rates and a jump in the number of uninsured Americans, says Stephen Williamson, president of the American Ambulance Association. A 2007 report by the Government Accountability Office showed providers were paid a Medicare reimbursement rate 6% below cost, and the gap widened to 17% in remote areas. Williamson says the disparity has grown since then. In the past, providers could rely on subsidies from local government, but those resources have dwindled during the economic downturn, Williamson says. Steve Weigand, director of servicing for the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, says the number of uninsured people receiving ambulance transport has swelled during the past 18 to 24 months. “We’re having to raise the rate on everyone else because of the people who don’t have insurance,” Weigand says. Among ambulance providers to recently seek increases: -Colorado Springs: American Medical Response of Colorado, a private ambulance company, will increase rates by nearly 6% Saturday, says Douglas Moore, a spokesman for Emergency Medical Services Corp., AMR’s parent company. -Los Angeles: The city’s fire department increased its ambulance prices by nearly 37% to $974 for basic life support services in July, the second hike in two years, says David Frelinger, a battalion chief in the emergency medical services section. Even when ambulance providers increase their rates, they often get only a fraction of the full payment, says Cathy Carter, president of Medical Claim-Aid in Denton, Md., which provides billing and collection services for ambulance providers in Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. Greg Latshaw, USA Today, December 28, 2010 ]]>