While listening to the Valley Indy debate I heard the lack of leadership that has made the Dugatto administration ineffective.
I will speak on a small portion of the debate: the exchange about the Storm Ambulance budgeting.
Overall, this is the problem throughout the Democratic administration, lots of rumors and little facts.
Mayor Dugatto spoke of the ambulance corps being a company that provides services for Derby.
She did not mention it is a not-for-profit corporation where 100 percent of dollars that come in go right back into its equipment, training and cost of being ready to respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
She did not mention that it has served Derby flawlessly since Aldermen authorized it to do so in 1948.
The “culture” she spoke of is a result of the biased claim by her tax board chairman that the ambulance corps is not transparent with its finances.
Nothing could be further from the truth. If the mayor took the time to look back through tax board minutes and board of Aldermen minutes she would see that all of the questions have been asked and answered.
Mayor Dugatto spoke of double patient billing, one bill from the ambulance and one from the paramedic service.
Storm Ambulance looked at what she proposed in her comments many years ago. “Bundle billing” as it is called, means that because insurance only pays for the transport portion of the service, the ambulance bundles the paramedic charge into its bill.
Storms resisted it because of the fact that it would erode any billing received, forcing both services to split an already significantly reduced payment. She actually proposed that in the debate.
My question would be, so if you propose this split of the payment who is going to make up the loss, more money from the city?
If the mayor took the time to educate herself on the issue she would know that every Valley ambulance service and VEMS the paramedic service have terminated those agreements because they were losing money.
She also stated that she knows a little about insurance billing by running a dental office. I am sure the first question all patients are asked is, “Who is your insurance company?” Then they are told services need to be pre-approved.
By state law the ambulance has no choice to but to transport all patients it is called to serve, regardless of their ability to pay. Have you called 911 recently for the ambulance did anyone ask for your insurance information?
Medicare/Medicaid payments are being drastically cut and, in fact, have dropped during the last few years.
Derby has one of the highest rates of Medicare/Medicaid payment rates in CT. About 74 percent of all of the calls for service.
Those patients with the insurance the mayor speaks of account for only 12 percent of the total calls.
I ask residents to vote for Richard Dziekan, who was able to speak on the topic in a well-educated manner.
The writer is running on the Republican line for Second Ward Aldermen and is a past chief of Derby Storm Ambulance.
Guest columns reflect the opinion of the writer, not necessarily the Valley Indy.
