Chopper shock: Couple gets $60K bill for 25-minute air evacuation

[n2doc]

North Country woman went into labor and needed trip to hospital, but with heavy price to bear
By Rick Karlin


Leigh Campbell got quite a shock in the predawn hours of April 3: Twenty-seven weeks pregnant, his wife, Heather, went into early labor.

The couple, who live in Ray Brook in Essex County, rushed to the hospital in nearby Saranac Lake. But because that facility lacks a neonatal intensive care unit, their midwife called for a helicopter to bring Heather to the nearest open bed across Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vt.

They avoided a premature birth and Heather remained in the hospital waiting to bring her baby to term when her husband was last contacted.

But another shock came two days later with the realization that the helicopter bill was $59,999 and Heather's insurance carrier would only cover about $370 for the 25-minute flight.

The service provided by the helicopter company LifeNet, was "out of network," and therefore not covered in her health insurance policy.

more
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/Chopper-shock-Couple-gets-60K-bill-for-7386613.php

[Logical]

1. Helicopters are not cheap. Nt

[n2doc]

2. Obviously someone should have told them to not use one if they couldn't afford it

Right? Greatest health care system in the world!

[LanternWaste]

3. Lacking any additional qualifiers, a one-hour helicopter rides often costs less than $350.00

Lacking additional qualifiers, a one-hour helicopter rides often costs $200-$300.

[KamaAina]

6. The insurance company needs to duke it out with the helicopter comapny

And, as Kinky Friedman would put it, "christian them down" to a more reasonable rate.

[Logical]

18. Medevac helicopter with skilled paramedics available 24/7. Still, I agree too much money. nt

[Cirque du So-What]

10. It's not like they were buying the damned thing

The price seems exorbitant.

[jehop61]

4. Wonderful

Asking a couple to choose life or death of their child in a crisis situation Who, in that situation, can assess the cost?

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. Those Lifeflifht jobs aren't just regular

Ole helicopters. They are flying ambulances.

An ambulance ride here in KC is about $1,000 and that is just for a few miles. But what you are paying for are the medics and all the special equipment on board.

Lifeflight has nurses on board plus tons 0f special equipment. But $60,000 seems pretty steep. Ouch!

[GummyBearz]

9. I thought we had the ACA now?

Aren't nurses and equipment use covered by insurance?

[leftyladyfrommo]

11. I don't think Medicare would pay for it.

I think I remember thinking that I better never to call an ambulance. I will just have to drive myself. I don't think it pays anything for ambulance.

[Baobab]

14. What ACA covers is the bare minimum, its not supposed to be adequate, its supposed to be minimal.

its for poor people who have no other resort.

it cannot be too attractive so as to cause "crowd out" of insurers core customers.

[Brickbat]

8. And we're told to "shop around."

[matt819]

12. Only partly a helicopter cost problem

The bulk of this is an insurance company problem. What would they have had the couple do? Let their baby die? Oh. Silly me. Of course the insurance company would prefer that.

As for the cost. Helicopter hourly costs are probably in the $2,000 range, I think. But this is not a hop in a tourist helicopter; it's a medevac helicopter. Then there's the paramedics. And the 24x7 availability of the paramedics. Still and all, $60,000 seems high.

I agree with another poster - Let the insurance company and LifeNet duke it out.

[6chars]

13. Literally enough to buy a helicopter

I just googled how much does a helicopter cost.

First hit is aerotrader.com and first helicopter with a price is a 2010 Safari for $58,500.

[Baobab]

16. So they were billed enough to buy a whole helicopter and fill it with gas and likely, insure it too.

thats outrageous.

But people have to understand it is a very inelastic market.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasticity_%28economics%29

That means that they didn't have any other choices. So it is deemed to be worth more because they were over a barrel.

Thats how we're pricing cancer drugs now too.

[pnwmom]

15. The problem appears to be that it falls under FAA regulation, not healthcare regulation.

Because they describe themselves as air carriers, the companies claim they aren't subject to price restrictions. When it comes to aviation, federal regulation takes precedence over state rules. And the federal government deregulated airline rates in the late 1970s.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. In a civilized country, not we are not,

This would be covered by taxes.