Municipal fire districts and private emergency squads are clashing at the statehouse over a measure that would allow volunteer fire departments to bill patients' insurers for ambulance runs.
Some volunteer emergency medical services have been forced to close due to rising costs and their inability to find the revenue needed to sustain their operations and recover their expenses, said Thomas Rinaldi, president of the Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York.
"They just can't make it," Rinaldi said in an interview.
He noted that some municipal departments, struggling to find people willing to donate their time as volunteers, now pay EMS crew members so the communities can continue to offer ambulance services.