When someone calls 911, they expect an ambulance to arrive quickly. But across Pennsylvania, that expectation is increasingly at risk as more emergency medical services agencies shut down due to financial strain.

According to Plum EMS Director of Operations Brian Maloney, every time an ambulance responds to a call, it costs the agency about $850 just to get out the door.

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve been in crisis,” Maloney said, “but now we are literally falling apart.”

The problem isn’t just the high cost, it’s the lack of reimbursement. In some cases, with commercial insurance companies, they will send payment directly to the patient instead of the EMS provider, and that money doesn’t always make it back to the agency.

“In my community, 38 percent of those checks were kept by the patient,” Maloney said. “In three years, Plum EMS, which is a small organization, lost a quarter of a million dollars.”

Pennsylvania has lost 52 EMS agencies in just the last two years. The risk for more is always there.

State Rep. Jill Cooper, R-Westmoreland County, is leading a bipartisan effort to change that. Her proposal, House Bill 1152, would require commercial insurance companies to directly reimburse EMS agencies for 911 calls they respond to.

“I feel an obligation to the seniors and people in my district,” Cooper said. “When they call and expect an ambulance in 8 to 10 minutes, they should get one, in order to save their life.”

EMS services in Pennsylvania do not receive tax dollars for operations, so timely reimbursement is vital. Maloney told Channel 11 that no agency wants to have to go after a patient to get a bill paid.

Supporters of the bill said it would only increase insurance premiums by around $10 but could make a major difference in keeping EMS agencies open.

“It’s causing EMS companies to go out of business,” Maloney said. “Just getting an ambulance ready to go costs money, and they’re losing it every time they respond. This bill is one step toward solving that problem.”

House Bill 1152 has nearly 50 cosponsors and is currently in committee, awaiting a vote.

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‘Less savings’ without federal tax credits

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act allowed tax-exempt entities, like local governments and schools, to utilize clean energy tax credits for the first time. These credits offer reimbursement payments to schools that cover 30% or more of the costs of a solar project.

The Upper Darby School District expected these federal tax credits to cover over $2 million of the total $9 million cost of its six solar projects.

But the timelines set out in the House bill would likely be difficult, if not impossible for the district to meet, because the district needs to vet and choose contractors, get approval from the school board, acquire supplies through the contractors and wait until schools are closed during the summer to begin construction, officials said. Districts also need approval from utilities to connect the projects to the local grid.

The soonest the Upper Darby School District could start to build its solar projects would be next summer, officials said.

Without the federal tax credits, the solar projects would eat up most of the district’s yearly capital budget at a time when federal funding for operational costs is uncertain, McGarry said. This could mean sacrificing crucial facilities projects, such as replacing windows, renovating old bathrooms and upgrading security systems, he said.

“We can’t afford to do that,” McGarry said.

The Upper Darby School District is not alone. The William Penn School District would not be able to complete a Solar for Schools project planned for Park Lane Elementary School without the federal tax credit, said district Chief of Operations Darnell Deans.

“As our district is under-resourced and we are still advocating for our appropriate level of funding, our district will not be able to proceed with this project without the tax credit,” Deans wrote in an email.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, who sponsored the Solar for Schools legislation, said she’s confident the projects will still save schools money, even if the schools are not able to use the federal tax credits.

“Obviously, if the federal IRA incentives for renewable energy are cut, that would mean less savings for schools,” she wrote in a statement.

When awarding the state grants, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development believed the schools could complete the projects without the federal tax credits, said spokesperson Justin Backover.

Still, Shannon Crooker, Pennsylvania director at the nonprofit renewable energy advocacy organization Generation180, worries these slimmer savings would force many districts to abandon the projects.

“We’re at risk of losing a lot of great investment,” she said.

PENNSYLVANIA – It appears Florida’s “Gottahava Wawa” more than the Delaware Valley these days!

By the numbers:

Wawa has 1,121 locations in 12 states, along with the District of Columbia, according to data released by ScrapeHero.

It seems like the local staple keeps popping up on every corner, with 293 stores in New Jersey, another 263 in Pennsylvania, and just 50 in Delaware.

However, Florida now boasts the highest number with a whopping 304 locations, which is 27 percent of all Wawa stores in the U.S.

Has the “Sunshine State” officially taken over as the new “Wawa Capital?”

The backstory:

The first Wawa Food Market opened in Folsom, Pennsylvania, in 1969, followed by stores in Delaware and New Jersey by 1969.

It became a convenience store staple, supplying everything from hoagies and coffee to gas across the entire Delaware Valley.

Florida didn’t get its first location until 2012, but Wawa has been expanding across the state ever since.