#BringDianaJamesHome | air ambulance

Mom is back in Washington! KGW8 News

Posted on December 12, 2023December 12, 2023 by Megan

Story by Daisy Caballero, KGW News 8

We did it!!!!!

Mom officially arrived back in Washington last night (12/11/2023) at 10:20 pm and was directly transported to the University of Washington in Seattle and admitted to the hospital for the medical care she has desperately needed for 7 months. It feels surreal and we are over the moon to all be back in the same state!!! Our hearts are full and our family complete again!

.As we continue to navigate this next chapter, our efforts to raise money and continue to advocate for her care don’t stop with the plane arriving. We will need to pay off the $144,000 medical repatriation loan to the federal government and we will need money for ongoing care and treatment Humana will likely fight against covering. Please consider continuing to follow and share our story on social media, the website and here.

Thank you so much for all of your support, I cannot begin to tell you how much we have appreciated this amazing tribe of people!! There are no words adequate for our level of appreciation!!

Our Experience Without Travel Insurance, and What We Have Learned

Posted on July 15, 2023July 21, 2023 by Aaron

When Diana first fell into a coma after her subdural hematoma one of our hindsight regrets was not having purchased travel insurance. In a study by AAA, only 38% of Americans plan to or have purchased travel insurance for international flights. Our family has had little experience with international travel. Diana’s ticket was purchased by a family friend to bring her out to Portugal for a visit. Often, it is during the process of booking a ticket where travel insurance is purchased, their coverage can be decent, but at times more expensive than purchasing it separately, and with fewer options than what can be acquired through a more tailored plan.

Since she fell into a coma we have researched deeply into travel insurance to see how it could have helped us, and to help others avoid the same situation. With the most expensive problem, international air medical repatriation, there seems to be only 2 specialized options that would have helped. However, We do want to highlight where general travel medical insurance would have been valuable to us. In this post, we will explore the different options for travel insurance, and where it would have had the most impact in our situation.

Air ambulance insurance coverage for medical repatriation and evacuation

Posted on July 1, 2023July 19, 2023 by Aaron

Original Link | Air Medical Service Worldwide

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Medical Air Service is an internationally renowned air ambulance company that connects patients and health-care providers all over the world. In a critical medical condition, do you or a loved one require a timely and reliable transfer from one hospital to another across the globe?

Count on us for your medical flights! They are specially designed to relieve you of the stress of aeromedical repatriation and evacuation, and are coordinated by our teams of experienced medical personnel and flight attendants. However, does your health or travel insurance cover our services? While some policies do, gaps in coverage can leave you struggling to pay large bills. Here are a few of the most important highlights.

Is air ambulance covered by insurance?

Generally, standard medical insurance does not cover air ambulances
For your medical flight to be covered by insurance, you must have air ambulance coverage
Air ambulance coverage is, sometimes, included in travel insurance plans
Read your insurance policy carefully or ask your insurer about air ambulance coverage
Medical Air Service can organize your air ambulance flight, even if you do not have air ambulance coverage.

June 27th, 2023

Posted on June 27, 2023July 19, 2023 by Megan

We have updated our fundraising goal to $185,000 as our mother’s care needs have changed and she is no longer ventilated. This is the next step down and would provide her the following:

An ambulance flight in an air ambulance fitted with intensive care equipment
A medical staff (doctor and paramedic) on board
A ground transportation in an ambulance vehicle from the patient’s location to the departure airport, and then from the destination airport to the patient’s destination
Individual and personal care of the patient during the entire journey
24/7 availability of your operations coordinator for any queries you may have
Regular updates on the progress of the ambulance flight

Medicare Coverage of Ambulance Services

Posted on January 1, 2022July 19, 2023 by Aaron

This official government booklet explains:

When Medicare helps cover ambulance services
What you pay
What Medicare pays
What to do if Medicare doesn’t cover your ambulance service

Air Ambulance Use and Surprise Billing

Posted on September 10, 2021July 19, 2023 by Aaron

*This document examines Air Ambulance surprise costs and slightly touches on the reasons for the for-profit price hikes, however does not address international air ambulance flights, which appears to not be regulated by any means.

