Explainer: How will Ross/West View EMS charging annual fee for service work?

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — Ross/West View EMS responds to more than 11,000 emergency calls a year.

The agency serves 50,000 people in 26,000 homes across Ross Township, West View, Millvale, Reserve Township and Ohio Township.

Executive Director Greg Porter estimates 15-20% of households in those areas call an ambulance at least once per year.

“Just providing a good community service, that’s really what we want to do,” said Porter.

But that’s grown increasingly difficult over the years.

Porter says his agency needs more funding than the municipalities it serves are able to provide.

After years of cutting costs and putting off pay raises and equipment upgrades, Porter says the EMS company needed to find a way improve funding.

That’s now coming in the form of an annual $55 fee for each household in the Ross/West View EMS service area.

People like Millvale resident Jared Schaut are about to begin receiving their invoices.

“You spend that much going out to dinner one night with your family,” said Schaut. “Why not?”

“To be completely transparent, that amount of money, we think, if everybody pays, will be about $1.8 million,” said Porter.

Starting next year, the EMS agency will no longer receive $300,000 in annual funding from the municipalities it serves.

Porter says this new plan could save people hundreds of dollars in the event of an emergency.

That’s because anyone who has paid their annual fee will not have to shell out any out-of-pocket ambulance fees that are not covered by insurance.

“So, it’s really a nominal fee, almost like an insurance policy,” explained Porter.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Schaut. “I think it’ll help a lot of people who normally would avoid going to the hospital or calling an ambulance for services they need because they’re afraid of the big bill that’s going to come to them afterwards.”

For people who do not pay the annual fee, the EMS agency says they will still receive help in an emergency.

“If you don’t pay your water bill, they have the opportunity to take something away. When somebody calls 911, I don’t know who does and who doesn’t pay,” said Porter.

The $55 fee is due by Aug. 31.

Email invoices began going out this week.

Physical copies will come in the mail by the third week of March.

You can pay your bill online by clicking here or by mail.

If you pay it early, by June 1, there’s a $4.50 discount.

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