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When Galen Tyrol needed an ambulance for his wife Callie, he never expected the turmoil that would ensue from calling 911.
Local volunteers from Island Pond Rescue arrived to treat Mrs. Tyrol, who had fallen, but were told by Mr. Tyrol that they could not treat her due to a mandate from his new health insurance, obtained by the State’s new Insurance Exchange. Instead, a private ambulance company had to be dispatched from 25 miles away to treat and transport Mrs. Tyrol. It turns out that the insurance company the Tyrols had to choose contracts with the commercial ambulance company for service, and will not pay any other ambulance for service.
Ambulance
“We live on a fixed income” stated Mr. Tyrol. “We were told our old insurance company, which we liked, was dropping us, and we were forced to go with this new insurance company. It costs us more, and gives us less choices. We simply cannot afford an ambulance bill, which we would get stuck with if we let the volunteers transport us. We have no choice but to refuse them”.
Island Pond Rescue’s president, Paul K. Miller, stated that this is not the first time this has happened, and likely will be the way of the future, whether they like it or not. “Island Pond Rescue does bill for services, as our costs are significant, and old funding methods were not sufficient to cover them. Now we are being told that we won’t be paid if we transport residents of our town who have changed insurance companies.” stated Miller. “At this rate, we will have no choice but to either close down, or let ourselves be acquired by a larger conglomerate.”
Metro Paramedics, the commercial agency who transported Mrs. Tyrol, admits it has a contract with Colonial Health Insurance for all EMS care and treatment of their insured. “Medicare reimbursement rates are down. Other insurances follow this trend, and their reimbursements are down as well. By contracting with Colonial, we were able to negotiate an acceptable payment amount that will support our operations without forcing us to make cutbacks.” stated Metro Paramedics spokesperson Gina Inviere.
When asked if this was fair to local volunteer agencies, Ms. Inviere stated “It’s a business decision. They make theirs, we make ours. This is nothing new. She states that many large ambulance companies across the US are contracting with major insurers. “All this has happened before, and will happen again” stated Ms. Inviere. She went on to state that volunteer agencies don’t necessarily have to close down. “They can first respond, as long as they don’t bill. Or they can be acquired by our company, or others like us.” she states.
Volunteer agencies are not the only ones affected. Municipal departments are as well, if they bill for services, leaving them only the options of becoming a tax-based service in order to maintain income or having to consider ceasing EMS operations.
“This is crap” stated Mr. Miller of Island Pond Rescue. “When Obamacare was forced on us, the President looked us in the eye and said ‘If you like your insurance, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep him’. Well, nobody mentioned anything about being able to keep your local ambulance if you like it, and now people are finding out they can’t.”
When asked about his future, and that of Island Pond Ambulance in specific, and volunteer ambulances in general, Mr. Miller stated “I might have to start working for Metro Paramedics. I need to work, and my future here looks pretty bleak.” He went on to say that his volunteers will “either have to find paying jobs in larger companies, or go find a new hobby”. “Nobody thought Obamacare was going to shut down local ambulance services. Well, with only certain large commercial agencies getting contracts to provide service to their insured, that is exactly what is happening” stated a visibly upset Miller.
When Miller, and others in volunteer EMS contacted Federal authorities, they were told “This is Managed Healthcare. What part of “Managed” don’t you understand? We keep costs down by contracting with preferred ambulance services for treatment or transport. That is our concern, not what happens to small outfits that can’t keep up with the times.”
As for the Tyrols, they say that while they waited longer to get service, the fact that they don’t have to worry about a bill from Metro Paramedics makes sense. “We have to do what our insurance company tells us” states Mr. Tyrol. “I felt sorry for the volunteers, they seemed nice. But I can’t get stuck with a bill my insurance won’t pay, so I had no choice but to send them on their way.”
