Political Quotes

“today I introduce S. 358, a bill which will clarify the tax treatment of air ambulance flights. The purpose of an air ambulance is to transport critically ill or injured patients quickly and with the appropriate level of care between hospitals or from roadside accidents to emergency rooms. Nearly 70 percent of all air medical transports originate in rural locations. Since air ambulances are reimbursed for providing their services, though, they are considered charter operators, and therefore, must pay the Federal aviation excise tax. The need for this legislation is evident when you consider that nearly half of all air medical flights are reimbursed from Government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Champus, or State programs. In effect, this means that the tax revenue generated is simply one Government agency paying a tax to another with an air ambulance program acting as tax collector. Commercial airlines can pass this tax on to its paying customers, but for transportation on an air ambulance, this tax is passed on to the payor even if that payor is another Government program such as Medicare. Furthermore, even though the total portion of tax revenue generated by air ambulances is small compared to airlines, approximately 45,000 covered air medical transports compared to 500 million commercial and charter passengers, the financial and administrative burden on air ambulance administrators is significant.”