anyone with a ballpark of how much insurance covers a life flight?

[Trigger Mike]

Sadly my 14 year old daughter got real sick with sepsis.  we do not live near a pediatric dr.  the local hospital is small and sends many down to savannah for the large hospitals so they sent her by helicopter.  a nurse and a friend both with experience in the matter said the bill will be $54,000.  I wonder how much it will be after insurance.  meanwhile my daughter is a lot better just not home yet.  we just finally have time to breath to think about what is coming next.   

[Pat Riot]

Sorry to hear about your daughter. I am glad she’s getting better.

I have no idea what insurance would cover in this regard. It depends on the plan.

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

It depends on your insurance, but my experience says 100%.   And don't think for a minute that the ins. co. will pay 54K. they have a negotiated discount.

[Tennessee Trapper Tom]

Did this before. For someone with insurance typical copays will range from $50 to $500  mostly it depends on distance. If you don’t have insurance and it is say a flight from Atlanta to California then you would be looking at upwards of $50’000. 

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Depends on who authorized the Life Flight as medically necessary. Then it depends on whether the insurance co. recognizes that authorization. You'll know when you get the bill. Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I've been on the receiving end of what insurance companies will authorize in in urgent/emergency situations.

 

Most important, glad your daughter is doing better.

[Crazy Knife Al]

We have Life Flight insurance which costs $50 a year for the Wife and myself.  I think most plans are regional, but there are many that take other Life Flight insurance plans as a courtesy.

[Yul Lose]

I hope your daughter recovers fully. My youngest son is a fixed wing Life Flight pilot and according to him in previous conversations the insurance company usually settles for a lot less than the standard charges. You may have to pay some additional but not that large of an amount.

[Badlands Bob #61228]

I've got a friend who is a nurse that works for a Life Flight service that picks up U.S. tourists that get sick or injured overseas. This is fixed wing aircraft with a full ICU on board.  He says the costs usually run about $50,000 per flight.    I would think a helicopter carrying a patient locally would be cheaper.

[J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE]

As an attorney I see this from time to time.  The last few life flight bills have been in that price range for helicopter flights and one was probably 100 miles or so.  Without saying what will happen in your case, generally the bulk of the bill is covered by insurance and the out of pocket portion is deductible based depending upon your specific coverage, of course.

 

Prayers for your daughters full recovery

 

[Trigger Mike]

my deductible is 11500 per person and my co pay is 20% so I may either raid her college fund or sell a gun or so

[Henry T Harrison]

16 hours ago, Trigger Mike said:

my deductible is 11500 per person and my co pay is 20% so I may either raid her college fund or sell a gun or so

That is your penalty for being a working man

[J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE]

Are you sure about those numbers? The one thing about Obamacare is it required all plans to be compliant and that level of deductible is not.

[Henry T Harrison]

 I know several families whose deductible is so high that they might as well not have insurance. Ours was 10k before we went on Medicare, we paid through the nose for coverage that was no where near as good as the welfare cheats got free or at a fraction of what we paid. We are still paying bills from my wife's last illness that drove us into bankruptcy

[Trigger Mike]

i misread some of it but some of it is worse than I thought.  5500 individual 11000 for the family.  40% for the ER I took her to  .  

[J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE]

Hospitals write off a lot of bills, you need to get with their financial office and see what info you need to provide to see if you can get some relief.

[Festus G Lonetree]

I have been on two different medivac flights, one by helicopter from Healy to Anchorage and one by small jet from Anchorage to Seattle. Both flights were completely covered since my yearly deductible had already been met.