Plagued by decreasing revenue and increasing costs, ambulance services outside the Twin Cities metropolitan area are asking for help to stay afloat.
They could find some relief in
HF3701, which would allow struggling, nonurban ambulance services to impose a fee on local governments in the regions they serve. Ambulance services shown to have a deficit in a given calendar year could set a fee to be collected the following year, provided a local government has not already paid one.
Rep. Bill Hilty (DFL-Finlayson), the bill’s sponsor, believes the situation he’s witnessed in his district is common in other parts of the state. Ambulance services are required to care for the people in their regions, “but often many of the recipients of that service are not required or contracted or in any way obligated to pay for that service,” he told the House Housing Finance and Policy and Public Health Finance Division March 23.
O.J. Doyle, a lobbyist for the Minnesota Ambulance Association, agrees. Some local government units already subsidize ambulance services, but not all. In some areas, there’s an attitude of, “Why should we pay them? They have to do it anyway,” Doyle said.
Rep. Brita Sailer (DFL-Park Rapids) said she was concerned how additional fees would affect local governments dealing with cuts in state aid. Doyle replied that it was not the intention to increase the burden on local officials. Ever since a drastic cut to Medicaid reimbursement in the late-1990s, ambulance services have worked with lawmakers to find creative solutions to lost funding, he said. At the same time, the costs associated with 24/7 ambulance availability continue to rise.
The bill was laid over for possible omnibus bill inclusion. Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) sponsors a companion,
SF3248, which awaits action by the Senate Finance Committee.
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