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

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I'd be all ' Hey the hospital called you, not me. Take it up with them.'

 

[Torn Mind]

Ambulance billing cannot be fixed with a one-size-fits-all stroke of federal government rule-making. One of my local counties does bill for EMS, but there are numerous circumstances in which the victim could get out of paying the bill, mostly if they are low income. That county is a blue monopoly, ruled by people of color.
Thus, the de facto result is that rich people living in municipalities(many are already double taxed on the property tax by living in a municipality like Cheverly) will either have to pay or just let the company filing in court of a judgment...(which can then be dodged with little but a hit to the credit score).

Other counties "bill" insurers but never hit residents with a bill.

 

[Captante]

Uber Medivac™

Payment in advance via major CC required!

 

[BoomerD]

Of course! We can all afford to take the time to shop around when we have a medical emergency serious enough to require an ambulance. 🤣

Most insurance companies pay different rates for in-network docs vs out-of-network, even fou emergency care...like we have the time to check the doctor's insurance status in an emergency. "Sorry doc, you're not on my insurance list. I'll have to wait for one who is. Just let me bleed."

 

[Meghan54]

Most insurance companies pay different rates for in-network docs vs out-of-network, even fou emergency care...like we have the time to check the doctor's insurance status in an emergency. "Sorry doc, you're not on my insurance list. I'll have to wait for one who is. Just let me bleed."

Let's not forget that even if your hospital is listed as in-network, one can never assume that the MD in the ER/ED is also a hospital employee and "in-network." Reality shows a whole lot of ER's/ED's are staffed by Emergency Physician groups that depend upon not being in anyone's network and live on the surprise billing that they get to spring on unsuspecting "customers."

 

[FirNaTine]

Ambulance billing has different rules based on what type of transport it is. Transport to a hospital based emergency facility from home, nursing home, basically anything except from a hospital is pretty straightforward other than figuring out the level of care Basic, Advanced, etc. Transport between facilities like you described is trickier based why the transfer is occurring. Did the patient need care at the second facility that was unable to be provided at the first? Was the patient stable enough to be transported via alternate means and an ambulance was used for expediency vs medical necessity? There's a lot of questions to answer.

I haven't personally worked in the commercial ambulance business in a while, but it was shady then, and is still just as shady now from my friends that still work in it. The only part I would ever consider working in again would be on a hospital base critical care team where you pick up patients from lower level hospitals to bring them to specialty care. At least when I used to do that kind of work, the transferring physician justifying moving the person to the higher level of care hospital took care of justifying the need for an ambulance (though ground vs helicopter rides can still cause issues in some places.)

The price you mentioned sounds towards the higher end of care, as though an advanced level of care was provided (IV medication, EKG monitoring at a minimum). But what I have seen is that companies will only run one ambulance for an area, staffed and equipped for high level calls. But will use that for lower level calls, while still billing at the high end.

The county government I work for does "soft" billing. They will send bills to everyone, and work with insurance companies for a negotiated rate. Any resident of that county will have the rest written off, anyone from out of the county with an income less than 2 (3?) times poverty level is also an automatic write off if documentation is provided. Everyone else gets a couple bills, and then they stop. They don't pursue further collection efforts. And we bill based on the care you need, not what type of unit takes you in. I'm capable of sticking big needles into your chest to treat a collapsed lung, or taking a scalpel to your neck to insert a breathing tube (or more normal means getting a tube), but if you only need a splint and some ice packs to get you to the ED for xrays, that's what you get billed for.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I recently took a family member to a nearby hospital, and a day or so later they used an ambulance to send her about 12 miles away to their 'main' hospital.

We just got a bill for $1,800 - which was evidently only the fee for the ambulance transfer between hospitals, nothing else.

The letter is not from our insurance like we are used to. Instead, it comes directly from the ambulette company.

It states that we are to pay the bill promptly, upon receipt. It suggests using a credit card, and calling them immediately.

Further, the letter says that we will be 'reimbursed by your insurance company'.

The ambulette transfer was right before the end of the year, when we had met our yearly insurance maximums, so we were not expecting any medical costs to be charged to us. We have a high deductible plan where we are responsible for roughly the first $4k a year, then 10% copay until we get to our annual max, which we got to in early December. For example, our medicines had been totally free at the pharmacy since early December.

