The cost of an ambulance!

OMG, last month I had a medical emergency not due to psych issues requiring my husband to call 911 for an ambulance. Not our choice, without emergency surgery, I likely would have died. I got the bill from the city for the ambulance ride today. $928! I am not sure if they tried to bill my lousy insurance or not. And apparently, you can call and make a payment plan with them which we will have to do, God knows how much I will owe for the surgery, 6 days in the hospital, and upcoming diagnostic tests. Plus, they had the gall to charge me $150 more for mileage to drive another 20 minutes to get to a reputable hospital versus the closest one with an awful reputation! I tell you, no one in my city goes to that hospital unless they have no choice.

Oh, and the bill was due March 12 but postmarked March 14, so I only just got it. My husband took several pics of the postmarked envelope.

Insurance & medical bills suck!

Ambulance bills in the U.S are terrible, I'm sorry that you were charged so much.

Here in Canada (or Ontario at least) ambulance bills are only $45. The last time I called one, I wasn't charged at all.

Oh NO. I sympathize with you SO much, cln.

I was in the hospital for psych issues three times in 2017, totaling about 30 days. My out-of-pocket cost AFTER insurance SO FAR has been $9,000, of which $1,700 was for just one of the ambulance transports; they had to drive ~85 miles to the closest metro area. The other two ambulance charges haven't arrived yet. The bills just keep coming. Will this ever end?

The ambulance company did give me a 20% discount for paying them in full immediately. That might be a possibility for you? Oh...after I paid, they insisted that they had never offered a discount, so be sure to write down names of anyone who makes promises. Don't hesitate to try to negotiate all hospital payments when possible.

I'm glad that you survived your surgery and hopefully are recovering quickly. Healthcare is out of reach anymore. Obviously I'm motivated to adhere to my pdoc's instructions to avoid another disaster in the future but, even so, most of my meds are not affordable.

I have a friend who was able to be declared "medically indigent," even though she owns outright two nice homes and has significant financial resources. I question the ethics of this, but maybe this is something you could look into?

So I understand what you're going through. This, too, shall pass -- I promise.

We don't have the money in the bank to pay the bill in full or even probably not negotiated down. My husband teaches high school. His salary puts us out of poverty range and ineligable for any type of financial medical aid, and I don't work because of psych issues (again, his salary is too much for me to get disability). We can barely scrape by paying the mortgage, utility bills, groceries, car insurance, and we don't live an extravagant life at all. And I'm sure the bills from the hospital are just waiting to come. Plus, I have to get an upper endoscopy in April. I already had to pay the gastroenterologist $325 for that, and I will be billed for the anesthesiologist and some other doctor after that procedure as well. Oh, and while I was recovering, our air conditioning broke, costing $2500 to fix. Since we live in southeast Texas, going without working AC is awful in the humidity and heat. Even now, it's already 80 degrees most days.

And not to mention, I have psych bills for seeing the pdoc, meds, etc. I'm having to start with a new pdoc (old one retiring), and the initial intake appointment is always more expensive because it takes much longer. Ugh! Why won't anybody in this country do a thing to fix a broken health care system?! And this is not even a political party issue; I had the same problems, no matter the political party running the government.

I have had medical bills all of my life. Lots of them. Here is some of what I have learned:

If you went to a public hospital, please call the hospital and ask for financial aid. Most public hospitals have some federal monies and a financial aid program to help those who are under-insured, have low incomes yet do not qualify for Medicaid, etc. Please call the billing office and ask about financial aid. If they offer this, they will give you forms to fill out. Look into this asap, so it is noted you are wanting/applying for aid with them.

Set up a payment plan, no matter how small. This way, as long as you make your payment on time, you cannot be in default. Many hospitals put liens on properties, so set up an agreement with them, being totally honest about what you can afford. These balances are often without interest, so they are more reasonable than a credit card. Do not mess with them by missing payments, always call them if a payment is going to be late or if, for any reason, it cannot be paid. (Hospitals employ people to file liens on property and they have a contract with a collection agency.)

In addition, hospital bills can often be negotiated, as mentioned above. However, negotiating usually entails being able to pay the negotiated amount immediately.

I hope this helps somehow.

My heart goes out to you.

WC

Good advice from WC.

Really, sometimes we just have to throw our hands in the air and surrender. There's no easy answer here. All you can do is the best you can do, ya know? I know someone who made her financial desperation known in a church, and a member anonymously gave her $10,000, no strings attached. I looked up "medical indigence," and you wouldn't qualify because your husband has insurance; this program is for people who don't have any coverage. I thought the whole purpose of the ACA was for every person to carry insurance, right? Go figure. The way our government rewards people is a mystery to me.

