I was taken aback when I read only two County Council members -- Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg and Howard A. Denis (R-Dist. 1) of Chevy Chase -- are against the legislation of "taxing" for the use of the "public safety vehicle," or the ambulance ("CPR for ambulance fee? Two lawmakers say so," Dec. 22).
This service is part of the safety for county residents. Without this service we would lose many residents a day, and many of them are lower income families who are already being taxed enough by the county.
Why add a tax, County Executive Douglas Duncan? This is so irresponsible when so many lives are at risk. You can say that residents aren't going to get taxed for using an ambulance if they have no insurance, yet you have to see that many people are not going to trust this, and are going to hesitate or not call the ambulance.
I got to thinking about the proposed $350 ambulance fee. I could get a flight from Baltimore to San Diego on US Air for less than that amount round trip. Do you think that even compares with the gauze and needles and medication that are going to be used by volunteer emergency medical technicians?
And even if the insurance pays for the ambulance fees, what about the insurance premiums going up? This should be a concern to everyone.
I hope that everyone reads this and understands the grave public safety risk involved.
Mr. Duncan, I am sorry but human life is not a game to me, and it shouldn't be to anyone. Please rethink this and the impact it will have on all of us, including you and your family and friends. A better alternative is charging $350 or even higher for all the prank calls to the fire department or police department.
And maybe even a better alternative, and I will call for this, is restraint in spending our tax money. Please all residents speak out about this, it impacts you.
Kevin Correa, Olney
I'm truly disappointed that the County Council would even consider imposing a fee for ambulance usage.
Regardless of weather or not other jurisdictions do so, the council must find ways to pay for this service without imposing a fee. There are many other services that the county should consider charging for before those that save people's lives in an emergency. What will come next? A firefighting fee? A police rescue fee?
I can just see the headline now: "County's Poor Dying to Avoid Ambulance Fee." This is Montgomery County. We can do better than this.
I'm with Councilmen Philip Andrews and Howard Denis on this one.
S. Saqib Ali, North Potomac
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