Air ambulance bills may not be getting enough attention in Congressional crackdown on surprise bills - Entrepreneur Generations

Are air ambulances' surprise bills being overlooked? That's what Karan Chabra, Kevin Schulman and Barak Richman argue at Health Affairs' blog, saying that air ambulance bills — which are frequently out of network — aren't getting enough attention amid the bigger crackdown on surprise bills.

"The air ambulance business model does not rely on a new technology or providing a valuable service," the authors write. "[I]nstead, it rests upon a carefully devised legal strategy that exploits the basic charge model in health care and then hides behind a legal loophole."

States can't regulate air ambulances because the industry falls under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration. Congress formed a committee last year to look into air ambulance bills, which hurt rural residents the most.

Air ambulance lobbyists protest that legislations aimed at protecting consumers from surprise bills could cost rural residents access to their services, Liz Carey reports for The Daily Yonder. Dark money sources have shelled out millions of dollars for ads designed the kill the legislation.



from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2BG8SUY Air ambulance bills may not be getting enough attention in Congressional crackdown on surprise bills - Entrepreneur Generations

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