At least two-thirds of the tens of thousands of patients Montgomery County ambulances take to the hospital each year do not have life-threatening medical problems, an Examiner investigation has revealed.
Last month, County Executive Ike Leggett called for a fee of between $350 to $750 for ambulance trips for residents with insurance, saying it could eventually generate as much as $13 million a year and help alleviate the county’s $297 million projected budget deficit. Those without insurance would not be charged.
Critics of the plan, including Council Vice President Phil Andrews, have said fees could discourage people from calling 911 and “some will try to drive themselves, risking their own well-being and possibly harming others too,” Andrews said.
But health care experts say the overwhelming majority of people who ride ambulances are elderly, almost all of whom are insured through Medicare. And in Montgomery County, two-thirds of the approximately 80,000 ambulance calls the county fire department receives each year are for non-life-threatening situations. That includes minor traumas like broken bones, but also just people feeling ill.
Betsy McCaughey, a health care expert with the Hudson Institute said the elderly, then the mentally disabled and drug users as the most likely to call an ambulance. She said immigrants often don’t tax emergency medical systems except for in areas, like the border with Mexico, where she said the sheer number of immigrants can overwhelm hospitals.
However, Jack Martin, director of special projects at the anti-illegal immigration group Federation for American Immigration Reform, said illegal immigrants, who generally do not have insurance, often wait until their health has declined to the point of an emergency before seeking care.
“Illegal immigrants are more likely to resort to emergency medical care as their de facto medical care than the rest of the population,” he said, which could come into play as the county’s illegal population continues to soar.
The county’s fire department will continue to encourage all residents to call 911 regardless of the fee, fire department spokesman Peter Piringer said.
Piringer added that he’s not aware of anyone abusing the system, although, “people might think they’ll get better service by calling the ambulance.”
