Bill Would Help Patients Slapped with Big Air Ambulance Bills

SEELEY LAKE - Montanans who paid exorbitant costs for life flight services not covered by insurance testified at the Montana Legislature last week for a bill that would eliminate these costs.

Senate Bill 44 would remove the burden of cost for patients using out-of-network air ambulance services and would instead require that insurance companies and out-of-network air companies come to a voluntary agreement on the charges, or else make a determination through litigation. The Airline Deregulation Act, which currently covers air ambulances, does not allow state governments to regulate airline fares.

Jesse Laslovich, chief legal counsel for outgoing State Auditor Monica Lindeen, said the issue “exemplifies the worst of what is a broken system.”

Laslovich said many parts of Montana are outside of air ambulance coverage areas. Should Montanans in those areas have a medical emergency, they would be forced to use an out-of-network provider and then pay the full cost of the service.

That cost often reaches into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Sonia Moscolic-Andrews of Anaconda tearfully told the story of how her husband John had to be life-flighted twice for a head injury — once from Anaconda to Missoula and again from Missoula to Seattle. She was billed roughly $34,000 for the first flight and about $58,000 for the second. It was only after her husband died that the charges were waived, she said.

Many others told both personal stories and those of loved ones who were saddled with excessive charges. The costs often exceeded $50,000.

The Montana Air Ambulance Coalition supported the bill. Bill Bryant, representing the group, called it a “long overdue” consumer protection bill.

However, several insurance lobbyists argued in strong opposition to the bill. Many said the bill would actually drive air ambulance companies away from networks. Others said the bill would over-regulate providers who are in-network and that the exorbitant costs are coming from only one or two unnamed providers.

Jennifer Hensley, a lobbyist for PacificSource Health Claims, said a better solution would be to attempt to fix the federal Airline Deregulation Act and to remove language that makes air ambulance providers a part of that legislation.

“A true federal fix is necessary,” Hensley said. “You must use the megaphone of your office to speak to your congressional delegation and urge a federal fix to the Airline Deregulation Act.”

Michael Siebert is a reporter with the UM Community News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism and the Montana Newspaper Association.