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Penn. ambulance companies decry insurance cuts

Associated Press
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
Information from: Delaware County Daily Times

DOYLESTOWN, Penn. — Ambulance companies say Aetna Inc. has dealt a blow to their budgets by cutting reimbursement rates for ambulance services.

The cuts could reduce the budgets of struggling companies by tens of thousands of dollars, officials said.

“They’re having enough troubles,” said Tom Scarborough, president of the Bucks County Association of Township Officials. “They don’t need this.”

The Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania hopes to meet with Aetna officials to discuss the issue. Aetna is based in Hartford, Conn.

Aetna, the second largest insurance provider in the Philadelphia region, said the insurer wants to curtail excessive billing and align charges more closely with Medicare standards.

“We have instituted this policy for the benefit of our members, to protect them from overcharges,” Aetna spokesman Walt Cherniak Jr. said.

The new reimbursement, equal to 125 percent of the federal Medicare rate, applies to companies that do not have their own contract with Aetna.