{"id":2037,"date":"2022-12-13T03:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T08:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/maryland\/foundation\/resources\/emergency-the-high-cost-of-ambulance-surprise-bills\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T17:12:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T22:12:26","slug":"emergency-the-high-cost-of-ambulance-surprise-bills","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/maryland\/foundation\/resources\/emergency-the-high-cost-of-ambulance-surprise-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"EMERGENCY: The high cost of ambulance surprise bills"},"featured_media":45455,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[146],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"resource_type":[64],"region_tax":[],"state":[7,8,10,12,16,22,23,24,2,35,38,48,51],"topic_tax":[120],"class_list":["post-2037","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[120],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":64,"event_type":false,"campaigns":146,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[7,8,10,12,16,22,23,24,2,35,38,48,51],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":120}},"subtitle":"","excerpt":"Half of ambulance rides by insured patients could result in a surprise bill. We need a solution now.","featured_image":45455,"caption_override":"","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":"","related_event":"","hide_hero_image":false,"location":"internal","external_link":{"publication_name":"","url":""},"file":null,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":16,"people":"130"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"helper_downloads":{"title":"Download the full report here","files":[{"file":100000000045459,"title":"Emergency: the high cost of ambulance surprise bills"}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a medical emergency strikes, the most important thing is to get help fast. And about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthsystemtracker.org\/brief\/ground-ambulance-rides-and-potential-for-surprise-billing\/\">1 in 10 times<\/a>, insured Americans get to the emergency room by ambulance.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In fact, ground ambulances transport approximately\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthsystemtracker.org\/brief\/ground-ambulance-rides-and-potential-for-surprise-billing\/\"> 3 million<\/a> privately insured people to emergency rooms annually.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem is that patients generally don\u2019t choose their ambulance service. They (or someone else) call 9-1-1, and the dispatcher sends out a responder. Then, the patient is obligated to pay the bill.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<img class=\"wp-image-45460 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Graphic-3mil-people-300x231.png\" alt=\"3 million privately insured ambulance patients\" width=\"547\" height=\"421\" \/>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_large_image","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_large_image":{"width":"narrow","image":"","caption_override":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December 2020, Congress passed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/nosurprises\">No Surprises Act<\/a> (NSA) to protect patients from many types of out-of-network balance bills.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The law prohibited surprise billing for emergency room services, air ambulances and most out-of-network care at in-network facilities. <\/span>\r\n\r\n<strong>It did not include protections from surprise billing by ground ambulances. <\/strong>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, Congress acknowledged important work was left undone, by including provisions in the NSA to establish the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/regulations-guidance\/advisory-committees\/advisory-committee-ground-ambulance-and-patient-billing-gapb\">Advisory Committee on Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing<\/a>.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The committee is charged with reviewing options for protecting consumers from surprise ground ambulance billing.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Studies show about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/doi\/10.1377\/hlthaff.2019.01484\">half of emergency ambulance patients<\/a> with insurance are at risk of receiving a surprise medical bill which is an out-of-network charge for those transportation services.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Those balance bills carry a median out-of-pocket charge of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/doi\/10.1377\/hlthaff.2019.01484\">$450<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but in some states, the average is more than $1000.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Balance billing occurs when patients are charged the difference between the in-network and out-of-network rate. This common billing practice throughout the health care industry is even more prevalent for ambulances.\u00a0<\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_featured_article","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_featured_article":{"article":[2016]}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ambulances have the highest out-of-network billing rate in the country, adding up to around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/doi\/10.1377\/hlthaff.2019.01484\">$129 million<\/a> spent by insured patients on ambulance surprise bills every year.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In at least seven states, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/maps-and-interactives\/2021\/feb\/state-balance-billing-protections\">more than two-thirds<\/a> of emergency ground transports could result in a balance bill.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/maps-and-interactives\/2021\/feb\/state-balance-billing-protections\">Ten states<\/a> have enacted laws to protect patients against out-of-network bills from ambulance companies.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> However these state laws are limited to protecting only patients who are insured by a state-regulated health plan. That means that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.associationhealthplans.com\/group-health\/what-is-erisa-health-insurance\/\">60%<\/a> of those who get their insurance coverage through a self-funded plan offered by their employer are left unprotected because these types of plans are exempt from state laws.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Insured patients need a federal solution, modeled after these state laws, to ensure protection across all 50 states.\u00a0<\/span>","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_featured_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_featured_action":{"action":"","action_query_string":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<img class=\" wp-image-45461 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Graphic-10-states-300x181.png\" alt=\"10 States offer ambulance surprise billing protections\" width=\"541\" height=\"326\" \/>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This report highlights the need for nationwide ground ambulance surprise billing protections. It provides an overview of the ground ambulance business models and how states have addressed the problem of ambulance balance billing. In addition, it recommends what data the government should accumulate and what policy solutions the government should consider based on that data.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<em>Download the full report at the button above.<\/em>\r\n\r\nShare your ambulance story <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/articles\/have-you-been-hit-with-an-ambulance-surprise-bill\/\">here.<\/a>","":null}}],"site_specific_content":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>EMERGENCY: The high cost of ambulance surprise bills<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Half of ambulance rides by insured patients could result in a surprise bill. 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