ROCKVILLE — Montgomery County legislators on Tuesday morning rejected a pitch to charge health insurance companies for ambulance services.
In a 5-to-3 vote, county council members decided to keep ambulance rides free for people in Montgomery County, as well as in parts of The District and PG County that sometimes score help from nearby MoCo fire and rescue units (like the one housed on Georgia Avenue). Council member Nancy Floreen (D-At large) abstained.
The decision puts to bed (at least for now) MoCo exec Ike Leggett’s objective of hauling an additional $15 million in county revenue from the fee. According to his plan, health insurance companies would have billed $300 to $800 for each ambulance trip; uninsured patients would have rolled for free.
Leggett’s advocates argued that insurers already charge policy holders for ambulance services, and that the county would be collecting cash money that’s already been paid for. But council president Phil Andrews (D-District 3) suggested Tuesday that patients would still sweat the bill because insurance companies would only pass the tab on to them.
“I don’t believe insurance companies would eat the cost. They’re not charities,” Andrews told colleagues on the public-safety committee.
Still, council member Marc Elrich (D-At large) worried the council was slamming the door on a good piece of change at a time when money was tight. ”We are struggling to meet our responsibilities in supplying adequate equipment and staffing,” he said Tuesday. “There’s no intention to collect money from the people of Montgomery County.”
Elrich, Floreen and council members George Leventhal and Duchy Trachtenberg hoped to postpone any decision until December. That motion was rejected.
There was no immediate response from Leggett’s camp on the council’s decision.
Update: The council voted on this issue on Tuesday morning, not Monday as previously written. Sorry, people. Still running on Buenos Aires time. — JD (Jul 1, 2009)
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While generously subsidizing health insurance companies at the rate of $15 mio per year, the Council is too cheap to spend $800K to guarantee equal access for all to the new Silver Spring Library.
The Council got this one right.
They’re not subsidizing health insurance companies; they hare helping keep our health insurance premiums down. The insurance companies would simply build the increased costs into their premiums, add in their overhead and profit, and increase our premiums. The total cost to us would be more than the alternative cost in taxes.
Besides saving us money in insurance premiums (even if it does cost us in taxes), not having an ambulance fee will save lives. No one will hesitate to call an ambulance because they are worried about having to pay a fee or deal with insurance company hassles about paying.
The council is absolutely wrong on this and for whatever reason is pandering to the firefighters on this issue.
Ike has stated on numerous occassions that no individual will receive an ambulance bill. Most insurance companies already cover ambulance fees and research has shown that insurance fees do not rise when communities move forward to have insurance companies cover ambulance fees.
This notion that people won’t call an ambulance if they or their loved ones is having an emergency is a blatant scare tactic. The bottom line is that individuals will not see a bill but people keep twisting the truth.
Another fact for those out there is that the County is servicing free of charge DC residents that use our County ambulances. Is this fair? Absolutely not!
Shame on those Council members that are opposed to ambulance fees.This will turn into a much bigger issue than they realize.
2nd tj. Minus the “this will turn into a much bigger issue than they realize.” That sounds like a bit of a scare tactic to go along with the falso notion that people would stop calling 911.
If the Penguin, Washington Post, Gazette, etc. were to do a little probing on what it is costing the county to fund ambulance service to District residents, I’m certain that there will be an outcry from County residents. Why are my taxes funding social programs for District residents?
Ok. Im coming to this convo late but being disabled since my late 20s, i have never called an ambulance for myself. When it was called for me (in a different state) my portion was well over $500. Im only on medicare and it will not eat the cost. I still to this day will not call 911 for myself. Thank God for cabs and the 17 bus that drops of in front of washington adventist.