GROVETON — Air ambulance services still will be available in Trinity County, but without any subsidies from the Trinity County Commissioners Court.
For two years, the county has paid more than $40,000 per year, through grant funds, for a program with PHI Cares that would mean that covered county residents would not pay for transport by helicopter in case of medical emergencies.
However, during a November meeting, the county opted to seek bids for the third year of the available funding, and at the Dec. 10 meeting, discussed two bids and ultimately opted to spend the available funds elsewhere.
Two services placed bids — PHI Cares out of Conroe and AirMedCare of Lufkin — and a third, HCA Healthcare, discussed issues concerning flight times, costs and the No Surprises Act, which means that people facing medical bill cannot be hit with huge invoices and are only liable for their deductible and co-pay amounts.
County Attorney Colton Hay said there also was concern about the calls being skewed toward PHI, regardless of whether the other firms could respond faster.
Commissioner Neal Smith said he couldn’t find any fault in any of the services, but after two years, he felt that it should be up to the people to pay for their services, not the county, even if they had grant funds remaining. He also said the reason the county considered the plan in the first place was because at the time, there were problems with the ambulance service in the Groveton area.
County Auditor Bonnie Kennedy said that there was 1 year’s worth of funds left, but those funds were not specifically earmarked and could be used elsewhere.
Smith said the county can use the funds elsewhere and moved to deny all bids; in his second, Commissioner Mike Loftin said that since the county is now paying for regular ambulance service, paying for air service wasn’t necessary.
Commissioner Tommy Park said the grant funds were meant to be used for the air ambulance service and was the only commissioner voting against the measure.
In other business, the county:
