In an accident - you might be taken for a sky high ride

I briefly mentioned this issue in another thread but given there was another article in CNN today I thought I would start this thread as a PSA.

In a nutshell, due the location, we a climbers when hurt, first responders are likely to call in an air ambulance to schlep our carcass off the hill. While in many cases getting an injured person to a trauma hospital the cost of the ride may be outlandish. Here is an article from CNN this morning:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/health/air-ambulance-high-price/index.html

There are others.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-11/private-equity-backed-air-ambulances-leave-behind-massive-bills

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/26/649537563/will-congress-bring-sky-high-air-ambulance-bills-down-to-earth

One issue is that there are more air ambulances than needed. So the high overhead costs can not be recouped sans big billing.  The insurance companies are not paying the large bills because they include costs for when the company gets little or no insurance payments from other patients. Which then leads to what is known as balanced billing where the company bills the patient for the difference between what insurance covers and what was billed. So the can (cost) gets kicked down the road until a patient pays the cost usually through debt collection.

The biggest issue is that air ambulances are under the FAA (e.g. deregulated) and cannot be regulated by the states. Some have tried and the courts have tossed the laws.

I do not have any suggestions for folks other than to check with your insurance to see how they will cover such a ride.

My understanding is that this is what's covered by the American Alpine Club's Rescue Benefit? That's one of the main reasons I'm a member.

Here are details on the AAC plan: https://americanalpineclub.org/domestic

Edit to remove incorrect interpretation.

People always ask "How much is your life worth?". After seeing some of the bills for an Airbulance, I would say it is worth a little less than that.

Tim Lutz wrote:

everyone is like, slowly dying all the time man....

Some are doing it faster than others, and some not fast enough.

InReach users should look at the GEOS riders for their plan.  In prep for a long remote canoe trip in Canada, I purchased both a SAR insurance (accident site to facility), and an air ambulance/medivac (facility to home hospital) add-on for about $120 annually.  Medivac coverage is $250K for North America plan, $1M for outside NA.You can also subscribe on a per-trip basis.  Something to look into.

T G wrote: The potential concern with AAC's domestic rescue benefit is that it says it doesn't cover "ambulatory services." It's not clear what that means in the context of air evacuation. 

In the medical jargon world "ambulatory services" just means outpatient services -- the opposite end of the spectrum from what we're talking about here.

nbrown wrote:

In the medical jargon world "ambulatory services" just means outpatient services -- the opposite end of the spectrum from what we're talking about here.

Thank you! Beat me to it and well worth emphasizing: "ambulatory services" does NOT mean 'ambulance'.

For anyone in the Pacific Northwest this is totally worth having: https://www.uwmedicine.org/airlift-nw/aircare (or one of their reciprocal affiliates).  

Meredith E. wrote: For anyone in the Pacific Northwest this is totally worth having: https://www.uwmedicine.org/airlift-nw/aircare (or one of their reciprocal affiliates).  

They aren't networked with Lifeflight though are they?

Edit: Thanks didn't know. 

A podcast with the CEO of the AAC where he discusses the rescue benefit:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-things-climbing/id1329240075?mt=2&i=1000412018540

Floyd Eggers wrote:

They aren't networked with Lifeflight though are they?

They are, Life Flight is one of their reciprocal partners, basically Airlift NW covers the Puget Sound corridor and SE AK, and Life Flight covers E. Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  Reciprocal benefits between the two.  I believe you basically join based on where you live/where you will be.

Living on an island, lots of folks I know have Airlift NW because EMT's (understandably) don't like to wait on the ferry, so for anything beyond what say, Urgent Care, can handle, they'll airlift you off the island.

Alex Kirsonis wrote:

That looks like a 12.5k benefit.  I got crushed by a 4,000 lb block of talus this season and got a 40k bill for ONE of my two heli rides.  Good to know if your insurance will cover it before you actually need it

That's true, but $12.5K would cover about half of the airlifts mentioned in the articles linked by the OP. Given the point of insurance is to prevent you from going bankrupt, I'd never pay for it if that were the only benefit of AAC membership, since it would only prevent half the bankruptcies. But if you're buying gear or staying at AAC lodging with any regularity, AAC membership pays for itself quickly, so it's a nice side-benefit.

That said, the state of insurance in this country is such that quite often, insurance is a bad investment. The point of insurance is to prevent you from going bankrupt in the case of extraordinary cost. More than half of bankruptcies due to medical debt are people who have health insurance--if your deductible is such that you'd go bankrupt if you got in a serious accident, health insurance is a bad investment since it's not serving its purpose at all. A lot of people buy into insurance out of a sense of responsibility, but I don't think that makes much sense. The insurance companies have no problem draining the system for all it's worth, and it's foolish for individuals to play the game by different rules. The capitalist system the insurance companies have forced us into supposedly works on rational self-interest: not investing in insurance that doesn't prevent bankruptcy is what rational self-interest looks like at an individual level.

Great thread.  Some states have laws in place which curb/prevent balance billing the patient for emergency/trauma care.  Basically the severely hurt person has no ability to assess or choose any of the care activities and therefore cannot be screwed financially.    It is the duty of the medical system to take care of people badly hurt and not gouge for huge money.