First in a series
A Lawrence County woman whose family got stuck with a $28,000 helicopter bill says the air ambulance business is not working and regular citizens are paying the price.
A Lincoln County couple who received a $57,000 air ambulance bill got their insurance company to pay it after five months of negotiations.
A Pike County supervisor whose grandson incurred a $41,000 air ambulance bill is grateful for the service and hoping to find a way to provide coverage for the whole county.
Thomas and Michele Plunkett of Lawrence County were billed after their son Aaron, now 18, was airlifted to Jackson following a May 5, 2016, wreck near their home. He sustained a broken leg, torn knee tendon, broken nose and lacerations from the lower left leg to the face. Emergency responders had to use the Jaws of Life to get him out of his vehicle.
“The emergency responders ambulance personnel refused to transport him by ambulance. They told us he must be airlifted,” Michele Plunkett said. “He was transported by Med-Trans Air Helicopter Services to UMMC (University of Mississippi Medical Center).”
The Plunketts, who run a feed store and plant nursery on Highway 27 south of Monticello, received a $37,390 bill for the 65-mile flight.
“To say the least, we were shocked,” Plunkett said.
The Plunketts’ insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi, paid $9,068 nearly a year later, leaving the Plunketts owing $28,321.
The Plunketts appealed to Blue Cross, Med-Trans and the state insurance commissioner. Plunkett has also done extensive research and found this is a nationwide problem that has left countless people owing tens of thousands of dollars for a service they may not have asked for — air ambulance as opposed to ground ambulance — and that their insurance will cover partially if at all.
“This is a huge problem for the citizens of our state,” said Plunkett, who wrote legislators and Congressmen imploring them to find a solution.
Plunkett said the current situation is flawed for many reasons.
In her son’s case, “we were not given a choice in the matter,” she said. “He was refused transportation by ambulance. However, the helicopter arrived ahead of us at UMMC by only 15 minutes — and that included our having to bypass a wreck on I-55.”
The bill seemed excessive as well, she said. The Med-Trans bill included a base rate of $21,835, a “loaded miles” charge of $14,491 ($222.94 per mile for the 65-mile flight), plus $1,064 in other charges. She cited an article in the May edition of Consumer Reports magazine that estimated the actual average cost of a medevac flight at $7,000 to $10,000.
U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran’s office contacted Med-Trans on Plunkett’s behalf, and she was in negotiation with the company last week over her bill.
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In Lincoln County, Toney and Lawanna Roberts were billed $53,798 when their 20-year-old son was airlifted following a four-wheeler accident near Enterprise School on Feb. 12.
Ground ambulance personnel refused to transport the son because of apparent head trauma.
“I didn’t call the helicopter,” Toney Roberts said. “The ambulance said that it’s standard policy that if it’s a head injury like that, trauma, to call a helicopter. I had no decision in that. Of course, I wanted my son taken care of, but $53,000, that’s a ridiculous amount of money. If that’s standard procedure, then they need to accept the amount my insurance company is willing to pay.”
The air ambulance company, Air Methods (owned by Rocky Mountain Holding Co.), is not in the family’s insurance provider network. But the insurance company agreed to pay last week after extensive negotiation.
Lawanna said she didn’t think her son needed airlifting.
“He was coherent, wanted to go home,” she said. “He wasn’t knocked out. It didn’t look life-threatening to me, and I’m his mother.”
She would have preferred a ground ambulance drive him to the nearest hospital for evaluation, then airlift him if need be. As it was, he was flown straight to UMC.
“Twenty-four hours later, we were let out of the hospital and came home,” she said.
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Gary Honea is in a unique position. As a Pike County supervisor, he is considering whether to vote for a proposal to provide coverage for county residents.
As a resident himself, he had personal experience with air ambulance services when his 8-year-old grandson was injured in a four-wheeler accident last year.
Insurance did not cover the Med-Trans flight, which cost $41,000. But while Honea considered the bill excessive, and Med-Trans was “very aggressive” in collecting, he doesn’t regret the helicopter transport.
“I felt good about it because I was racing toward Jackson, too, in my car, and he got there I don’t know how much sooner in an air ambulance,” Honea said. “When we left, he had nurses with him. I knew they weren’t going to have to fight that traffic, that construction. I just felt like he was getting the best level of medical care available, and they got him to a trauma center.”
As a supervisor, Honea is interested in recent proposals the board has received to provide coverage for all county residents at a cost of $125,000 to $150,000 a year.
“Right now I’m a proponent of it, I guess,” Honea said. “You can cover the whole county for the price of half a (tax) mill.”
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Next: What sort of coverage is available?
