Fees going up for Lake Ambulance service
Increasing payroll costs, bad debt, rising fuel and insurance costs, vehicle-related expenses, and fixed Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements have led the Clear Lake City Council to raise its ambulance service user fee.
The Council approved the first of three readings of an ordinance Monday night which will raise rates effective Jan. 1, 2008.
While the fee for a non-emergency transport-basic life support will remain at $400, emergency transport-basic life support will rise from $450 to $525. Non-emergency transport with advanced life support will go from $450 to $600 and emergency transport with advanced life support will increase from $500 to $660. Advanced Life Support 2 will go to $715 from the current $650.
City Administrator Scott Flory said the increases are consistent with what is currently being charged for the same level of services provided by the City of Mason City’s fire department and ambulance service.
Flory and Fire Chief Doug Meyers explained that Medicare and Medicaid comprise 70 percent of the total customer base for the City of Clear Lake’s service. Because the reimbursement rate for those two classes of payers is fixed and remains the same regardless of what the City bills, the roughly 30 percent of payers who have insurance or are private pay must cover the remaining balance for the service.
The men noted the city’s increase in its mileage charge, from $8.50 to $12.50 (patient per mile) will be paid by Medicaid and Medicare because those programs allow charges of up to $12.50 per mile.
Flory said the rate increases will not eliminate the need for the service to be subsidized by the city.
“The operating deficit of the ambulance service that the City provides its citizens continues to be supported by general property tax revenues and is not operated to be either a profit center or to break-even from a financial standpoint,” said Flory.
This is the first increase in the ambulance fees since the service was started in December 2005.
