An Open Letter from a Lawyer Who Knows Better
I have been litigating against air ambulance companies for years, and let me tell you this clearly: If you received a bill from an air ambulance company, “DO NOT PAY IT.” My second piece of advice is, “DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING. PLEASE.”
Do not sign anything before transport and do not sign anything after transport. Correspond directly with your health insurer, never correspond with or speak to any one from the air ambulance company.
Air ambulance companies are run by leaches - vulture capitalists; the worst sort of predators. They bought into air ambulance companies because they thought they could squeeze injured people or their families for obscene amounts of money, without any court supervision or regulation. They bought air ambulance companies because they knew that patients facing life-threatening conditions had no choices.
For a decade, there has been a recognition by every fair-minded person familiar with the air ambulance industry that something must be done to adjust the inequities inherent in the air ambulance business. However, the vulture capitalists who run air ambulance companies fought tooth-and-nail against any reasonable measures to level the playing field. They forced millions of families to face terrifying and stressful choices in the wake of tragedies such as heart attacks, car wrecks, and similar life-changing events. More than 400,000 new families every year were sucked into the black hole of air ambulance billing.
I have been challenging the heartless business tactics of the air ambulance industry for more than five years. Initially, the legal line of defense the vulture capitalists used stood up in court. The vulture capitalists claimed that a weird legal quirk created when airline prices were deregulated in the late 1970s (the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978) gave them the right to charge and collect any amount they saw fit to bill. They argued that the ADA preempted any court from second-guessing their billed amount. And bill they did. Air ambulance prices soared, and the utilization of air ambulances proliferated pushed by the industry’s rapacious demands for ever more revenue.
More recently, however, courts have recognized that the vulture capitalists’ legal position does not withstand scrutiny. No state laws allow formation of a contract with an unstated and undisclosed price where the party with vastly superior power and knowledge sets the price without any court supervision and without any consideration of whether it is fair or reasonable. Not only do the vulture capitalists refuse to disclose their prices, but they actually claim that their prices are trade secrets. Their prices are NOT trade secrets, but they’re so inflated that it is understandable the vulture capitalists are embarrassed to have them publicly disclosed. Making things even more unfair, the “customer” cannot select the air ambulance company used: they literally have no choice, even if any person faced with a life-threatening condition for themselves or their loved one would pause to barter in those circumstances.\
Also, at the end of 2020, a legislative remedy was finally enacted. The “No Surprise Act” provides some measure of price relief for transports January 1, 2022 and later. After that date, if you are insured, you can only be charged for coinsurance and deductible amounts. Your health insurer must do battle with the air ambulance companies to determine how much is actually owed. Unfortunately, the uninsured are not covered by the No Surprises Act, so it won’t help anyone without health insurance. Further, it isn’t clear how air ambulance companies are going to handle claims that involve third-party insurance (for example, where a transported person has a negligence claim where the injury results from a car accident).
If you or someone you know has been impacted by an air ambulance bill, please contact us. We have the industry knowledge and working relationships to prevent you from being taken advantage of by these vicious companies during sensitive and desperate times.
Written by Edward L. White, Edward L. White, P.C.