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Permanent Medicare
Ambulance Relief
Contact your member of Congress now
By Mark Harrison
KAPA President
Benton
—
Please
read the call to action below from the American Ambulance
Association. This will affect every ambulance service in the
nation, so this is vitally important to us all. KAPA has
invested a great deal of resources over the past several years and
has worked closely with the AAA regarding Medicare ambulance
reimbursement. With each passing year, we feel like we made
a few "baby" steps in the right direction by working with our
members of Congress.
If the legislation below is not passed
your service will have a
decrease in the Medicare allowable on December 31
of this year. If passed, this legislation would make the
current increase that we are receiving, a permanent one.
Please help by contacting your members
of Congress. Do not under estimate the impact of your calls
and letters. Each year as we visit with Congressional
members, they refer to various issues and whether their offices
were contacted by the people from within their districts. If
you are unsure how to contact your member of Congress, please
follow the simple instructions below. It is quick and easy
but also very important.
CALL TO ACTION
–
Contact Congress on Permanent Medicare Ambulance Relief
TO: All
Ambulance Service Professionals
FROM: Jim Finger,
AAA President
RE:
Permanent Medicare Ambulance Relief
The time is now for you to write your members of Congress
regarding permanent Medicare ambulance relief!
Please
write to your Members of Congress to request that they cosponsor
the Medicare Ambulance Access
Preservation Act (S. 1066, H.R. 2443). This
legislation for permanent Medicare ambulance relief was introduced
recently in the United States Senate by Senators Charles Schumer
(D-NY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Jeff Sessions
(R-AL) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen
Richard Neal (D-MA) and Fred Upton (R-MI). Please write to your
Members of Congress today!
To
access the AAA online letter writing system, go to:
http://capwiz.com/the-aaa/home/
The
Medicare Ambulance Access
Preservation Act would implement, starting January 1,
2010, a permanent 6% increase
to base and mileage rates under the Medicare ambulance fee
schedule and permanently extend
the bonus payment of 22.6% for transports originating in super
rural areas. The increases are supported by the findings
of the May 2007 report by the Government Accountability Office on
the costs of providing ambulance services. These permanent
increases would offset reductions in payments from the loss of
the current temporary Medicare ambulance relief provisions
which all expire at the end of this year!
Writing Letters is Fast and Easy
The AAA online
letter writing tool will take only minutes for you to send letters
to your Members of Congress. All you will need to do is enter
your zip code and the tool will determine your Members of Congress
and provide you with a draft letter. It will then e-mail or fax
your letter for you.
To access the AAA online letter writing system, go to:
http://capwiz.com/the-aaa/home/
Current Cosponsors of the
Medicare Ambulance Payment Extension Act
If the Member of
Congress to whom you are writing is already a cosponsor of the
Medicare Ambulance Access
Preservation Act, please include a statement in your
letter thanking them for his or her cosponsorship. Below is a
current list by state of cosponsors, current through May 20, 2009.
AL:
Sen. Jeff Sessions
KS: Sen. Pat Roberts
LA: Sen. Mary
Landrieu
MA: Rep. Richard
Neal
MI: Rep. Fred Upton
NY: Sen. Charles
Schumer
ND: Sen. Kent Conrad
VT: Sen. Patrick
Leahy, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Peter Welch
To access the AAA
online letter writing system, go to: http://capwiz.com/the-aaa/home/
Please Write Your Members of Congress Today! |
