You will need another ambulance when you get the air ambulance bill

[BlueStarLizzard]

I was thinking along the same direction.  I recognize that in many cases a helicopter transfer would be necessary.

But I wondered what kind of message you could keep on your person which would tell them not to screw with air medevac unless it was genuinely necessary.

Kind of a vague question, especially since "genuinely necessary" is a matter of opinion, and obviously first responders would rather err on the side of caution.

Hmmmm.....

Terry, 230RN

Yeah, I got no problems if it is necessary. Happy to pay for that (assuming I actually can pay the bill. They can't have what isn't there) and i've been in plenty of places where I have no doubt an air lift would have been faster than a ground vehicle (assuming a ground vehicle could get to where I was)

But I can tell you now, if I wake up in the hospital and get a bill like that, finding out that it wasn't necessary (or worse, actually impeded my care because it took longer than going on an ambulance) I would be raising holy hell.

[Mannlicher]

the use of an air ambulance is a superfluous extravagance.  Unless of course, it is YOUR ass on the line.      

[41magsnub]

Free helicopter ride?

It was idiotic.  They may have had the chopper part covered, but they still had an ER visit to pay for. 

[RevDisk]

the use of an air ambulance is a superfluous extravagance.  Unless of course, it is YOUR ass on the line.      

As someone familiar with air ambulance operations, even if my tail was on the line I'd prefer ground unless there were extreme extenuating circumstances.

[SADShooter]

Here in North Texas I believe we have 3 air services operating. My research organization has worked with 2 of them. I'm sure a portion of their runs could be handled by ground transport, but we see a lot of trauma cases who wouldn't survive ground transport times, and by all accounts the medics are an elite group. We are also seeing an expansion of trauma centers in the region. In both cases, we will eventually move to markets saturation and some will close as they fail to generate revenue.

[Calumus]

I have no idea about current pricing, I'm sure helicopter rides have gone up as much as anything else medically related over the years. My nephew got a ride a few minutes after he was born in '99. 15 minute flight from a small hospital to a bigger one with a decent neonatal unit cost $55k.