Charging for the use of Montgomery County’s 911 emergency medical service could net the cash-hungry county $6 million in 2009, but the head of the County Council’s public safety committee said he worried the policy may deter residents from calling for help.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett called Monday for the creation of an emergency medical services fee that would be directly billed to patients’ insurance providers, saying the item could eventually generate $12 million to $13 million a year and help alleviate the county’s $297 million projected budget deficit. Under the plan, the fees would range from $350 to $750 per trip based on the level of service required. People without insurance would receive a waiver for the fees.
“In a sense it’s kind of found money,” Leggett’s spokesman Patrick Lacefield said.
Council Vice President Phil Andrews, chairman of the council’s public safety committee, said he has serious reservations about the concept because he worries it could discourage people from calling 911.
“My gut tells me that when you have a substantial ambulance fee like this, people will take chances,” Andrews said. “Some will try to drive themselves, risking their own well-being and possibly harming others too.”
County Council members voted down the concept of ambulance fees as proposed by former County Executive Doug Duncan about five years ago.
