Those of us whose age makes us more likely to break a hip or have a heart attack need to think about ambulance runs. Even if you have medical insurance there may be a deductible. I recently took a lecture from Dewey Miller of MASA (seen in photo above), the member-supported Medical Air Services Association. He pointed out that the average ground ambulance ride bills at around $1700, and taking the ride by helicopter runs more like $50,000.
I know of a case near me where a patient was med-evaced by helicopter to a hospital eighty miles distant, with a bill in the $30K range. Jack Dixon mentioned that MASA paid for his whole $37,000 ground ambulance run during a storm too bad for helicopters to fly.
Those are particularly hard hits for those who don’t have medical insurance at all. I noticed at the seminar that the youngest attendees were in their sixties. Apparently the young think they’re immune. Having taken my first ambulance run as a patient at sixteen and my second at twenty-five, both from totaled automobiles, I don’t think the meat wagons are just for the elderly.
On a related note, one of my pet peeves is self-defense instructors who tell their students, “If you have to shoot someone in self-defense, fake a heart attack and ask for an ambulance so the detectives can’t interrogate you.” Quite apart from establishing that you’re a liar (because emergency room records will show there was nothing really wrong with you) as you enter a legal situation in which your credibility is going to be vital, even if you do have medical insurance it probably won’t pay for an ambulance ride which lacked medical necessity. You will also have tied up limited emergency medical services that might have been needed for a genuinely stricken patient elsewhere in the community…kind of hard to reconcile with being the proverbial “good guy or gal with a gun.”
All to delay being questioned by police…when all you had to do to accomplish that was to say, for free, “I will cooperate with you as soon as I’ve spoken with legal counsel, but for now I’m invoking my right to remain silent as to any further questions.” For more information on MASA check out their website.
Considering where I live, gonna check that out. 3.5 miles from the EMS station, lot farther to hospitals.
Something to bear in mind, if the cause of the EMS call involves violence, they’ll be near, but not at the scene until LLEA declares it clear/safe. In any event, some home supplies beyond band-aids is a very good idea.
I work in heath insurance. When these bills come up, I try to explain it like this. That helicopter ride cost nearly $300,000 as billed. you are being billed a percentage of that cost, which might be $30,000. Yes, that is a significant amount of money. However, if you are transported by helicopter, it usually means that it was the best option to save your life.
Think of it this way, your insurance company just sold you a $300,000 life saving product for $30,000. That’s a good deal.