Family charged $33,000 medical bill for using chopper.

It is like all medical treatment , it cost 100x what it should. The entire system is a sham.

This child could easily and safely been transferred by ground. That should have been $5-6000 or less. Sometimes ER crew over-reacts and calls air-ambulance. And ER crew may have been up to their ass in alligators, with no ground crew available at the time.

Last Edited by MarPep on 05/12/2019 01:41 PM

In Canada its FREE

No, everyone is taxed at a much high rate than in a free country...

Yeah but i mean if you need it its like being free you know what i mean?

Can we save all our money here and retire in Canada ?

I see how people for socialism lie to themselves...

Truth be known, he's probably a welfare parasite. People that try to brag and boast online are normally the opposite of what they're boasting about.

lol or not

When you are on the verge of sudden death count your money and see how much boasting you do.

Our Bill was 13,000 and some - the insurance paid all but $200

I generally know my net worth on any given day...of course it fluctuates.

Of course everyone ignores this inconvenient truth instead of correcting it, and instead to bitch about the medical profession...

The middle class is paying 4-5 times what it should cost in order to build in the costs for the scumbag, gibsmedat crowd. They probably need chopper rides for overdoses and gunshots frequently and weez beez payin fo all dat.

Depending upon the length of the flight that sounds about right.

Medical Helicopter Flights are expensive as HELL. Shoot I was charged $1500 for a ground ambulance transfer from a clinic to the hospital, about 6 miles, and they didn't do squat or even provide an EMS crew, just a cab ride.

Here a 5 mile flight from hospital to hospital is about $12,000 - $15,000 and a 25 mile flight from an outlying area of the urban area to one of our trauma centers or for a heart attack usually runs $25,000 to $35,000. If you have to go 50 to 60 miles plan on $50,000.

The cost of Air Ambulance Services is VERY HIGH ... which is why you need to check with your insurance company to see what your coverage is. IF your area is ONLY served by one air ambulance service you can usually buy insurance for flights on THEIR helicopters for a very reasonable fee ... but that won't cover you if you are driving elsewhere and another company provides your ride.

Having known several people who are ONLY ALIVE because of helicopter air ambulances being able to get them to a Level 1 Trauma center ASAP so they could immediately go into surgery I am not going begrudge the $50,000, or more, it cost EACH of them to get them to a location where their lives were saved.

You ALWAYS have the right to turn down an Air Ambulance Ride ... but then you have to deal with the consequences (and parents can turn it down on behalf of their children), and those consequences can include DEATH or permanent injury)

(had a teenager on our ski race team who had a bad accident and may have broken his back ... they could have put him on an ambulance for a ride to the nearest city, about an hour's transit - and he thus WOULD NOT GET the Nerve Saving injection if his spinal cord was actually cut which can actually save one's ability to walk in the future , or they could pick him up right there and fly him, at a cost of $40,000+ direct to the trauma center. The Ski Patrol EMS's wanted the helicopter, the dad agreed, and he went straight to the Trauma Center via helicopter. Ended up NO serious injury other than badly pulled and bruised muscles and a badly twisted back, BUT his dad had NO REGRETS paying his deductable share of that helicopter ride - several thousand dollars - since if it had been as bad as they thought he might be it would possibly have been the only way to save his being able to ever walk again in the future)

It is expensive as all get out to run those medical evacuation helicopters ... and to keep them on call 24/7.

Don't want to pay for a ride in one even if teetering on death? Then tell everyone that you are refusing to ride on one ... and put it in your billfold signed and notarized, etc. etc.)

And yet our politicians can take pleasure trips around the world with their families on the public's dime.

I heard a radio report on chopper use, and the person featured on it was billed $50,000 .... Our system is broken.

The hospitals choose who airlifts for them and would never allow a competitor to reduce thier bottom line.

The most anti capitalist people in this country reside in the Big corporations.

They detest competition and purchase politicians to tailor policies to benefit them.

It is not uncommon to see 40,000 and 50,000 dollar charges.
Looking around it appears insurance usually on cover a fraction of the bill.
Also, looking at the profits, one such company made 100 million in profits last year.

They pretty much charge whatever they want and they do not have any competition because their usually the only game in town.

everywhere.... i see it all the time,... always right after 32 and right before 34

This x1000

It happens all the time here in AZ.

[link to www.breitbart.com (secure)]

And other states:

[link to www.foxnews.com (secure)]

nothing new here.

WELL GEE WHIZ , IT COSTS A LOT TO RUN ONE. HELL, THE JESUS NUT THAT HOLDS THE BLADES ON THE SHAFT COSTS THAT MUCH.

Those charges are strictly for cooking the books. No insurance company on the planet is going cover that bill.

Malpractice Insurance for in flight medical team vs. a half drunk chopper pilot.

40k seems a bit much. But this idea that state of the art medical care should be free is retarded. If you want your life saved by the best trained people in the world with the best material it is going to cost. I mean many people spend over 40k on a car to impress their neighbors. Many people spend that to study the drums for a year or two. But spending a lot of money to have your life saved is suddenly unfair? Sounds like childish whining.