A Health Care Headache: Families Getting Stuck With Astronomical Bills From Life-Saving Helicopter Flights
Private firms are sticking families with bills for tens of thousands of dollars because insurers will only pay the same amount that Medicare will -- and that doesn't cover the businesses expenses.
Bloomberg:
Private-Equity Backed Air Ambulances Leave Behind Massive Bills
The U.S. air-ambulance fleet has doubled in size in the past 15 years to nearly 900 helicopters making 300,000 flights annually, according to data compiled by Ira Blumen, a professor of emergency medicine and director of University of Chicago Aeromedical Network. ...The air-ambulance industry says reimbursements from U.S. government health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, don’t cover their expenses. Operators say they thus must ask others to pay more—and when health plans balk, patients get stuck with the tab. (Tozzi, 6/11)
