December 14, 2009
Dear Mayor Petrovic and Trustees Hrubos, Hart, Nottke, and Thomas:
We the undersigned members of the Ulysses Town Board as will be constituted on January 1, 2010 respectfully request that the decision on EMS billing be postponed. We as members of the Town Board who will have the responsibility to contract for EMS services for Ulysses, want to work with the Village Board on this issue. We need to understand more fully what the consequences and details of the proposed plan mean for Town residents in terms of cost savings, service, and fairness. As such, we oppose the Village moving forward at this time with the insurance-only billing plan as currently outlined, with the level of detail provided to us.
As elected officials, we all want to reduce costs to taxpayers while maintaining services. We understand that billing offers the opportunity to generate revenue to help control the escalating costs of maintaining the current ambulance EMS if volunteer numbers continue to decrease and need to be replaced by paid staff. The argument for recovering some of the money our residents pay to health insurance companies to help lower taxes is a compelling one.
But if as a community we continue to support ambulance service with taxpayer dollars, we believe it is important to do everything we can to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their financial resources will not hesitate to call 911 if they or a loved one need an ambulance. This was a major concern voiced by many at the public meeting on the billing option last year. We are concerned that the insurance-only billing plan as presented to the public on November 12, 2009 has not been well enough considered in some aspects that can have serious consequences for equity and ensuring that no one in our community might refuse care or emergency services for fear of the costs. Your response at the November meeting to questions such as how high deductibles will be handled was that these sort of issues are details, not important to be worked out until after the decision to move to billing is made. We are not comfortable with this approach.
Many of our residents who are self employed or work for small businesses by necessity have health insurance with a high deductible that has to be met before benefits are paid. These residents could end up paying several hundred dollars for an ambulance, while others pay little or nothing, depending on their insurance coverage and how the Village chooses to handle collection of the bill. This is not a small detail in the policy, as it impacts sectors of the population very differently.
Another concern is that the support for this major change in policy that impacts so many people is not very strong. The Ulysses Town board voted 3 to 2 in favor of support for billing, with those opposed concerned there was not enough information on all aspects of the issue. Both incoming members of the Town Board are opposed to moving to billing with the currently proposed plan. The Fire Department vote on December 2 was also closely split, with a small majority (53%) in favor the billing process and 47% opposed. Concerns were raised about both the legality of insurance-only billing and the reaction of people in need to taking help when responders cannot assure them that there is no cost. The internal conflict created within the Fire Company between those that favor vs. those that oppose is cause for concern.
The Village should not go forward with a change in policy that has such large ramifications without trying to achieve better consensus among those responsible in some way for implementing it. Why rush at this time to put this plan into place without answers to all of the questions and all of the options fully explored? This issue will impact the residents of our area for many years to come. Shrinking resources and increasing expenses make it necessary to consider the costs and benefits of a change in our current 100% taxpayer-funded EMS, but our Boards can certainly afford to take a little more time to be sure we make a policy decision that serves the greatest good for the most residents.
The new Ulysses Town Board looks forward to working with the Village on this difficult issue as well as the other challenges that face our community in these times of economic uncertainty. The taxpayers expect and deserve a commitment to inter-municipal cooperation from all of us.
Sincerely,
Roxanne Marino (Supervisor-Elect)
Lucia Tyler (Councilperson)
Kevin Romer (Councilperson-Elect)
David Kerness (Councilperson)
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