03/07/2025
Last evening, Dave Franke and I met with the Northern Berks EMS. As everyone knows, the township instituted a 1/2 mill EMS tax. It is the responsibility of every township to make sure that adequate ems service is available to its residents. In the past, this was done with volunteers. In the post COVID world, the face of EMS is different. Many have left the healthcare profession. Training and regulations have increased. Costs are unbelievable. For example: a new litter system in an ambulance costs $75,000. Litter systems are only certified/supported for the manufacturer for 10 years.
To make thiings more challenging, Insurance companies pay what they determine to be the appropriate fee - not what is billed or what the service you are provided costs. They mail the payment directly to the patient which makes it difficult for the ambulance service to collect. Most ambualnce services have hired a billing company to assist with this. The payment when it is finally received may not be enough to cover the drugs used on a patient let alone cover the salary of the EMT, fuel in the ambulance and the equipment used.
Here is the one thing I learned last night that everyone needs to see -
In 2024 Northern Berks EMS billed insurance companies $1,086,907.00 for calls in Maidencreek Township.
The total received from that billing - $349,912.87.
The total that had to be written off as uncollected - $725,630.57.
I can't solve the insurance crisis in America but the EMS crisis that is unfolding in our County requires every municipality to act and your supervisors had the foresight to do that for you. Maidencreek is one of nine municipalities that Northern Berks EMS services. Maidencreek and Leesport Borough are currently the only two municipalities providing the increased funding that equals a 1/2 mill of their real estate taxes for 2025. For Maidencreek, that will be about $236,000 that will be put into an account for Northern Berks EMS.
The benefit to Maidencreek residents (and Leesport Borough residents) will be that each houshold will receive an ambulance membership beginning June 2025. When you receive the membership form in the mail, you will not need to pay the membership fee if you are a Maidencreek or Leesport resident, but you should return the form with the names of everyone living in your household. When you receive the mailing, read the form carefully. You will not have to pay for the membership but ALL other terms of the membership will apply.
Again Membership will begin June 1, 2025. The forms will be mailed in about 2 months. I will provide additional information in the summer newsletter since the spring newsletter is already at the printer.
