Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell (D-Selma) and Congressman Darin LaHood (R-Illinois) have introduced H.R. 6269, a bipartisan bill to prevent upcoming Medicare cuts to reimbursements for ambulance service providers.
In order to pay for better reimbursement rates, the legislation reduces reimbursements for fraudulent ambulance service providers, specifically targeting providers who primarily provide non-emergency transportation.
Rep. Sewell said that the, “Bill ensures that good actors in the ambulance industry don’t have to pay for the crimes of bad actors.”
“It is vital that we support emergency services providers in our rural areas, yet upcoming modifications to Medicare payments threaten to unfairly impact 24-7 emergency ambulance services in rural America,” Rep. LaHood said. “These changes will disrupt providers’ ability to plan and offer comprehensive services around the clock to rural patients, like many of my constituents throughout Central & West Central IL. Our bill would correct this by reforming the program to reflect the reality of the work these providers do in our communities, while continuing to assist all ambulance services to assure they meet the needs of Medicare patients in the 18th District.”
“When emergency strikes, our communities depend on a network of reliable ambulance providers, and today’s bill supports that network by preventing Medicare cuts to ambulance reimbursement,” Rep. Sewell said. “In order to strengthen Medicare, our bill also cracks down on fraud within the ambulance industry, weeding out deceptive providers who take advantage of fragile dialysis patients and drain Medicare of funds with unnecessary ambulance transports. Today’s legislation finds a commonsense solution to the challenge of providing all Americans with access to emergency transportation which Members on both sides of the aisle can support.”
“I want to thank my colleague Congresswoman Sewell for co-authoring this bipartisan legislation with me, as well as the stakeholders throughout the 18th District, and I look forward to working together to get this vital legislation passed,” Rep. LaHood said.
The bill has been referred Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin).
The legislation is anticipated to have a bipartisan Senate companion introduced in the coming weeks.
On February 9, 2018, the House passed a government funding bill which included a proposal by Rep. Sewell to increase ambulance reimbursements for providers in rural areas.
Rep. Terri A. Sewell represents the Seventh Congressional District.
Sewell is seeking a fifth term. She has no Republican opponent.
She sits on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was recently appointed to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Sewell is a Chief Deputy Whip and serves on the Democratic Caucus’s Steering and Policy Committee. She is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and serves as Vice Chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus, and Vice Chair of Outreach for the New Democrat Coalition. She is the only Black woman to have ever represented the State of Alabama in the United States Congress.
