#BringDianaJamesHome

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.

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

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.