By Christine Dempsey
Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 The Hartford Courant Company
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The town is poised to charge people for emergency medical services.
The state has approved the town’s request to use an ambulance company to bill residents for advanced life support provided by the fire department, town officials announced at a town council meeting Tuesday.
The ambulance company designated to transport patients from East Hartford to area hospitals, Ambulance Service of Manchester, has signed a contract that would allow it to bill patients on behalf of the town, they said.
Mayor Melody A. Currey plans to sign the contract before the end of the month, after which Medicare is expected to approve the agreement, said Richard Gentile, assistant corporation counsel. Billing will begin as early as September, he said.
Currey and others said at the meeting that most people have insurance or are covered by Medicare and would never see a bill for services. The mayor said the alternative way to pay for the increased cost of providing emergency medical care would be to raise taxes, but, “this is a better way to go.”
The town expects to receive more than $100,000 a year by billing patients, money that could go back to the fire services budget to fund equipment and training, or into the general fund.
For the minority of people who are billed directly for emergency services, it would appear on their bill as a second line-item under the ambulance company’s charge for transportation.
Town officials stressed that those who cannot afford to pay will not be refused emergency medical care. Councilman Don Pitkin urged the public to call 911 if they need help regardless of how little money or insurance they have.
Also Tuesday night, the Metropolitan District Commission did a presentation on a proposed $1.6 billion project to reduce sewage overflows and remove nitrogen from wastewater treatment plants. Most of the work will affect towns west of the Connecticut River, although East Hartford’s treatment plant will benefit from some of the improvements, said Robert A. Weimar, the MDC’s chief of program management. The federal government has ordered the improvements, he said.
The project is estimated to cost East Hartford residents $30 to $53 a month. Residents pay $14 a month for sewer services through the municipal budget, said Abigail Jewett of Guinan Associates, who accompanied Weimar.
Another new cost that may hit taxpayers in the wallet was discussed earlier in the evening. The council held a public hearing on a $15.5 million bond package, but no one objected to the proposed projects. If the council agrees to send the proposals to referendum, the townwide vote will take place during the November elections.
If approved, the town would build a new fire station to replace the small, antiquated building near the corner of Main and Brewer streets. The new building also would include a fire apparatus and alarm maintenance facility, and cost about $6 million.
The current firehouse is ``structurally unsound,’' Chief Michael Eremita said after the hearing.
A second, $9.5 million bond would be for the second phase of road reconstruction.
Former mayor Susan Kniep arrived at the council chambers late in the meeting and voiced her objections to the bonding package. She also spoke against billing for emergency services, a subject she has opposed in the past.
“Our town is in debt,” she said of the town’s proposed projects. “But is bonding the way to go?”