Trustees Chris Thomas, Rordan Hart and Debbie Nottke for pushing this ridiculous privatization of our fine ambulance service should be run out of town. Who needs these people with their short sighted ill informed right wing agenda. Get rid of them next election.

The one thing that the village can and should afford to do is allow members of this community to be taken to the hospital at their worst moment without someone asking for cash, credit card or check to pay for the ride which could save their own life and/or the lives of family members or friends. In practice, of course, that would not happen, but as a paramedic, that is certainly how it feels.

Without looking at all the funding options, of which there are several, the village is misinforming the community. You have not touched on options that would significantly reduce and/or nearly eliminate the cost.

I will end with two poignant, real examples why I am adamantly against billing. A few months ago, I answered a call with paid and volunteer staff for an elderly woman (95) who had fallen. She was on the floor, and the first thing she said was, “Will I get a bill? If I am going to get a bill, I will wait for my son to come and help me.” We reassured her that she would not receive a bill and helped her up. She would have waited two hours for her son to pick her up off the floor. Do we really want to do that to the elderly members of our community?

Last night my family had dinner at the Pourhouse. There were many members of the community there. A member of our community gave me a hug and said, “I just made a gift to honor a great man, John O’Leary. I am proud to be able to give to the fire company in his name. You all do a great job, and I want you to know I appreciate what you do. It is an honor to recognize John through this gift.” The company will lose those gifts and those donations pay for our training, some of our equipment and some of the supplies. I, personally, do not want to lose the good will we have with the members of this community. It is selfish of the Village to do this to a community that prides itself in taking care of each other.

There are other ways to handle the cost of EMS in Trumansburg without compromising the relationship between the community and the members of the Trumansburg Fire Company.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080617/OPINION02/806170326/1014/OPINION

Remember:

When: Wednesday, June 18, at 7pm
Where: Trumansburg Elementary School Auditorium.

Please come to voice your thoughts on this issue.

No matter how YOU feel about the issue – y’all come out next Wednesday (6/18) to tell the Village Board!

SO – we’ve got to focus on what makes tburg a great place to live, and the ambulance service is one of those great things. Time to promote, not demote.

“A related concern is that some patients will choose not to accept necessary medical attention due to an inability to pay for the bill that would be incurred under a third party billing system. While this is a real concern it is important to note that the third party billing company would be an employee of the Village and therefore would be contractually bound to act on the Village’s behalf and to submit and collect bills in a manner established by Village policy. Specifically, this means that under a third party billing system, each and every patient must receive a bill by law, however, it is not necessary or required that the Village or the third party billing company pursue delinquent bills from patients. ”

They are missing a very important point here. If a patient chooses not to accept necessary medical attention due to an inability to pay, that patient could suffer severe physical harm or death. At that point it is a bit late to discuss billing policies. The Village would most likely never know that they were responsible for the harm. The Village could magnanimously state that they wouldn’t pursue collection of delinquent bills, but this would not relieve them of this responsibility.

The Ithaca Journal reported today that the amount of delinquent school taxes in Tompkins County rose 19% from 2002 to 2007. I checked on foreclosures in the Town of Ulysses and found that they have risen 30% in this period. Chris Thomas said that he is assuming that about 15% of our population does not have health insurance. It’s a safe bet that that percentage is increasing. At a time when the ranks of the poor and the uninsured is rising, as a result of insane economic policies, we should be extra cautious about changes to the ambulance service that will impact them.

Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, a rate of inflation of 8% for 10 years. $300,000 would become $647,677. So it seems that the increase in the cost of the ambulance is merely keeping pace with the real inflation figures. If our real estate value,and assessments, keep pace with inflation, then the resultant tax revenues should be able to handle the cost.

The members of the board who want this plan, haven’t answered the multitude of cogent arguments against it. All they’ve got is the argument that we should do it to defend against the rapidly rising cost of the ambulance, and this argument falls apart on close examination.

With recent increases in property assessments as well as village and County tax levies it is becoming increasingly more expensive to support the Fire Department in the necessary manner …

I’m reading this as we are about to take in a lot more money in property taxes, so we can’t afford to use those taxes to support the EMS. Translation, please?