ASPE | Office of Health Policy

Available evidence suggests that air ambulance transport isincreasing. Recent
federal legislation and regulation address surprise billing and data gaps.

Gina Turrini, Joel Ruhter, Andre R. Chappel, and Nancy De Lew

KEY POINTS

Air ambulances are typically used to transport patients from the scene of an injury or anaccident
to hospitals, or between hospitals, particularly in criticalsituations when the time to treatment is
urgent or when patients cannot safely travel by ground ambulance transportation.
While the number of air ambulance transportsis low – roughly 1 per 4,000 privately insured
people per year and 1 in 350 Medicare beneficiaries – available evidence suggests there has been
an increase in bases (where aircraft are stationed, typically airports or helipads) and
providers/suppliers* (particularly independently owned and operated companies) in recent years and a shift towards for-profit entities.
Patients typically do not have a choice in air ambulance providers, and providers often do not
inquire about insurance, leading to the potential for large out-of-pocket costs for privately insured
or uninsured patients. Air ambulance providers are not allowed to send balance bills (when an
out-of-network provider bills an individual for the difference between the billed charge and the
amount paid by their plan or insurance) to Medicaid or Medicare patients but privately insured
individuals do not have the same protections against balance bills for air ambulance transports.
A Government AccountabilityOffice Report found that in 2017 the median price charged for a
rotary wing (e.g., helicopter) ambulance transport was $36,400 versus $40,600 for a fixed-wing
(e.g., airplane) ambulance transport. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 prevents states from
regulating prices charged by air carriers(which includes air ambulance transport).
The No Surprises Act, a component of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, addresses
surprise air ambulance bills, effective January 1, 2022. Privately insured patients will pay only the
deductibles and copayment amounts that they would have paid for in-network air ambulance
providers, and balance billing will not be allowed.
Information has been limited on air ambulances and their charges. The No Surprises Act
addresses this issue by requiring reporting by air ambulance companies and health plans on cost,
quality and other data to the Departments of Transportation and Health and Human Services.

Stop outrageous air ambulance bills by disclosing the transport price

Posted on January 8, 2019July 19, 2023 by Aaron

*An opinion piece examining surprise costs of balance billing and the problems with surprise costs in the US, written prior to the No-Surprises Act in 2022, We haven’t found much useful information on the efficacy of the No-Surprises act as it is so new and the industry has been so opaque for so long. It is important to note that this does not seem to impact international air ambulance flights to the US, solely those within the US. Medicare does seem willing to cover the US portions of Diana’s Air Ambulance with a deductible.

Original Link | STAT | By Kevin Schulman, Barak Richman and Arnold Milstein

Although so-called surprise medical bills have become commonplace and routinely provoke outrage, even those numb to the staggering charges by hospitals are horrified by the avarice of many air ambulance companies.

Generating bills that can exceed $500,000, air ambulances are the giant squid of surprise bills that suffocate unsuspecting patients. One air ambulance bill sought $54,727 from a Bismarck, N.D., woman for a transport that would have taken less than one hour by ground, even after a ground ambulance had already arrived at the scene and had stabilized her. Her insurance paid for less than $14,000, leaving her with a $41,029 bill.

These staggering charges are caused by a confluence of market failures. First, as with all surprise bills, the price is hidden. When patients can’t shop for less-expensive alternatives, they are stuck with inflated prices. But hiding prices — and then allowing providers to charge outrageous amounts after service is provided — also fuels excessive supply, since many providers are eager to capitalize on the inflated profits.

Economists have long focused on the concept of moral hazard, in which demand increases because insurance pays for a large portion of the bill. The story of air ambulance bills illustrates the impact of moral hazard on suppliers, where both price and quantity of services are artificially inflated.

UNDERSTANDING AIR AMBULANCE INSURANCE

Posted on November 4, 2014July 19, 2023 by Aaron

Original Link | NAIC | National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Minutes matter after an accident, heart attack, stroke or other major medical emergency. Air ambulances, also known as medevac services, quickly transport a patient to a medical facility. While some health insurance policies provide coverage for this service, coverage gaps can leave patients struggling to pay large bills. Here are the basics of what you should know about air ambulances from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

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