March 18, 2010

COMMUNITY ALERT

Ambulance Fee Proposed for 2010

County Council Needs to Hear Your Opposition 

 The Montgomery County Executive has, once again, proposed to charge county residents and others $300-$800 for emergency ambulance service.   The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad consistently has opposed ambulance fees on practical and policy grounds.  The County Council wisely rejected ambulance fees in 2004 and 2009, and the Rescue Squad urges the Council to do so again.  Your calls, letters, and emails are still needed so that the Council hears your opposition.   

“Ambulance fees will discourage residents from calling 911 when help is needed most,” said Rescue Squad President Ken Yazge.  “The burden will fall most heavily on the poor, elderly and other vulnerable groups, and we are committed to providing unfettered service to these individuals without the fear that they will be charged for receiving emergency care.”

“We also oppose ambulance fees because the County shouldn’t charge for a service that is provided for free by our volunteers,” Yazge added.  “We serve to give something back to our community, and it's simply wrong to charge residents for a service that our volunteers provide for free.”

The Rescue Squad urges the Council to reject ambulance fees – as it wisely did in 2004 and 2009.    And we urge county residents to make your voices heard.  Please call or email the Council at (240) 777-7900 or county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov. (If possible, call or email each Councilmember to make your voice heard.  Click here for individual members’ contact information).

Background  

Ambulance service in Montgomery County is funded by taxes and donations and is currently provided at no charge. If approved by the County Council, residents will be charged $300 to $800 for calling 9-1-1 for an ambulance.  A resident experiencing a heart attack, stroke, or other life-threatening emergency should not have to check his or her insurance card–or savings account–before calling 9-1-1.  This is a basic public service, and we shouldn’t impose a separate tax on those who call 9-1-1 for emergency medical service.

Residents might be discouraged from calling 911.   We have found no study or analysis that looks beyond jurisdiction-wide call statistics and examines specifically how ambulance fees affect the uninsured, under-insured, and other less-advantaged groups -- i.e., those most likely to be adversely affected by an ambulance fee.  In Fairfax County, a preliminary analysis shows that the per capita number of calls to 9-1-1 dropped once a fee was instituted.  Ambulance fee supporters say it will not deter calls, but have not offered any studies that contradict the common-sense notion that if you charge people hundreds of dollars, some will be deterred from calling 9-1-1 when help is needed most. 

Charging Residents for Services Often Provided By Volunteers.  More than 150 professionally trained volunteers at the B-CC Rescue Squad serve as EMTs, Paramedics and Firefighters.  Hundreds more serve in other departments.  We believe the County should not charge for a service we provide for free. 

The Views of Others.   Within the past two years, many groups have declared their opposition to ambulance fee proposals, including: the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association, Montgomery County League of Women Voters, Montgomery County Civic Federation, the Western Montgomery County Citizens’ Advisory Board, and several neighborhood associations.

Take Action Now        

Please call, write a letter, or send an email now to express your opposition to the  “Emergency Medical Transport Fee.”  Thank you for your support. 

For more information on the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, click here.   

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