committee with Andrews and at-large Dem Marc Elrich, previously dumped on Leggett’s pitch. Insurance forms could confuse patients, he said. On the flip side, Elrich said the county was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Everyone needs to take a sober look at where the county budget is,” Elrich told his colleagues last month.
The council’s public-safety committee takes its licks at Andrews’ idea on Dec 4.
Photo courtesy of the MoCo PD.
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This is a cowardly act by Phil Andrews and the rest of the council. This just shows that they cannot make the difficult decisions without catering to the special interest groups. Leggett has stated over and over again that people will not receive an ambulance bill. The insurance companies will receive the ambulance bill.
We already pay for ambulance service through our insurance so our insurance premiums will not go up. They need to stop with these scare tactics in stating that fees would dissuade people from calling 911. We have illegal aliens heading to emergency rooms without any fear on how they are going to pay for the services.
Now the council thinks it is a good idea to remove money that should be going to pedestrian/traffic safety program. This says a lot on their thinking about pedestrian/traffic safety. Obviously it is not an important issue to them. What will they have to say the next time someone tries to cross 29 and gets hit by a car?
Editor’s note: Q. What will the county council have to say the next time someone tries to cross 29 and gets hit by a car? A. “The ambulance ride’s on us.” — JD (Nov 19, 2008)