Two more local volunteer fire departments are seeking to bill insurance carriers for their emergency medical services, this time on the western portion of the county.
Upper Mountain Fire Company in Lewiston and Youngstown Fire Company went before their respective boards this past month seeking to bill insurance companies for the ambulance service they provide.
“The cost of everything as we all know has gone up,” said Youngstown Fire Company President Virginia O’Neill, with their last ambulance costing around $250,000 and a Lucas machine that does chest compressions they would like to purchase costing $50,000.
“We’re providing this service to our residents,” said Upper Mountain Fire Co. President John Malinchock before the Lewiston Town Board. “The enactment basically will allow us to collect fees and help us offset some costs.”
In April 2022, state government included the EMS Cost Recovery Act as part of the NY budget, which allows volunteer firefighter organizations to recover costs for the EMS services they render from insurance companies, without passing costs onto taxpayers.
For residents in their respective fire company’s service area, when they get an ambulance their insurance would cover the costs of the ambulance service they get. A person getting service with a high insurance deductible would not receive a bill. They would also not be billed if they do not have insurance.
This is not the case with a service like Mercy Flight, which bills both a patient’s insurance and takes a copay.
“This is all about getting quality ambulance service to the people of Lewiston,” said Lewiston Town Board member John Jacoby. “They can’t do it unless they’re properly funded.”
For the Youngstown Fire Company, village trustee Nicole Quarantillo, a company member, said some fees the Youngstown company discussed billing insurance companies include $1,000 for service, a mileage fee, and a treatment release fee.
Malinchock said they have seen a wave of these fee systems being enacted across the county, with 12 volunteer services either getting approval or going through the process. Some of these departments include Shawnee, Rapids, Olcott, Newfane, Barker, Royalton, Somerset, and ones in the Town of Lockport.
Malinchock hopes to have Upper Mountain get this program in place by the end of July, with the Lewiston Town Board to vote on a resolution allowing this at a future meeting. The Youngstown Village Board approved their fire company’s request at their May work session, with O’Neill saying it will go into effect soon.