Mayor Adrian Fenty has pulled back the severest of his proposed ambulance fee increases, issuing new charges that are much more in line with surrounding jurisdictions while limiting bills for uninsured residents.
Under the new fee structure, which must be approved by the D.C. Council, charges for emergency transportation will range from $428 for basic life support to $508 for advanced life support and $735 for advanced life support, level 2. There also would be a fee of $6.55 per mile traveled. Current fees, stagnant since 2003, start at $268 and go as high as $471.
The charges are mostly paid by health insurers.
“We’re going to adopt a pretty common policy not to shake down people who don’t have insurance and cannot pay,” said one Fenty aide familiar with the ambulance plan.
Critics say the fees might discourage people from calling for help. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, which serves Northwest Washington as well as suburban Maryland, has started a campaign to stop similar levies in Montgomery County, arguing the charges “will deter some people from calling 911 in a life-threatening emergency.”
“It’s true that neighboring jurisdictions have imposed ambulance fees, but with mixed results,” the rescue squad said recently. “On the revenue side, ambulance fees have generated less money than promised, particularly in the early years.”
Fenty’s proposed emergency transportation fees are a far cry from his first submission, which ranged from $530 to $953 and were projected to generate $7.2 million. The council, led by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, rejected those charges in June. Fenty was ordered to rework the fee structure to generate up to $3.5 million a year.
Mendelson, who plans to hold a hearing on the proposal next month, said Friday the new fees “appear more reasonable.” The charges will have his support, he said, if the Fenty administration can demonstrate that it is maximizing reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare, the federal insurance programs for the poor and elderly.
The District’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, according to proposed rules released Friday, “shall not bill nor hold financially responsible” any District resident who is insured through Medicare or is not covered by a secondary health insurance plan.
The Fenty administration says the revised fees are average for the region. In Fairfax County, fees range from $400 for basic life support to $675 for the most advanced transport, plus $10 per mile.
