Post by M in Carolina on Jul 25, 2016 3:15:16 GMT
In early October, I fell down some dark deck stairs while vacation with my family and had to be taken by helicopter because the nearest hospital was 1 1/2 hours away. I shattered my tibia, so I needed surgery to repair. At the time, my family was concerned that I had hit my head and was going into shock, so the ambulance was called. The ambulance company took my to the helicopter and off we went. We got a bill for $42,000 from the helicopter company after my insurance denied it the first time, but they asked for my permission to fight the insurance company on it. I hadn't heard anything in months, so I thought all was fine. Today I got a letter to call the helicopter's self pay line because they were not able to come to an agreement with insurance.
Ug! Where do I start? Call the insurance company? I'm at my max out of pocket with this accident, so they would have to pay 100%. This bill is stressing us out!
Update:
Insurance denied the bill because the helicopter is out of network. I argued that obviously there is no way to choose a helicopter. Going out of network was not a choice in this situation. I hit a wall with insurance. Called the helicopter company and they knocked the bill down to $13,000 if we pay it in the next 30 days or $281 a month for the next 5 years. DH and I contacted the Texas Department of Insurance and are first going to get them to mediate with the insurance company on our behalf. The helicopter company said we could pay $25 a month to keep the account current, so we will do that for now and keep trying to get it worked out.
So now a $42,000 bill is a $13,000 bill. Better, but combined with my max out of pocket of $7,000 that we have from the hospital and everything else associated with this accident, and DH and I are struggling.
Prayers and positive thoughts are greatly appreciated!
I'm really sorry that you are going thru this. Please stay on it! Your insurance company is in the wrong here.
Marcy
There's SO MANY different insurance plans that I don't know how the emergency dispatch and EMTs could keep it all straight. Plus the EMTs were concerned that you were having head injury symptoms where every second counts if you have a brain bleed and swelling. I think it's absolutely ASSinine for your insurance company to suggest that you or your family should have held up your emergency treatment to ensure that the helicopter was *in network*.
This is the kind of heartless, brain dead bureaucratic douchebaggery that makes people want get rid of the entire industry.
If your insurance company STILL tries to stick you with this bill, you should call your local TV news station. This is the sort of story that the producers of the local news "blah blah on your side" would salivate over. Your story is one of the worst examples I've ever heard.
PS--I've heard a lot of horrible stories like this--I used to work for a company that handled pension plan insurance. I worked with the pensioners and helped them work through their bills--making Medicare pay up. We heard a lot of stories. Your's is definitely in the top 10.