EMS Providers Up In Air Over House Bill
By Alex Lloyd Gross
EMS providers are not happy about this bill. It was put forth by Perry Warren (d) Bucks and it just came out of committee. Anyone affiliated with public safety is against this in it’s present form as this bill, as written could cause EMS providers to close or curtail their services. This bill would allow Insurance Companies to dictate how much they will pay for EMS service. An analogy would be to call a repairman to fix your car. He does and presents you with a bill for $878.00. You in turn give him $376.00 and call it paid in full. It’s great if you are the customer but bad if you are the business. Watrren represents parts of Lower Makefield and Yardley.
EMS providers are a business and many in the public safety community say this bill hurts their business. A serious public information campaign has been introduced statewide in hopes of educating lawmakers. They want 911 EMS agencies excluded from this bill. You may be surprised to know that your local rescue squad gets very little funding from the state directly. In fact they are able to only survive on what they bill.
Proponents of this legislation say it will end “surprise billing”. That does not happen in the EMS community. Many EMS providers believe that Insurance Companies , who rake in billions of dollars in premiums every year spend very little of that money educating consumers on exactly how their medical insurance works. Dean A. Bollendorf, President of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania would like to sit down with lawmakers and explain to them their point of view