Federal report aims to end surprise ambulance bills
Better Care: The average ambulance cost without insurance is $500 to $3,500+
(InvestigateTV) — A YouGov.com poll found that 23% of Americans have forgone an ambulance ride because of concerns over the cost, a sentiment addressed in a recent report to Congress.
The Ground Ambulance & Patient Billing Advisory Committee, made up of health care advocates and officials, submitted the report to Congress detailing what should be done to address surprise medical billing by ground ambulances.
Patricia Kelmar with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) is a part of the federal committee and said consumers should not be exposed to surprise ambulance bills.
“We have a situation in the U.S. where about 50% of the time, when you need an ambulance, the ambulance that’s responding will not be part of your insurance network,” Kelmar explained. “That means you’ll be exposed to possibly getting a surprise ambulance bill.”
The No Surprises Act went into effect January 1, 2022, preventing medical providers from sending surprise medical bills to patients. But the law stopped short of preventing surprise ambulance bills.
The committee’s 162-page report details ways Congress can address these unexpected costs.
“And that report gives Congress a really clear pathway to solve ambulance surprise billing for all people who have insurance throughout the country,” Kelmar shared.
One of the report’s primary recommendations would be to end surprise ambulance bill altogether.
“So, the first thing is ban ambulance surprise billing,” Kelmar said. “Ask the patient to pay only a regular co-pay amount, maybe $100 towards that ambulance bill and then have insurance cover the rest of it.”
Another protection suggested is that ambulances not be allowed to send a bill to patients until after they run it through insurance.
Kelmar said they want to make sure ambulances are paid enough but aren’t allowed to overcharge a patient or their insurance company.
Once it is in Congress’s hands it is up to them to take the next step.
The full report is available here.
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