Quoted from senders

only for 1 election year and there after a 'feel-good' podium puck for the politicians......and A GIANT UNION(of which I think will
happen regardless, national healthcare and all)

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

And if REMS goes away - Mohawk can raise the fees that it charges through the roof.  Because they will
be the only game in town then.

REMS must survive and there are many folks in this town who will keep fighting the good fight to keep
it going.

Quoted from gadfly

I don't think anyone wanted REMS to go away...they just want them to be financially independent. No one knows how rates will
rise in the near or distant future...we only know they will steadily rise...but we also know that with Mohawk taxpayers will not be
absorbing those costs...the users and their insurers will, as it should be. Unless and until REMS can achieve the same, they are
jeopardizing their own future through no fault of Mohawk or anyone else.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

If Mohawk is allowed to be the only ambulance service in town ---   they will jack up their rates -- and everyone
will be absorbing the costs through higher ambulance bills .. higher insurance rates .. etc.

Quoted from Chris_Tomaselli

hr]

thats not entirely true

Providers and Facilities contract with insurance companies, like medicare or cdphp, and in doing so they accept that insurance companies fee schedule for services.  So as long as the provider or facility is in network with your insurance and the service is covered, then the provider or facility is not setting the rate or fee.  

currently the medicare allowed amount for basic transport is service code ( A0428 )   $255.20.  So any facility that offers that service and contracts with medicare can not exceed that amount when dealing with medicare patients.  your only responsibility would be any deductibles or copays.  Hard billing, which is illegal, would be charging $500 for the service and then attemtping to collect the difference after medicare paid their share.    

Quoted from Chris_Tomaselli

---

thats not entirely true

Providers and Facilities contract with insurance companies, like medicare or cdphp, and in doing so they accept that insurance companies fee schedule for services.  So as long as the provider or facility is in network with your insurance and the service is covered, then the provider or facility is not setting the rate or fee.  

currently the medicare allowed amount for basic transport is service code ( A0428 )   $255.20.  So any facility that offers that service and contracts with medicare can not exceed that amount when dealing with medicare patients.  your only responsibility would be any deductibles or copays.  Hard billing, which is illegal, would be charging $500 for the service and then attemtping to collect the difference after medicare paid their share.    

Quoted from bumblethru

Thank you! You are dead on here. (is that hate speech?) )

And hopefully REMS will continue to grow into a viable service that can sustain itself without tax funding. The vote was about the 'taxing district'.......it wasn't about giving REMS the boot! That line of thinking is just the usual rotterdam rhetoric....which it is so greatly know for!!

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

And there is stop them from leaving the insurance network so that they can charge more.  

The anti-REMS folks only what people to think that REMS' costs will go up.   The fact is that Mohawk's costs
will go up to and, if, they are allowed to have a monopoly on the ambulance service .. they were will be no
competition to keep them from raising their fees.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

If it was just about the tax district - then why all the fuss because REM got a federal grant?

Why were they cut off from gas from the town pumps?    

There IS a cadre in the town that wants to get rid of REMS .. I am ABSOLUTELY certain of that.   This
cadre must be stopped from achieving that goal.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

And there is stop them from leaving the insurance network so that they can charge more.  

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

And there is stop them from leaving the insurance network so that they can charge more.  

Quoted Text

Sections 106(a), 106(b), and 106(c) of the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 enacted in December of 2010 extended payment provisions of previous legislation including the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) and the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) which increased Ambulance Fee Schedule amounts by 2% for services originating in urban areas (as defined by the ZIP Code of the point of pickup) and by 3% for services originating in rural areas (again, as defined by the ZIP Code of the point of pickup). These provisions had been scheduled to expire on December 31, 2010.

The 2011 Ambulance Fee Schedule Public Use file found below reflects the mandated extensions effective for claims with dates of service beginning January 1, 2011.