SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 17

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

Phil A. Griego

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE SUPERINTENDENT OF INSURANCE TO EVALUATE THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF REQUIRING INSURANCE COVERAGE OF AMBULANCE SERVICES.

     WHEREAS, rural and urban ambulance services operate at a deficit, particularly those that are run by not-for-profit medical centers or hospitals; and

     WHEREAS, a thirty percent to forty percent collection rate on payment by recipients of service, whether through insurance or self-payment, is considered "as good as it gets" because a 911 call mandates a response, and the response may be to a scene of an accident or other unexpected catastrophic event; and

     WHEREAS, the responders are trained medical emergency providers; their interest is saving the life or responding appropriately to the emergency at hand, and they may or may not get full identification, proof of insurance, contact information or any means to track the person when the emergency is resolved; and

     WHEREAS, many people believe their health or vehicle insurance covers an ambulance response, but ambulance service providers do not find this to be the case the majority of the time; and

     WHEREAS, claims for ambulance costs are typically denied for the lack of coverage and lack of complete patient information and indigency compounded by the medical emergency; and

     WHEREAS, it is not cost-effective for a small ambulance operator to pursue the five-hundred-dollar ($500) to eight-hundred-dollar ($800) debt; and 

     WHEREAS, for ambulance service providers to survive in New Mexico, a reliable and sustainable funding mechanism must be created, much like the funding mechanism for volunteer fire services; and

     WHEREAS, a logical possibility is to include emergency management service response coverage in home, health and vehicle insurance policies issued to New Mexicans; and

     WHEREAS, this would then provide individual coverage or a pool from which ambulance services could be reimbursed;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the superintendent of insurance be requested to evaluate:

          A. the premium needed to include mandated emergency ambulance coverage in each of the three types of insurance that would reimburse the service at rates established by the public regulation commission;

          B. whether it is best to create a pool to fund ambulance services or have individual coverage within each policy, and whether those policies should be stacked in case of multiple transports during the course of an emergency; and

          C. any other issues relative to such coverage that the superintendent believes should be considered by the legislature; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the superintendent of insurance report the evaluation findings to the appropriate committee of the legislature by December 1, 2011; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the superintendent of insurance.

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