Quoted from bumblethru

Then if 2 ambulance services are using a town's ems service, such as rotterdam, then they should both have an ALS contract with that town....no?  I mean, you shouldn't use ANY taxpaid service without reimbursement where applicable....right?

Quoted from senders

Do we have to deploy the paramedics? what drives the system? State regs? Fed regs?.....can more than 1 contract be in effect? and does a contract
have to exist?

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The ALS contracts with EVERY ambulance service that responds to the town should have been authorized and signed months ago.   There is absolutely no excuse for the hold up.

Quoted from CICERO

What do ya think about your boy FDG cutting off the town fuel to your beloved REMS so abruptly.  Pretty harsh huh?

Quoted from gadfly

That is left to the discretion of responding personnel.

There can be multiple contracts...and any ambulance provider operating in the Town can secure such a contract....but that
contract is absolutely necessary in order for ems providers to bill for ALS administered by our paramedics.

Quoted from bumblethru

I agree that the outcome of the vote should have been discussed in detail BEFORE the vote.
But I agree with FDG's decision.
REMS is a 'private' business now. Where does Mohawk get their fuel?
Rotterdamians will still have ambulance coverage. REMS is still here and so is Mohawk.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Mr. Del Gallo is hardly a "boy" -- such language is quite offensive.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
REMS will use county fuel pumps
Service faced high costs after Del Gallo cut access to town
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net

    Schenectady County officials have agreed to sell fuel to the Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services Inc., after Supervisor Frank Del Gallo abruptly shut off the not-forprofit ambulance company’s access to the town pumps.
    Frank Salamone, an attorney representing the ambulance company, said the county is temporarily allowing ambulance drivers to access the pumps while a more lasting arrangement can be worked out. He said REMS will pay a monthly fuel bill to the county, much as the company had done with the town prior to this week.
    “The county has decided that pubic safety is paramount and has extended the right to use their facility,” he said Friday.
    Drivers were forced to use retail pumps on Thursday, after Del Gallo ordered their access be blocked. He had asked the company to turn in its fuel keys via an e-mail sent Tuesday.
    Salamone said REMS purchased about $127 of fuel at the retail cost of $3.47 per gallon. Ambulances were previously paying $2.92 per gallon at the town’s pumps.
    “That’s a considerable chunk of change,” he said. ..................>>>>..................>>>>..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01101&AppName=1

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1.Government Ambulance Service – Operating separately from (although alongside) the fire and police service of the area, these ambulances are funded by local, provincial or national government. In some countries, these only tend to be found in big cities, whereas in countries such as United Kingdom almost all emergency ambulances are part of a national health system.[35] In the United States, ambulance service provided by a local government are often referred to as "third service" EMS (the Fire Department, Police Department, and separate EMS forming an emergency services trio) by the employees of said service, as well as other city officials and residents.

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Browse > Home / HR 676 – Healthcare-NOW! The United States National Health Care Act, H.R. 676
Introduced by Rep. John Conyers.
Read the full bill.
Read an annotated version of the bill.

Brief Summary of the Legislation
The United States National Health Care Act establishes a unique American national universal health insurance program. The bill would create a publicly financed, privately delivered healthcare system that uses the already existing Medicare program by expanding and improving it to all U.S. residents, and all residents living in U.S. territories. The goal of the legislation is to ensure that everyone will have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and most cost effective healthcare services regardless of their employment, income, or healthcare status. With over 45-75 million uninsured in the United States, and another 50 million who are under-insured, the time has come to change our inefficient and costly fragmented non-healthcare system.

Who is Eligible?
Every person living or visiting in the United States and the U.S. Territories would receive a United States National Health Insurance Card and ID number once they enroll at the appropriate location. Social Security numbers may not be used when assigning ID cards.

Healthcare Services Covered
This program will cover all medically necessary services, including primary care, inpatient care, outpatient care, emergency care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, long term care, mental health services, dentistry, eye care, chiropractic, and substance abuse treatment. Patients have their choice of physicians, providers, hospitals, clinics, and practices. No co-pays or deductibles are permissible under this act.

Conversion To A Non-Profit Healthcare System
Private health insurers shall be prohibited under this act from selling coverage that duplicates the benefits of the USNHI program. Exceptions to this rule include coverage for cosmetic surgery, and other medically unnecessary treatments. Those who are displaced as the result of the transition to a non- profit healthcare system are the first to be hired and retrained under this act.

Cost Containment Provisions/Reimbursement
The National USNHI program will set reimbursement rates annually for physicians, allow for global budgets (annual lump sums for operating expenses) for healthcare providers; and negotiate prescription drug prices. A “Medicare For All Trust Fund” will be established to ensure a dedicated stream of funding, as well as an annual appropriation to ensure optimal levels of funding for the program.

The conversion to a not-for-profit healthcare system will take place over a 15 year period, through the sale of U.S. treasury bonds.

HR 676 Would Save $400 billion
The U.S. could save enough on administrative costs with a single-payer system to cover the uninsured.
PNHP Co-founders Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein published this definitive study of the administrative costs of the U.S. health system in the August 21, 2003 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. After analyzing the costs of insurers, employers, doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and home-care agencies in both the U.S. and Canada, they found that administration consumes 31.0 percent of U.S. health spending, double the proportion of Canada (16.7 percent). Average overhead among private U.S. insurers was 11.7 percent, compared with 1.3 percent for Canada’s single-payer system and 3.6 percent for Medicare. Streamlined to Canadian levels, enough administrative waste could be saved to provide compressive health insurance to all Americans. You can read the study here.

Proposed Funding For HR 676 Program*
Maintain current federal and state funding for existing healthcare programs; employer payroll tax of 4.5%, an employee payroll tax of 3.3%, in addition to the already existing 1.45% for Medicare; establish a 5% health tax on the top 5% of income earners; 10% tax on top 1% of wage earners, 1/3rd of 1% stock transaction tax, closing corporate tax loop-holes; repeal the Bush tax cut for the highest income earners.

*This proposal is put forward by single-payer advocates as one example of a funding system, though HR 676 doesn’t propose a funding program.

Quoted Text

    Salamone said REMS purchased about $127 of fuel at the retail cost of $3.47 per gallon. Ambulances were previously paying $2.92 per gallon at the town’s pumps.