I'm used to getting bills from Anthem that show the lower cost that they negotiated, and the amount we are responsible for, if any. I'm worried that if we pay this directly, it might not be counted towards the maximum health charges for the year for Anthem. Or, if Anthem said we were already up to our maximum for last year (which I think we were), and yet we pay this, then I'm worried that Anthem will just say "Sorry, you paid it, it's your problem".

Have any of you come across issues like this before? I'm not sure the best way to proceed on this.....

Do Not pay the ambulance company directly ever!! Your insurance company will negotiate a lower rate or they will pay it in full!!

The ambulance company does that so they don`t have to deal with a middleman!! You have insurance?? If so make thw ambulance company, contact your carrier or call your insurance company and get them involved!!

 

[sdifox]

You guys should really let Keifer Sutherland be president. His grandfather Tommy Douglas gave Canadians Universal Healthcare. I am sure Keifer can do the same for you guys.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I'm not sold on doctors and 'medical need'. I cut my hand on some sheet metal a few years back. Got one tendon. Had a neighbor drive me to ER, no 'urgent care' clinic here. First half hour or so I didn't want to drive in case I shocked out on the way. ER doc said I needed to go to a hand specialist 3 hours away and it couldn't wait. They wanted to send me by ambulance. Our county has two units and there was no way I was going to take one out of county for 6-8 hours.

I told the dude to wrap it and I'd drive myself ... which I did. It had been about two hours since and by then, I knew I'd be able to drive.

 

[snoopy7548]

Back in my day, I used to walk to the ER uphill both ways in the snow and rain.

 

[sdifox]

Back in my day, I used to walk to the ER uphill both ways in the snow and rain.

You forgot bare feet..

 

[snoopy7548]

You forgot bare feet..

There were a few times my feet got chopped off, which was the reason for walking to the ER.

 

[IronWing]

You guys should really let Keifer Sutherland be president. His grandfather Tommy Douglas gave Canadians Universal Healthcare. I am sure Keifer can do the same for you guys.

Donald Sutherland I would vote for in a heartbeat.

 

[pauldun170]

lol

 

[GunsMadeAmericaFree]

Wow, I was eating breakfast this morning, and my son looked over and said, "Hey, did you see that small print down at the bottom? It says you can either send in payment promptly OR fill out the insurance info on the back".. I hadn't noticed that, so now I feel a whole lot better about it. The company, since it was a contractor, evidently never got my insurance info. I'll just send that off to them after work today, and hopefully, problem solved!

 

[nakedfrog]

Wow, I was eating breakfast this morning, and my son looked over and said, "Hey, did you see that small print down at the bottom? It says you can either send in payment promptly OR fill out the insurance info on the back".. I hadn't noticed that, so now I feel a whole lot better about it. The company, since it was a contractor, evidently never got my insurance info. I'll just send that off to them after work today, and hopefully, problem solved!

Tell the ambu company to submit the bill to your insurance company. Get pissy if necessary.

Literally the FIRST FUCKING RESPONSE to the thread.

 

[Torn Mind]

LawyersWithGunsMadeAmericaFreeButThey'reStillFuckingLawyers

 

[dank69]

Conservative neglects to read fine print and just rages against headline. A story as played out as any Hollywood blockbuster.

 

[MtnMan]

ambulance companies are sketchy sometimes

one that i used to live around had its executive get busted because he was charging personal expenses to the company

and meanwhile paying peanuts to a lot of relatives and friends who worked for him

Kinda like wrecker companies.

Locally we're fortunate that the county runs the ambulance service for most traffic to the hospital, and the hospital has a fleet of ambulances that are used to transfer patients between facilities, to other hospitals, or to nursing homes, hospice, etc.

In both cases, they bill you after they have billed insurance companies, unless insurance covered it.

 

[Muse]

LawyersWithGunsMadeAmericaFreeButThey'reStillFuckingLawyers

... with legal faces.

 

[Torn Mind]

... with legal faces.

In my unanticipated study of law...I have realized we actually live in an...elected attorney-ocracy. That's what the Founding Fathers actually created.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Try more guns.

 

[Artorias]

$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.

 

[Muse]

$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.

But not breaking the bank accounts of the people who control our legislative bodies.

 

[IronWing]

But not breaking the bank accounts of the people who control our legislative bodies.

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.