[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       EMERGENCY AMBULANCE SERVICES ACCESS ASSURANCE ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. FRED UPTON

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 12, 1999

  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues, 
Representative Ed Towns and Representative Jo Ann Emerson, in 
introducing H.R. 1777, the Emergency Ambulance Services Assurance Act 
of 1999. This legislation will ensure that health care plans reimburse 
for emergency ambulance services when individuals had every reason to 
believe that they were experiencing an extremely serious condition 
requiring immediate emergency care.
  Some may ask why we are introducing this legislation when all of the 
major managed care reform bills that have been introduced in Congress 
already include emergency care provisions. But the fact is, these bills 
cover only what happens when the patient enters the emergency room. 
None of the bills ensures coverage for emergency ambulance services. It 
is our hope to use this separate bill to highlight this omission and to 
build support for including emergency ambulance services coverage in 
more comprehensive managed care reform proposals that may be moving 
through the legislative process.
  This legislation would ensure that individuals suffering what they 
had every reason to assume to be a potentially life-threatening 
condition requiring immediate medical attention or their family or 
caretakers don't have to phone their insurance plan before they call 
for an ambulance and don't have to worry about paying for the ambulance 
services should the condition later prove to be not as serious as the 
patient thought.

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