Cost of a Helicopter Medevac/Air Ambulance in the USA (AZ)?

[Galant]

So my American sister-in-law had to go to hospital to have an emergency C-section and the baby was successfully delivered two months premature. The baby was born with some serious but not immediately life-threatening issues and in order to have surgery in a more advanced hospital the baby boy was flown via helicopter to Phoenix. Apparently the flight distance was 110 miles.

I've just received a photo of the bill for the flight sent to my sister-in-law and her husband. The total came to $64999.00 (USD).
110 Miles = $35479.45
"Helicopter Rotor Base" = $29519.55

They're going to pass it onto their insurance and see what happens. But I'm curious, does anyone with wings have any idea if that seems to be a reasonable charge for that flight? I've heard that healthcare costs in the USA can be inflated versus the same procedures or medication elsewhere. Does that seem normal, or does it seem inflated.

I'd be floored if I received that bill. I get that everything costs money, but in the instance of emergency flights for newborn babies I seriously hope someone isn't lining their pockets.

If Trump and chums want to provide healthcare revision, might I suggest they start by categorisation and providing coverage for these sorts of situations. Quite frankly, and obviously, if you've just given birth to a child in need of an urgent procedure, the last thing you need adding in is a colossal bill.

#Ratherupset

[TeePee]

That's normal. Incredibly unjust, and utterly disproportionate to the actual cost of the operation.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/sky-rage-bi...ry?id=37669153
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-s...changing-bills

I very much hope that your sister has insurance that will cover it (And pay something reasonable, about $4000). Many insurance companies are now excluding medevacs from their policies.

Most people transported don't pay, but even so these companies are making huge profits.

[smargh]

That price will be their first offer. Don't get too bothered by it just yet.

People sometimes just reply along the lines of "I cannot afford this" and they reduce it by 80% or more. Google & search Reddit posts for the tactics people use.

[Ttaskmaster]

Sourced from elsewhere, dated 2015:


From memory, very rough figures for EC 135:-
Fuel - £200/hr
Maintenance - £400/hr
Cruise speed - approx 140mph

Raw cost per mile at those figures would be would be approx £4.30/mile, but obviously doesn't reflect in any way what the service costs to provide.
On top of that and just off the top of my head, you've got:-

Helicopter lease
Insurances
Storage/base costs
Pilot & 2 HEMS crew
HEMS controller
TO/landing fees (if airport based)
+ charity wages to fundraise
+ probably a lot more!

and without those being paid for the service doesn't get provided, which is why our air ambulance trust reckon each mission costs approx. £3,300.

West Yorkshire air ambulance state they need to raise 10k+ a day to operate.
Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance is approx £2.5k per mission.



Also, costs for flights home to the UK, sourced from a health insurance website:

£35-45,000, air ambulance from USA’s East coast;
£12-16,000, air ambulance from the Canary Islands;
£15-20,000, scheduled flight, stretcher and doctor escort from Australia.


So yeah, the US seems like one darn expensive place to need any kind of medical care....!!!

[Galant]

£20k for a flight from Australia to the UK?

[TeePee]

£20k for a flight from Australia to the UK?

That's probably a stretcher flight. Think airliner converted to carry a number of patients and medical crew. These are used to repatriate some patients, who often have connecting flights to the departure airports. For example, with my previous company, we flew a patient from NM to LAX where they were transferred to a 767 which flew to Japan. Significantly cheaper than using an Air Ambulance for the entire journey. But this was in a LearJet, not a Helicopter.

[Ttaskmaster]

That's probably a stretcher flight.

Indeed.
These are emergency priority medical flights, so I imagine lots of pushing to the front of taxi/take-off queues, fast aircraft, lots of medically trained crew aboard, etc... perhaps even use of different flight paths, very short notice flight plans, any interchanges at airports where the operator may not have agreed landing rates... all that costs money.

[Galant]

Right, I was referring to how cheap it was, relatively speaking, when comparing a flight of just 110 miles. Seems one of them is either impossibly cheap or impossibly expensive.

[TeePee]

Scanning back across some older posts, but did your SIL manage to resolve this? Did insurance pay, and were they balance billed?

And most importantly, how's the Nephew?

[Galant]

Scanning back across some older posts, but did your SIL manage to resolve this? Did insurance pay, and were they balance billed?

And most importantly, how's the Nephew?

Hey TeePee,

Thanks for the follow up!

The little guy is doing incredibly well. He was born at 31 weeks with OEIS complex. He's now 11 months old, has undergone I don't know how many corrective surgeries (with more to come) and just today his mum posted a photo of him sitting up by himself - quite an accomplishment for the little guy!

So all things considered, he's doing really well!

Thanks for asking.

As for the medical chopper a charitable organisation made contact with the family out of the blue, so to speak. They have made all the arrangements to take care of everything and my sister and brother in law haven't had to pay anything, so that was great news. If you want the details of the organisation I'll have to ask as I've forgotten the name.

So what could have been crippling didn't, in the end, factor in.

We're all very grateful to those who not only contribute in that way but even stay active to ensure people can find and receive that help when it's needed.

Thanks again for the follow up. Hope you're well too.