Surprise medical bills are all too common, leaving millions of Americans with health care costs they did not expect to pay. A couple of years ago, Congress passed legislation to end surprise medical bills for some services, but the ambulance industry was able to keep Congress from protecting Americans from surprise ambulance bills. Fortunately, people with Medicare have protections and generally do not have to worry.
Congress was resistant to addressing surprise ambulance bills allegedly in deference to municipalities that generate substantial revenue from running ambulance services. Congress also claimed not to have a good handle on the appropriate cost of ambulance services.
A new report from US PIRG describes the toll that surprise medical bills takes on Americans needing ambulance services. Even in the 10 states that go farther than federal law to protect their insured residents from surprise ambulance bills, anyone working for a large employer with a self-funded ERISA health plan—a very large cohort—does not have protection from their state laws.
The problem of surprise ambulance bills needs addressing for multiple reasons. For one, we are talking about a large cohort of the population. Some three million Americans with private insurance use ambulance services each year. Who knows how many do not seek critical care for fear of the cost, endangering themselves.
Second, when people call 911, they have no control over whether the ambulance that comes for them is in their health care provider network. About half the time the ambulances are out of network. Every ambulance affiliated with 911 should be in the insurers’ networks.
Today, working Americans with health insurance are scared to call 911 in an emergency, for fear of an ambulance arriving that is out of network and receiving a surprise bill that they cannot afford to pay or do not want to add to their list of expenses. The typical out-of-pocket cost is $450, but in some states it is more than $1,000. Millions of Americans at risk.
What you can do: Talk to your members of Congress about the urgent need to end surprise ambulance bills. In the meantime, find out which ambulance services are in your health plan’s network, and put their numbers in your phone contact list and/or on a list of important contacts in your home. Share it with your loved ones and health care proxy.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Roundup: Planning for life’s curve balls
- New government rules to protect patients from surprise medical bills face pushback from doctors
- Patient safety at risk in private-equity controlled emergency rooms
- Round up: Emergency care
- Plan ahead for a hospital visit: Talk to the people you love about these seven important items
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