That $6000 bill was not just for the ambulance. It would be about what you'ld expect to be charged for a combination of the ambulance, the E.R. visit, and the CT scan, or whatever type on imaging they did of your abdomen. (I went to the ER for belly pain a few years ago and that's what it cost me.)

Normally, you'ld be getting bills from separate parties. Usually, the ambulance is not operated by the hospital (though it might be.) So you'ld get a bill from whoever provides ambulance service, a bill from the hospital for use of the emergency room, and a bill from the radiologist who read the imaging done of your abdomen. The biggest part of the bill would be for the scan.

If you have limited financial resources, you might be eligible for reduced fees from the hospital. You might call their financial office to find out. The phone number for that would be on the bill that you get from the hospital.

You made a big mistake by self-diagnosing yourself as having a "panic attack." (even if you think you're sure that's what it was.) In the E.R. your job is to report your symptoms and let the docs there make what they will of them. The symptoms of a panic attack could also be the symptoms of a lot of things that are much more serious. Docs in the E.R. will usually list symptoms in whatever way makes them sound most worrisome, as a way of getting their money from the insurance company. Maybe, I'm wrong, but it sounded like you may have told the E.R. staff that you were having a panic attack. So they're going to be apt to agree with you.

Severe pain is a perfectly good reason to feel you are unable to drive yourself anywhere. You would have been smart to let the hyperventilating and shaking be interpreted as signs of severe pain, rather than signs of panic. That's basically what this whole dispute rests on: were you in too much pain to be able to transport yourself to get medical attention? At the E.R., they would have asked you to rate your pain on a 1 to 10 scale. Perhaps you gave them a modest number, and the insurance company can use that against you.

Getting served papers may not mean as much as you might think it means. Creditors sometimes do that as a scare tactic. I believe it's illegal for a creditor to threaten to sue, unless they actually plan to do so, but that threat is sometimes made without real intent to follow through. (It happened to me.) That paperwork you received from the court just means that the creditor may go to court to get the judge to say that this bill is legitimate, which the judge would likely agree with. (The services were rendered. Who has to pay for them is still up in the air.) That doesn't mean the judge will automatically say that the creditor can get your income garnished.

This bill is already over 2 years old. Check on-line to see what is the statute of limitations for debt in your state. I put a link below for you to do that. It might be only 3 years, depending where you live. (Can be 10 to 15 years, in some states.) You might be best served to simply default on the debt and let that amount of time run out. If you are young, have no significant assets, are living on a modest income, and are living in a state where the statute of limitations is short, then that might be the way to go. Just know that you have to not make any payments during the time interval of waiting out the statute of limitations. There will be phone calls pressuring you to do so.

As Christina says above, they can potentially go to court and get an order to garnish your bank account, or income. In that case, a judge will say how much can be taken. You have to be left with a certain minimum to survive on.

It's good that you submitted written appeals to the insurance company to reconsider their decision to not pay the claim. That they haven't responded is not surprising. You can sue them, I would think. However, their access to legal representation is probably about the best that there is, while yours is limited by you not being rich.

State Statutes Of Limitations For Old Debts | Bankrate.com