Air Ambulance service question

[Focus]

I'm in Idaho and am on the Life Flight Network out of Portland. I'm covered in WA, OR, ID and MT. Life Flight has reciprocal agreements with several providers in the West including Classic (based in SLC) that covers UT, at least the west side of CO and parts of WY.....

What I want to know is......is there a provider, maybe in Denver, that covers all of CO, KS, NE, SD, ND? What about places further east like Kansas City or Omaha?

I'm planning on a lot of travel to and through those states this year and want to be sure to be covered wherever I am.

Thanks!

 

[jlong17]

Any chance you have a Garmin inReach? I only ask because when you activate the device you can select from a few different subscriptions as well as additional SAR coverage (I think)

 

[Trial153]

They should have a list of reciprocal agencies if you call them

 

[Focus]

Any chance you have a Garmin inReach? I only ask because when you activate the device you can select from a few different subscriptions as well as additional SAR coverage (I think)

I have the IR mini.

 

[Focus]

They should have a list of reciprocal agencies if you call them

I'm sure I could google-fu and call a bunch of different services across the country to eventually arrive at an answer*. But I was hoping to tap the knowledge of this forum for some quick references to known air ambulance services servicing the eastern Rocky Mtn. states and the mid- to upper Plains states.

I do carry an InReach Mini (to answer post #2) but the point of this thread is not to have SAR on speed-dial. Its to have the sticker of the best, most comprehensive air ambulance service on my truck or my motorcycle helmet so that when the EMT's roll up on the crash site out in the middle of nowhere and my unconscious butt needs a ride to the hospital, it doesn't end up costing me $50,000 for the taxi service.

* if if comes to that, I'll gladly share my finding on this forum.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

My impression is that some air ambulance subscriptions depend on an exiting health insurance policy that covers?
For example, from LifeMed Alaska: "The patient responsibility for a medevac flight to Seattle could be $20,000. LifeMed Alaska works directly with your insurance company and accepts their reimbursement as payment-in-full for our members."
"I understand that I am financially responsible for the services and supplies provided to me by LifeMed Alaska, regardless of my insurance coverage, and in some cases, may be responsible for an amount in addition to that which was paid by my insurance. I agree to immediately remit to LifeMed Alaska any payments that I receive directly from insurance or any source whatsoever for the services provided to me and I assign all rights to such payments to LifeMed Alaska"
That is why the annual subscription to LifeMed Alaska is only $49.

 

[Trial153]

I have put a few patients on helicopters, maybe 50 or so since I been doing this and not once have I gotten or had to pick the service that was doing the transport.

When I radio dispatch for a medifight, they tone it to the services nearest the scene. Depending on the location of helicopters, the weather both at the screen location and helicoper location. The pilot then decide if they are accepting the transport.
I can assure that zero thought or consideration is taken as what sticker is on your truck or quite frankly what the patients prefence in service is.

Not to be a debbie downer but if that's the reason for the research your wasting your time.

 

[Focus]

I have put a few patients on helicopters, maybe 50 or so since I been doing this and not once have I gotten or had to pick the service that was doing the transport.

When I radio dispatch for a medifight, they tone it to the services nearest the scene. Depending on the location of helicopters, the weather both at the screen location and helicoper location. The pilot then decide if they are accepting the transport.
I can assure that zero thought or consideration is taken as what sticker is on your truck or quite frankly what the patients prefence in service is.

Not to be a debbie downer but if that's the reason for the research your wasting your time.

Well.....dang....Makes sense though. So looks like you are in NY. Are there a couple of services up there that reciprocate with one another? Or do you have 5-10 and most don’t reciprocate?

In Idaho we have two (that I know of) and they reciprocate.

If I knew of one or two services, say one in Denver and one in say St. Louis , that have agreements with other services then I could blanket most of the lower 48 with only three subscriptions (maybe $200 total).

And also, I appreciate your knowledge Trial.

 

[Focus]

My impression is that some air ambulance subscriptions depend on an exiting health insurance policy that covers?
For example, from LifeMed Alaska: "The patient responsibility for a medevac flight to Seattle could be $20,000. LifeMed Alaska works directly with your insurance company and accepts their reimbursement as payment-in-full for our members."
"I understand that I am financially responsible for the services and supplies provided to me by LifeMed Alaska, regardless of my insurance coverage, and in some cases, may be responsible for an amount in addition to that which was paid by my insurance. I agree to immediately remit to LifeMed Alaska any payments that I receive directly from insurance or any source whatsoever for the services provided to me and I assign all rights to such payments to LifeMed Alaska"
That is why the annual subscription to LifeMed Alaska is only $49.

Thanks for the reply Alaska. Looks like I’ll have to research my health insurance. Didn’t think of that component. Thanks!

 

[manitou1]

Lifeflight Eastern half of MO. 59.00 a year covers your household.

 

[AlaskaHunter]

From Lifeflight Eastern "Your membership is not an insurance policy but secondary to insurance carriers and health care cost-sharing programs. . . .Membership benefits do not extend to transports deemed not medically necessary or when insurers deny payments due to coordination of benefit issues. "

So the question is do conventional "gold" Blue Cross insurance plans pay the 80% of emergency transportation bill?

