We all know healthcare costs in the U.S. are stupidly high. One of the most disgusting aspects of healthcare costs in this country is ambulatory costs. The simple act of taking someone to the hospital to save their life can come with life-changing debt. Sadly, one family is dealing with this situation now, nearly five months after losing their mother.
NPR reports on the sad situation involving the family of Debra Prichard, who had a stroke and several aneurysms in October 2023. Things were so bad that she had to be taken from her local hospital in rural Tennessee to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Med-Trans Corp, a medical transportation service, took Prichard in an air ambulance for the 79-mile journey. Prichard sadly died on Halloween.
Med-Trans Corp wasted no time in billing Prichard’s family, sending them a bill less than two weeks after her death. The amount? A staggering $81,739.40. Prichard’s daughter, Alicia Wieberg, told NPR she had heard that air ambulance bills were high, but she wasn’t prepared for that amount.
The problem for Prichard, it seems, stems from her Medicare coverage. She was enrolled in Part A, which is free for Americans over 65, but opted out of Part B due to costs as NPR describes.
But Prichard declined other Medicare coverage, including Part B, which handles such things as doctor visits, outpatient treatment, and ambulance rides. Her daughter suspects she skipped that coverage to avoid the premiums most recipients pay, which currently are about $175 a month.
An industry expert told NPR that had she had Part B coverage, Medicare would have only allowed Med-Trans to charge less than $10,000 for the flight, leaving her share she’d have to pay at less than $2,000. This was backed up by a response from the parent company of Med-Trans who also said they’re working with the family’s attorney on a solution.
Except it doesn’t seem that way. Earlier this month, Wiebrg told NPR that the company hadn’t offered to come down on the bill amount. She’s filed a complaint with the state under the No Surprises Act, but that hasn’t stopped things from moving forward. On February 12th, she was notified that Med-Trans had a claim against her mother’s estate for the whole amount of the bill.
Wieberg told NPR that she’s preparing to sell the family’s home to cover the costs. At the Federal level, something has been done to protect consumers from these types of bills, such as the aforementioned No Surprises Act which restricts excessive out-of-pocket costs and requires emergency services to be covered without any prior authorization.