Floodlights illuminate the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, late Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. The public impeachment inquiry hearings set to begin Wednesday will pit a Democratic attorney who built his reputation as a federal mob and securities fraud prosecutor against a GOP House Oversight investigator who helped steer some of the most notable probes of the Obama administration. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D.-Nev., in a joint effort with Sens. Susan Collins, R.-Maine, Bill Cassidy, R.-La., and Peter Welch, D.-Vt., on Wednesday, introduced legislation that would reimburse ambulance providers for providing services to rural and underserved communities.
Cortez Masto reintroduced the Protecting Access to Ground Ambulance Medical Services Act passed in 2022. The act funded ground ambulance services, but expired in December 2024. Congress continued extending payments with an enhanced rate through September this year.
The proposal enhances Medicare add-on payments for ambulance services in Nevada communities, including the provision of services, allowing providers to hire and retain emergency medical training staff and equipment upgrades.
“During a medical emergency, all Nevadans should be able to count on lifesaving ambulance services,” according to Cortez Masto. “This bipartisan legislation provides essential resources to rural and underserved communities to ensure that no one is left without help in a life-or-death situation.”
Communities or people that are more than 25 minutes or more away from an ambulance service area are considered a desert, according to the American Ambulance Association, a trade group representing EMS services across the nation.
Ambulance providers needed in rural areas depend on Medicare add-ons, according to the American Ambulance Association. Medicare reimbursement rates for basic life support services in rural areas went from approximately $382 in 2019 to $448 in 2024, an inflation rate adjustment of 3.5%.
Supplies went up by 12% between 2019 and 2022 and ambulance chassis rose from 25 to 50% in the same period, according to the National Association of EMTs.