 

[Focus]

From Lifeflight Eastern "Your membership is not an insurance policy but secondary to insurance carriers and health care cost-sharing programs. . . .Membership benefits do not extend to transports deemed not medically necessary or when insurers deny payments due to coordination of benefit issues. "

So the question is do conventional "gold" Blue Cross insurance plans pay the 80% of emergency transportation bill?

Great question. I’ll research what I can and post accordingly.

 

[jmsrwnhr]

I work for Life Flight Network and as you said we have a reciprocal agreement with Classic. We used to with Air Methods which is a much larger company with bases all over the US- branded with all different names (Air Idaho, MedFlight-Billings, and many others) but that agreement was recently terminated by Air methods. Unfortunately I don't know all the intricacies of these agreements and what companies are all involved. I have very little knowledge of the midwest/east coast except for the fact that the majority of air ambulance companies are owned by the 2 largest- Air Methods and AMGH (owns American Medical Response (AMR), Rural Metro Fire, Air Evac Lifeteam, REACH Air Medical Services, Med-Trans Corporation, AirMed International and Guardian Flight). Would be nice to have a nationwide peace of mind for sure. This may be something thats simplified in the future as I think single payor healthcare is in the new future, however I don't know how this will affect the air ambulance world. My gut feeling is it won't be a good thing for the private air ambulance companies nor the patients.

 

[Akcabin]

Yohkay. My beautiful wife buys life med coverage for me here in AK. Kinda sounds like for 49 bucks we will come get you and you have to pay us if you're insurance balks. Have you tried contacting your medical insurance and seeing what they think ? Or if your insurer has had any experience with air ambulance services and their policies ?
Or maybe some folks in the health insurance industry could help answer this.
I think I'll ask our local emergency first responders what they do when they get a call for medical help that's remote. Is it similar to if I just call 911 ? Would they send a helicopter ? Kinda like an ambulance.
I know our military folks help a lot. Thank You. And may the God Lord watch over you. And all you our first responders.
Thanks

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

Here in SD most (non black hills rescue operations) are flown by the two hospitals, Sanford or Avera. Sorry I don't know more about how it works in the hills, but when I have seen you know bad crash on the interstate, they will fly out the Sanford helicopter to rush the individual to the hospital.

Every insurance is different, but my understanding was that is normally covered by your health insurance. But you know how those butt heads can be....

 

[Akcabin]

I went back n asked my wife why she prefered lifemed instead of just calling 911. She said, "have you ever tried calling 911? It takes 10 minutes to get to the right person then wait in line ". She likes that they just asked, where is he ? No hastles.
And having it helps her bd more comfortable when I'm out, especially by myself

 

[joetuckeruj]

Well, OP. I don’t know if you still need a recommendation, but I’ve just found this thread and want to say that when my friend’s father needed such assistance, he used airambulance1.com. The experience was nice, and he recommended it to us. His father had a severe case of arthritis and couldn’t walk himself. They were looking for an air ambulance or something like that. The plane was stable enough, and his father felt alright in the sky.

 

[LostTexican]

I have worked for a couple Air EMS companies, technically the largest certificate holder in the continental US. I highly recommend you look at a membership with GMR (bought amgh over a year or so ago), they have 10 certificates under them and operate all over the world, Global medical response is their silly name. You're a smart guy OP, most people have no idea what their insurance covers .

 

[AlaskaHunter]

My impression is that some air ambulance subscriptions depend on an exiting health insurance policy that covers?
For example, from LifeMed Alaska: "The patient responsibility for a medevac flight to Seattle could be $20,000. LifeMed Alaska works directly with your insurance company and accepts their reimbursement as payment-in-full for our members."
"I understand that I am financially responsible for the services and supplies provided to me by LifeMed Alaska, regardless of my insurance coverage, and in some cases, may be responsible for an amount in addition to that which was paid by my insurance. I agree to immediately remit to LifeMed Alaska any payments that I receive directly from insurance or any source whatsoever for the services provided to me and I assign all rights to such payments to LifeMed Alaska"
That is why the annual subscription to LifeMed Alaska is only $49.

From Lifeflight Eastern "Your membership is not an insurance policy but secondary to insurance carriers and health care cost-sharing programs. . . .Membership benefits do not extend to transports deemed not medically necessary or when insurers deny payments due to coordination of benefit issues. "

From AirMed:
Members who have any insurance or other benefits available to them, or third party responsibility (or liability) claims, that cover in any way the cost of ambulance services are financially liable for the cost of AMCN Provider services up to the limit of any such available coverage or recovery.

 

[RoughCountry]

In 2014 I was up high in a wilderness when my friend got severely injured. we needed help (only thing we had was a phone) and after about an hour a Sheriffs deputy showed up, two forest rangers and four EMT’s. They decided we needed a life flight helicopter asap. When it was all said and done, a $63,000 Life Flight, 2 operations and 4 weeks in the hospital,health insurance paid for it all but a few deductibles. Doctors told me when my friend was brought in,because of all the internal bleeding, he had about one hour of life left in him. Thank God for Life Flight.