Ambulance company, $1,800 - says pay now with credit card, insurance company will pay you back.....

[Muse]

In Arizona, the legislature passed a law forbidding insurance companies from negociating prices with private ambulance services. Whatever the ambulance companies decide to charge is what insurance pays. It's corruption in action.

I've never seen the inside of an ambulance and hope to keep that streak going my entire life!

 

[FirNaTine]

I've never seen the inside of an ambulance and hope to keep that streak going my entire life!

Eh, I have been in the back of them thousands of times, they're not that bad. Only a handful of those times were as a customer though. Heat exhaustion a few times from fighting fires on very hot days, and one kinda nasty crash caused by a wrong way driver on my way to work ~20 years ago. Every day I get closer to not wanting to see the inside of them anymore myself though.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Literally the FIRST FUCKING RESPONSE to the thread.

Did not work - insurance refused to work with the ambulance company at all, saying they were "out of network".

Every time the ambulance place wrote me asking for $3k, I sent them back a form letter, saying that I could borrow money from relavites to give them $1k, if they would send me a letter saying they would accept this as payment in full first. They never responded, other than sending more form letters threatening to send it to collections.

I finally got tired of the letters, and was considering paying them, due to their constant threats to send it all to collections, and ruin our credit rating. Plus, I didn't want someone to add on bogus 'late fees and interest", and someday in the future get a bill for $20k, or something. The last time I contacted them, though, they said it had been "sent to collections." I decided to just wait then, figuring I would be hearing from some collection agency who bought the 'bad debt'.

Then guess what - after more than a year, I hear from the original ambulance company again, saying they want me to pay up. So I guess this means they didn't sell the debt to a collection agency after all? Not sure what to do at this point. I have offered again and again to pay a portion if they will send me a letter saying that $1k would be accepted as payment in full, but I am always ignored. I know for a fact that if they sell the debt to a collections agency, they will only get about 15c to 20c on the dollar for the debt, which would be maybe $500 to $600. Wouldn't they rather have my $1,000?

 

[MrSquished]

Did not work - insurance refused to work with the ambulance company at all, saying they were "out of network".

Every time the ambulance place wrote me asking for $3k, I sent them back a form letter, saying that I could borrow money from relavites to give them $1k, if they would send me a letter saying they would accept this as payment in full first. They never responded, other than sending more form letters threatening to send it to collections.

I finally got tired of the letters, and was considering paying them, due to their constant threats to send it all to collections, and ruin our credit rating. Plus, I didn't want someone to add on bogus 'late fees and interest", and someday in the future get a bill for $20k, or something. The last time I contacted them, though, they said it had been "sent to collections." I decided to just wait then, figuring I would be hearing from some collection agency who bought the 'bad debt'.

Then guess what - after more than a year, I hear from the original ambulance company again, saying they want me to pay up. So I guess this means they didn't sell the debt to a collection agency after all? Not sure what to do at this point. I have offered again and again to pay a portion if they will send me a letter saying that $1k would be accepted as payment in full, but I am always ignored. I know for a fact that if they sell the debt to a collections agency, they will only get about 15c to 20c on the dollar for the debt, which would be maybe $500 to $600. Wouldn't they rather have my $1,000?

guns made america free so you could get into medical debt easily my friend.

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Part of me wonders if the hospital 'farms out' most of the ambulance stuff because they would have had to negotiate final prices with the insurance companies - but a private ambulance company hasn't had to.....

Do you think the private ambulance company gets some sort of kickback for the hospital sending business their way?

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

^^^ Do you think the Pope is Catholic?

 

[brianmanahan]

why not just pay it so you can stop worrying about it?

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

why not just pay it so you can stop worrying about it?

I actually WOULD have at one point, but they said it had been sent to a collection agency. There was no way I was going to pay, only to then be contacted by a collection agency, trying to collect on the same debt I had just paid for!

Part of me is still holding out the hope that they will settle for $1,000 as full payment. However, no response yet. I wish I knew how to get ahold of a real person there, instead of just getting form letter responses.

 

[nakedfrog]

Did not work - insurance refused to work with the ambulance company at all, saying they were "out of network".

That's not typically how it works in my experience, they don't just refuse to deal with anyone out of network, but there are different policies/coverages in place for out of network providers.
But feel free to keep rolling with your homegrown approach and see how that works out for you.

 

[Torn Mind]

$1800 for a non emergency transfer?

Man that's wack, just call an Uber, it will less than $50.

American priorities are so mind-boggling, gotta have guns for every women, man, child, dog, cat etc.. cus government oppression and DEM LibErAls ahhh, but have health care cost an absolute fortune breaking the bank.

You can have free ambulances but a fucked up hospital as the endpoint...as my locality has. The hospital has to be helluva consistent to get a nickname when medical treatment is a private matter....

 

[cytg111]

Wonder where you’re best off as a poor person needing medical attention… States or Russia?

 

[IronWing]

Wonder where you’re best off as a poor person needing medical attention… States or Russia?

Threads like this are infuriating as the waste of time, energy, and money that is the American healthcare system is highlighted over and over.