ROCKVILLE, Md. — Getting a ride in an ambulance in the metropolitan Washington area is not cheap. Fees (charged by local fire departments) range from about $400 to about $700, depending on the need for advanced life support services.
The fees are usually paid by the patient’s health insurance company.
Until now, Montgomery County has resisted ambulance fees.
But the continuing downturn in the economy is again pinching the budget of the county government.
Earlier this year, the Montgomery County Council voted to impose ambulance fees.
Imposition of the charges is on hold, however, because local volunteer fire departments gathered enough signatures to allow voters to decide the issue.
Fire EMS Chief Richard Bowers defends the use of ambulance fees.
“It is revenue reimbursement from the insurance companies,” said Bowers, who gathered, Thursday, with chiefs from other nearby departments which charge fees.
The other local chiefs reported no problems with the revenue source.
But opponents worry that residents will be less inclined to dial 9-1-1 when a bill for transport will follow.
Eric Bernard, the executive director of the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Rescue Association, called ambulance transports a, “basic, core government service.”
The Montgomery County budget is currently counting on the estimated $14 million which ambulance fees would raise.
County Executive Isiah Leggett has warned that service cutbacks will occur if voters say ‘no’ to ambulance fees.
Chief Bowers estimates that, under the cutbacks, 89 firefighters would be laid off, and eleven EMS units would be “destaffed.”
Question A is written in the affirmative, that is, a vote FOR “A” allows ambulance fees.
A vote AGAINST Question A is a vote to stop ambulance fees in Montgomery County.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 2nd.
Republished with permission of MyFoxDC.com