One thing I would suggest is this: Sometimes you can get bills from hospitals that aren't final because insurance hasn't been billed yet. Before you panic, wait for the final statement. I received one such bill for $30,000 and almost had a heart attack, but this amount didn't reflect the agreed-up contract reduction negotiated by the insurance company OR the amount paid by insurance. That's all insurance is good for, IMO...a hospital may charge $40,000 for an appendectomy, but BCBS, for instance, has determined that $13,000 is a reasonable and customary charge, and then the insurance pays 80%. Also, your husband's insurance may have an annual out-of-pocket limit.
Don't teachers have insurance provided by your state? If so, I think those policies are pretty generous.

I would be in touch with the hospital ASAP, though, and ask to speak to their financial aid people. The hospital's website probably has a financial aid section with forms.

Oh, he has insurance through work, but it sucks. The deductible is $7500. We don’t have that in the bank. One church helped us some financially when my husband was unemployed. I might try to appeal to them again, but it makes me feel like I am taking advantage of their charity and kindness.

Some programs would call the $7500.00 deductible "underinsured." Please check with the hospital's billing dept. about financial aid.


WC

That amount is shocking, cln1812

That amount is shocking, cln1812

Isn't though? And that is what they give to schoolteachers here in Texas, at least in my husband's district. First, they overwork and underpay teachers, and then they make it so that teachers can't afford their medical bills.

Okay, I understand what you're saying here. But bear in mind that a LOT of people are just looking for opportunities to give. When I personally had more than I needed to make ends meet, I tried to find these opportunities myself, always anonymously. You might very well be meeting THEIR need to have a small impact on the world.

I may very well appeal to them again. We don't attend church regularly, but when we do go, it is to this particular church, and I know they do a lot for my daughter's school, for example, raising the money to pay a reading specialist for my daughter's grade, which happens to be the largest elementary grade in the district (8 elementary schools all together).

This morning, I called the city EMS department, billing. It turns out they did not have my insurance information. My husband may have given it to the ambulance crew, or he may not. My recollection of the ambulance ride and everything leading up to it is hazy except for getting an IV. Plus, my husband had our 10 year old daughter to worry about. It was an emergency, so insurance info could have easily been forgotten to be exchanged. Even though my insurance has a sky high deductible, it sometimes negotiates slight to significant discount charges. It is great on prescriptions, not great on doctor copays, where I will pay $80 for a specialist (in my case a gastroenterologist, and the insurance will claim they saved me $30). I have yet to receive all the hospital bills, but it does look like the insurance negotiated an $1800 claim from the hospital to $200 (maybe the surgery itself?) when I log into our insurance company's online account.

Fingers crossed, the next bill from the EMS department will be much less.

I would wait and submit the bill/talk to your insurance company, find out how it all fits together, etc. I got a $500 bill for an ambulance ride a couple years ago and then, later, the insurance company paid it; the ambulance company should not have submitted the bill so quickly. I got back $400 something from them. They often don't know you have any insurance or anything and just bill without the whole picture being present yet.

What is the statute of limitations in your state? In Massachusetts, if you are able to ignore a bill for 7 years and the creditor doesn't sue, you can get it off your credit report as a "time barred debt." Different states have different time limits, some are around only 3 years! A credit or finance forum would be more knowledgeable about the point I make.

I hope this is helpful and I am sorry to hear about such an awful unfairly large bill, IMO.

I have a lot of medical bills from 7 plus times in the hospital for psych issues. The thing I found was that the hospital visits themselves were usually covered by charity care because I didn't have insurance, it was just the ambulances that overcharged. I am getting a bankruptcy to discharge all of my debts. I am still young, 25, so I can go without having good credit for a little while. I hope your situation improves!

Our town is in charge of our ambulance services. If we donate $50.00 per year to the Rescue Services, which is a charitable donation, anyone in the household is transported to the hospital with no co-pay for the ride. It covers everyone in the household, for as many transports as is needed in a year. It's a unique idea and well worth the donation fee.


WC

Wow I wish we had something like that in my area. The last time I was in an ambulance the bill was $1,600. Insurance paid half. I think next time I’ll use Uber

Funny you should write this... re: Uber!
I saw a news story yesterday, reporting Uber use is cutting into the profits of emergency services transport profits in some big cities.

My neighbor was at home while dying of cancer. She'd secured 6 ambulance rides to the ER for the $50.00 annual donation.


WC