The cost of speed
 

Some of you may recall my previous thread about my recent heart attack.
I'm happily doing well, even worked half days last week.
The inevitable bills & EOB forms have been arriving daily.
Part of my experience was a helicopter trip from Olney, MD to Northwest Washington DC. The bill for this trip was $6,150
Seems like I could circle the world a couple times for that kind of ka-ching.
UFB

Expensive medical transportation by air. In Peru.
 

Several years ago on vacation in Peru, I was visiting the Nevada Pastururi area in the Northern area of the country to see the glacier up there.

On the return trip, I was bucked off my horse, and hurt badly when I
landed on some rocks, and taken to
hospital, in a rural town, taken there in an ambulance, a 1966 Ford Country sedan station wagon.

The trip accident insurance provider in Miami was called, and they did NOT want to authorize air evacuation to Lima, the capital and proper treatment.

So the Doctor (Peruvians are VERY clever when they want to be) informed them that my back in his opinion was broken.

Never one to grab at an unexpected opportunity the Doctor accompanied me on the charted airliner to Lima, bringing his wife along, for a shopping vacation there she would never have other wise gotten.

The bill for that airline trip came to $3,000 and the medical travel insurance company paid it.

One week in the Ricardo Palma Clinic, one of Lima's best, cost $800, which I paid on my Mastercard.

The vacation was ruint. I have never rode a horse again. Never will.

Yeah, that seems like a lot. I guess WVO would know how much it actually costs the provider to make that trip. Shoot, you probably didn't even get to enjoy the view, either!

First off – Glad to hear you’re doing well.

Second – The one thing I learned last year when I had my mitral valve repair done (about $185K worth.) is to watch the EOBs closely and file them with the bills that come in. Don’t throw out anything. I learned that many of the Docs, labs and various staff that were contracted by the hospital I used (Presbyterian, Dallas) were billing me because the insurance would not pay in full due to them not being on the list of Docs, Labs, etc the insurance approved. Well I learned that that doesn’t matter if you’re in a situation where you have/had no choice. My Dr.s told me the whole thing should cost me the $100.00 deductible, that’s it.

Well within about 3 months after the surgery, I had about $12,000.00 in bills.
They were telling me that United Healthcare wasn’t covering it all and that I owed the difference. UH was telling me they weren’t covering it all because the Dr.s etc weren’t on their “list”.

After both my Dr.s (cardiologist and cardiatric surgeon) staffs told me to tell the insurance co. that I had no choice who my anesthesiologist was, who all the assisting teams where, or what outside labs got used by the hospital, etc. etc. I started making some calls. Mainly to United Healthcare. Within a week, I was done. All the bills were covered.

So remember – If you didn’t have a choice in your care. You may not be responsible for all the costs.


As for the fling-wing ride - Ouch.
Keep in mind that’s no tourist ride though. You’re paying for the flight nurse and load/unload crews too. Not to mention a ship with lots-o-pricey goodies onboard.
When I flew for CareFlight, it was $2,500.00 to $3K for a 30 minute ATLS flight. BLS transports were a bit less. But not by much.

BTW – $6150.00 might get you from DC to LA in a private jet with us here. Provided you had no special needs. Not around the world. Sorry….

Well, look at it this way: If the price to extend your life by years was $6,150, it was a great bargain.

Absolutely!
I'm not trying to complain really, I was just rather surprised.
I'm still waiting to see the bill for surgery & the IC room afterwords.
The 2 men, 2 women staff of the helio group were top notch. They took great care of me, explaining everything, making me comfortable, etc.

Stone- glad your still with us and every day you get better....

In Oct. 1991, I was helo'd from South Jersey to a hospital outside Philadelphia. The condition then was a pretty serious ventricular tachycardia (sp?). As the crow flies, it was maybe 90-100 miles or so. IIRC, the bill was around $3,000.
The good news in NJ however was that back then the NJ State Police operated the system and there was no charge to patient/users.
The ambulance from the landing pad on the campus to the ER door was $200.00 from a local Vol. ambulance service yet. Took all of, oh, maybe a minute for that trip.:rolleyes:
Insurance refused to pay that one. I did.
Touch and go the next day, but all's well......:eek:

Last week I flew Sarah Chalke and Tim Hamilton about 40 miles in the 407.

If I told you what they paid for that trip, I think all this discussion on expensive fling-wing rides would take on a whole new angle.


(and - YES, SHE IS !!):D