Unless you have Medicare, surprise ambulance bills continue to be a serious concern for most Americans, even Americans with health insurance. Often the local ambulance is out of network and comes with a high price tag. If you have Medicare (or Medicaid), thankfully, you should never see a surprise bill of any type.
Federal law protects people with Medicare and Medicaid against all surprise medical bills. But, no federal law protects anyone else from these bills. The recent federal law that protects working people from surprise bills does not include bills from ground ambulance companies.
People needing ambulance services are at grave financial risk. More than eight in ten ground ambulance rides are not in network. At the moment, Congress is not addressing surprise ambulance bills. Rather it has established an ambulance advisory committee, which has yet to meet, as Bob Herman explains in Stat News.
Some suggest that the ambulance rates should be based on Medicare’s rate of around $500. But, ambulance companies argue that rate is too low. Until Congress acts, Congress is subjecting people to unreasonable health care costs and putting them at risk. You cannot easily shop around for ambulance services.
What can you do to protect yourself against a surprise ambulance bill? The best you can do is find out from your health plan the names and phone numbers of the ambulance services in your network and post that on your fridge. If you need an ambulance and it’s not a dire emergency, you will know who to call.
Who owns the ambulance companies? Mostly municipalities and local fire departments. About ten percent of the time, private equity or a Wall Street firm owns the ambulance companies. Congress did not want to mess with their revenue streams.
Ten states protect their residents from surprise ambulance bills. The state laws are limited and protect people only if they have state-regulated insurance. The 100 million people who work for a company that self-insures have no protection against surprise bills. Their insurers will pay something, but the patient is left paying the difference, which was more than $2,000 in one municipality, where the fire department offers ambulance services.
What can you do if you get a surprise ambulance bill? You can appeal the ambulance charge, ideally with the help of your Human Resources department. But, the arbitration process in place to settle disputes is protracted and unworkable.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- When will Congress address surprise ambulance bills?
- Warning: An air ambulance ride could cost $489,000
- Why Congress isn’t stopping ambulances from issuing surprise bills?
- Why Congress isn’t stopping ambulances from issuing surprise bills?
- One third of Social Security benefits spent on Medicare costs
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