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Search “American Medical Response” and terms like “thousands” and you’ll find story after story of 4-5k bills, some of those from 7+ years ago. Here’s one: htt

Search “American Medical Response” and terms like “thousands” and you’ll find story after story of 4-5k bills, some of those from 7+ years ago. Here’s one: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/16ixoc8/i_was_just_hit_with_a_4000_ambulance_bill_from https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/16ixoc8/i_... And another which links to the California Assembly Bill to try to prevent this: https://calmatters.org/health/2023/12/surprise-ambulance-bills-new-california-laws-2024/ https://calmatters.org/health/2023/12/surprise-ambulance-bil... I didn’t receive any notice of the bill until nine months later and was told it would go to collections in 30 days. My insurance company decided to reconsider whether they would pay anything after I called them, and they told AMR they would review the case which put the clock for collections on hold for about six weeks until the insurance coughed up $3k or so.

1123581321 3y ago
There is studied pricing data available. For example, Fair, an organization working against surprise bills, tells us average pricing by charge code. Before insurance, basic transport averages under a thousand. Mileage and cost of living accounts for the variation. People with huge bills before insurance are either receiving advanced care (like my infant daughter) or being transported long distances. CMS has negotiated average basic transport down to a few hundred. I’d like to see this proliferated. Dispatching keeps ambulances from refusing service in the way CMS pricing dries up proactive care availability. Certainly share your pain dealing with medical bills and receiving them after they’re overdue. I’m good at it but I know most aren’t, and they come at an overwhelming time. Also, many ambulance companies use crappy overbooked billing call centers so it’s hard to talk to someone. Reforming medical communication is part of the whole solution.

1123581321 3y ago

There is studied pricing data available. For example, Fair, an organization working against surprise bills, tells us average pricing by charge code. Before insurance, basic transport averages under a thousand. Mileage and cost of living accounts for the variation. People with huge bills before insurance are either receiving advanced care (like my infant daughter) or being transported long distances. CMS has negotiated average basic transport down to a few hundred. I’d like to see this proliferated. Dispatching keeps ambulances from refusing service in the way CMS pricing dries up proactive care availability. Certainly share your pain dealing with medical bills and receiving them after they’re overdue. I’m good at it but I know most aren’t, and they come at an overwhelming time. Also, many ambulance companies use crappy overbooked billing call centers so it’s hard to talk to someone. Reforming medical communication is part of the whole solution.