Albemarle County residents likely will soon pay for ambulance trips.
The Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved an ordinance that allows the local government to enact fees for emergency transport.
If all of the county’s emergency squads participate in the program, officials estimate the county would rake in as much as $1.6 million per year, which would offset some of the costs of emergency transport services.
Board of Supervisors Chairman David L. Slutzky said the county would use a “compassionate billing” system, in which low-income residents could be excused from payments and the county would not aggressively pursue bill collections.
County Executive Robert W. Tucker Jr. said at Wednesday’s board meeting that the county would be very lenient in its collection efforts, especially for those who aren’t able to have their bills paid by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance companies. The tabs usually run a few hundred dollars.
A “claims form” would be sent — likely by a government, hospital or emergency squad employee — to insurance, Medicare or Medicaid providers, though the county hasn’t yet worked out the details.
Albemarle County resident John Stack said in a recent interview that he’s not happy about the county trying to impose more fees.
“Call it what you want to, it’s a tax,” Stack said, adding that the county is “ducking the issue” that there are ways to cut more than a million dollars from the county’s budget, but officials are taking an easy route by imposing new fees.
But officials contend that the fees are a way to provide more services without raising taxes.
Some officials aren’t buying the argument that the new fees would cause insurance companies to raise premiums significantly. They say that most localities are already charging ambulance fees — which are comparatively small payouts for insurance companies. And even if such fees cause premiums to increase, that would mean Albemarle policyholders already have been paying higher premiums, because other localities are imposing the fees, yet Albemarle residents aren’t getting the benefits.
Nearly 80 percent of Virginia residents live in localities that bill for EMS transport, according to statistics provided by Albemarle County. Nationwide, that percentage is nearly 85 percent.
Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd had said: “We’re not going to turn anybody away who needs emergency transport services and we’re certainly not going to make them pay if they’re unable to do that.”
The county will now have to formulate a detailed proposal and rate structure — fee amounts haven’t yet been determined — and the public will have opportunities to provide input before the Board of Supervisors decides whether the fees are actually imposed.
Which rescue agencies would participate in the cost recovery program hasn’t been decided.
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