MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The House approved a bill to raise the reimbursement rates insurers are required to pay to ambulance services.
Senate Bill 269, sponsored by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, would require health insurers to reimburse ambulance providers a set percentage of the federal Medicare rate and establish coverage when EMS provides care without transporting a patient to a hospital. This is known as “treat in place” coverage that allows EMS to address the medical issue on site and avoid what can be lengthy transport times to hospitals, freeing up the EMS staff for the next emergency.
The bill also would prohibit “balance billing.” Ambulance providers could not charge an individual more than the in-network cost-sharing amount under an insurance contract.
The bill now awaits Gov. Kay Ivey’s signature.
Advocates have said the legislation is vital to saving financially struggling and under-staffed EMS services in the state.
Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville, carried the bill in the House.
“Alabama faces a crisis in the delivery of emergency services, and this bill is designed to provide base-level reimbursements that will continue the essential service as we designated it as a body of emergency response for all 5.1 million citizens of Alabama,” Oliver said.
Inside Alabama Politics previously reported that many of the largest and most influential business and insurance groups in the state are raising concerns about the number of health care-mandate bills in the Legislature recently. Their message is that mandates cost money, and those costs are passed on to Alabama employers and consumers.
While they did not oppose Senate Bill 269 specifically, insurers and business advocates including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, the Business Council of Alabama, the Alabama Farmers Federation and the National Federation of Independent Business have warned that more health care mandates will raise costs down the line.
The bill passed by a vote of 91-3, with eight abstentions.