I was told by an EMT that virtually all the horse accidents in my area that occur away from the barn are air lifted out due to terrain.
Has anyone used insurance specifically to cover air ambulances? I’ve seen it for Motocross and mountain biking.
Our region has such an insurance, or more of a yearly fee you pay and will pay for any use of the lifeguard helicopter services our hospitals use.
What pays for Lifeguard is those they charge, like in highway accidents they charge the patient’s insurance of those not subscribers and some state and maybe federal grants and that so many here pay the small fee, that adds up to enough to run that service.
I think I pay $60 for three years subscription.
You may want to check in your area if you have one such service.
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It’s offered in our area, want to say something like $180 a year. We don’t have it.
There is a company in our area that advertises this. Basically if you pay them each year, they guarantee “no out of pocket cost if flown by us”.
https://lifeteam.net/frequently-asked-questions/
> AirMedCare Network Providers will work on your behalf with your benefits provider to secure payment for your flight, with any uncovered amounts considered to be fully prepaid. As such, members who are transported by AirMedCare Network will not receive a bill for the flight.
My health insurance would pay them in any case, and if it’s that bad of an accident, it’s pretty certain I’ll have enough expenses to meet the deductible one way or another. I don’t subscribe.
my son was air lifted 11 miles… $55,000
I am in Middle TN, not far from Fentress County and Big South Fork National Recreational Area, and it is recommended to the residents there that they have it. There is a large population of retirees there, and exceptional medical care is at least an hour and a half out by ambulance.
I was also at a horse campground last year, in VA near the Shenandoah National Forest, where they had brochures advertising it.
I was recently diagonosed with an aortic aneurysm, and although my cardiac thoracic surgeon is okay with me riding, should I suffer an aortic dissection, being medi-vacced to a hospital could be essential in saving my life.
It’s cheap at twice the price. Let me break it down for y’all - it’s AT LEAST $30k for them to touch down at the local hospital or landing zone to pick you up. $30k just to land and smile at you. After that the price goes up depending on what they do for you (meds, venting, etc). You can easily wind up with a bill for several tens of thousands of dollars. Buy the insurance. PLEASE buy the insurance. I think of it like that Abbott and Costello routine where one walks up to the other and asks why he’s wearing some huge necklace. “It keeps the polar bears away’” replies the second one. “We don’t have any polar bears here.” “See! It’s working.” You may never use it but boy is it handy to have when you need it. And yes, most horse involved accidents do get flown out. I speak from at least 20 years experience in emergency rooms. Buy the insurance.
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The way they explain it here, the only way we even have one such program here is because so many pay into it, or it would not be possible, the costs so high if they only depended on the trips they make to pay for them standing there ready.
They push for as many paying their little bit as possible, or we may not have that service at all.
In our area the ambulances are run by the counties and manned by volunteers.
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It’s $85 a year…well worth it!
AAMS commissioned a study to determine the actual cost of a medevac ride. The report found it takes about $2.9 million a year to run a single helicopter base. Each base handles about 300 transports a year, and the rides cost about $11,000 each, according to the report.
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/…ambulance-bill
we were billed just about $35,000 for our son’s eleven mile ride which could have been done faster on the ground
Where very large distances are involved to the nearest trauma center, if you are traveling thru here on the expressway, you will be glad if you have a medical emergency, like in a wreck, that the sheriff can order the medical helicopter service if your condition indicates you need to be transported immediately, not wait for the ambulance and then be for miles traveling to the emergency room.
This is how it is around here:
https://www.ttuhsc.edu/rural-health/…ems-report.pdf
Maybe when someone lives close to hospitals they may not need a helicopter, but when they go somewhere else where those are far apart and need one, they will be glad there is one there.
Check with your primary health insurance company. Many primary health insurance companies will cover air ambulance. Some will limit the amount to $10,000 or $100,000. Some don’t limit it. No point in paying for coverage you already have.
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Then, consider that you are helping keep a service in your area that would not be there if not enough participated.
By being part of such here, we are all of us benefitting, including those traveling thru here between coasts.
That is why many of us participate.
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My insurance covers 100% in network but it is unlikely that the air Ambulance that shows up at an accident will be in network. Hospital transfer, maybe. Out of network its 50% of customary. Customary is lower than actual, generally. Plus you have to prove medical necessity which is generally up to the EMTs but they may not use the same criteria as the insurance company.
I’ve seen some programs where you join a specific o company, but that’s just the same problem as hoping you get an in network carrier at the accident.
Is there a nationwide insurance when you’re n covered regardless of who does the flying?
Wouldn’t it be novel if we had a system of insurance where you’d never get financially penalized for having an injury or accident “out of network”?
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There is no free lunch in life.
We pay one way or another.
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So you’re cool with the likely possibility that someone pays their dues into the insurance pool, has the bad luck to have an accident requiring care to be performed “out of network”, and ends up bankrupted because the insurance they’ve paid into won’t cover the care?
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You know what assuming makes of the one doing so.
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At least it’s you and me, Bluey 
