A recent survey has shown that medical flight services are now more open to insurance network participation. In fact, the numbers have gone up by a healthy 20%. It has also been seen that the medical flight services and insurance companies are holding intense discussions and negotiations surrounding in-network arrangements.
The reason behind this change has been the huge increase in consumer demand and also to steer clear of the negative publicity that both the industries have been subject to in recent times. The efforts by the state governments to regulate air ambulance pricing and also getting insurance companies onboard with their cost-controlling measures have seen a lot of backlash recently.
The Medical Flight Services and their Cost Compulsions
The refusal of the insurance companies to take cognizance of the fact that maintaining medical flight services is an expensive affair – some say – was the cause of all the misunderstanding. Air ambulance companies usually spend a fortune to remain on standby for emergencies. The cost, of course, is then transferred to their services. When insurance companies refuse to foot these costs, the burden unfortunately is transferred to the patients who avail the service. This is a practice that is popular as ‘balance billing’.
How In-Network Coverage Helps
Customers are able to enjoy discounted and ‘fair’ out-of-pocket expenses to cover medical flight services when in-network coverage becomes a reality. In an ideal world, all air ambulance services providers must be in-network. However, the onus of it does not lie only on these emergency service providers. The insurance organizations too must be willing to reimburse a fair amount. Otherwise, it simply does not make business sense for medical flight services to join any network.
The good news, however, seems to be that both these industries are coming around and finding common grounds to work together.
