Emergency fees begin on July 1

BY Kelly Lopez

To finance the exploding cost of responding to 9-1-1 calls, the City of Canyon Lake will begin charging the recipients of the service a monthly fee beginning July 1. All Canyon Lake residents are being charged, via the property tax roll, $16 per month for the service, unless they have opted out. Those who have opted out or who are not residents, but receive the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), will be charged $1,483 per patient, per call.

The EMS Subscription Program (Ordinance No.187) was adopted by the city council after much deliberation and community feedback on Nov. 6 last year, the city said.

The City of Canyon Lake has been under increasingly-significant financial strain since countywide public safety measures went into play.

“Skyrocketing public safety costs imposed upon the city by the county have thrown the city’s budget into a structural deficit,” according to the city. “In order to continue providing adequate emergency medical services, it became necessary for the city to charge a per call user fee when these services are requested.”

Emergency Medical Services are what is dispatched when a phone call to 9-1-1 is placed. Regardless of the type of emergency, each time 9-1-1 is called, firefighters, with their truck(s), paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), with their ambulance(s), all come quickly to the scene to respond medically as well as to put out any fires.

Emergency Medical Services have been provided this way since 1970 in California.

Canyon Lake’s EMS Subscription program is designed to protect residents and businesses from unforeseen costs for medical services provided by the Riverside County Fire Department and Cal Fire. The program does not cover the cost of ambulance transportation. Ambulance companies are often private and bill insurance companies separately.

“It is generally recognized that financing EMS has many challenges and that the methods are fragmented, conflicted and often underfunded,” according to the National EMS Advisory Council.

Another obstacle is that in order to receive compensation from federal payers and most commercial insurance companies, the ambulance must transport the patient to a hospital emergency department. This leaves EMS in a position of uncertainty as to how they will be compensated.

The EMS subscription program charges a monthly fee of $16 to cover the cost of emergency calls. This money is collected by CR&R, the city’s trash hauler, and appears annually on the property owner’s property tax bill. The entire household is covered for that price and covers as many calls as necessary in a year. Guests and visitors are not included in the program and will be charged a service fee for 9-1-1 calls made within Canyon Lake on their behalf.

Starting July 1, a per call service fee will be charged for every emergency call made, unless the resident is enrolled in the subscription program.

Canyon Lake businesses are not automatically enrolled in the EMS subscription program, but may opt-in, if they desire. If not subscribed, the business’ employees will be responsible for the cost of the 9-1-1 call ($1,483). Customers or other visitors are not covered by the business subscription.

The city has made the choice to begin the program in order to offset costs incurred by the city when emergency phone calls are placed. When an emergency call is made, the actual cost of services provided is $1,483. Instead of leaving citizens caught off guard by a large bill after making an emergency call, the city has started the EMS subscription program, the city said.

According to the city, even those with Medicare should enroll in the program because it said Medicare does not cover the cost of pre-hospital treatment provided by the fire department.

Many cities throughout the state and country have implemented EMS subscription programs in order to lessen the burden of emergency medical services provided by the county. Insurance companies do not pay for services provided by the county. Instead of allowing a large bill to impede the choice of whether or not to call 9-1-1 in an emergency, the city of Canyon Lake has implemented an ordinance to allow residents to have financial peace of mind when an emergency strikes, as well as allowing the city to remain financially sound, the city said.