Open Letter To Governor Newsom & California State Legislature

ACTION NEEDED NOW TO ENSURE CRITICAL FUNDING
FOR EMERGENCY AIR AMBULANCES

Commnetary by: Christian Giller, President of California Association of Air Medical Services.

Air ambulances save lives, flying thousands of missions to connect the sick or injured with emergency, trauma or specialty care. But without urgent action by State of California, these life-saving services and the Californians they serve are at risk.

If the State Legislature does not take immediate action to assure a new funding source, air medical bases across the state will be forced to close or cut back on the emergency services they provide, leaving a perilous hole in California's emergency readiness for all...   READ MORE

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Reimbursement

On "Today, 70% of Air Ambulance Transports are uninsured or covered by Medicare and MediCal, whose reimbursement rates have not changed in many year"

Since then, support from the state of California was not included in the budget. As a result, legislation, in the form of Assembly Bill 651 is being considered by the legislature. AB 651 would mandate that part of the shortfall in reimbursement to our members for the transport of MediCal patients be included as a budget item. We are optimistic that it will pass and signed by the governor. However we encourage our members and friends to make their support known to their legislators and Governor Newsom’s office.