“There is no infrastructure set up to handle this,” said Donna Rosato, a senior editor at Consumer Reports who has examined air ambulance charges. But the cost has not decreased: Air ambulance prices doubled between 20, according to a 2017 Government Accountability Office report. And if these operators don’t have a contract with a commercial insurance company, they can essentially charge whatever they want.Īs the industry has grown, the number of air ambulance helicopters has risen. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which bans the government from controlling fares and routes, has prevented states from regulating air ambulance charges. It’s a situation that can happen to anyone, but it’s especially troubling for young families who are often already struggling to afford basic necessities and child care - where just one stroke of bad luck can be devastating. Pence, said his practice currently has about 100 clients who received large, unexpected bills from air ambulance companies. Over the past five years, more than a dozen other federal lawsuits have accused air ambulance providers of unfair billing practices. Pence is one of the lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed in July against Air Methods and Rocky Mountain Holdings. “Frankly, I just feel like they’re preying on people at the worst time of their lives.” Pence, whose daughter has Turner syndrome, a condition in which girls are born with a single X chromosome. “They kept calling me and I told them, ‘I don’t have anything to pay you with,’” said Ms.
Pence received another bill for the remaining balance. But because the air ambulance provider was considered out-of-network, Ms. Her insurance eventually paid about $20,000.
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