What is an Air Ambulance?

Not everyone will use an air ambulance in their lifetime. People typically use these if they are injured badly and the closest health care institutions cannot assist with their issue. People may also use these if they are injured while traveling and there are no health care institutions that can help either. Since this type of health transportation is not common, not every health insurance plan or travel insurance policy covers this expense. It is important to understand this cost to see if your insurance covers it!

Understanding Air Ambulances

An air ambulance is like a normal ambulance, except it is an aircraft. Just how street ambulances have medical equipment and supplies in the vehicle, so do these aircrafts. They are designed to transport patients quickly and safely. Air ambulances can either be an airplane or a helicopter, but they are both useful if a person needs fast transportation due to their health, wants to receive care near their home if they are traveling, needs a special treatment from a hospital, is in danger if being transported on the ground, and more. There are countless reasons that people may find the need for an air ambulance. That is why it is important to see how insurance covers this cost. If this expense is not covered by insurance, then it can cost an average between $12,000 to $25,000 according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Does Insurance Cover Air Ambulances?

Every insurance plan is different. However, if your insurance covers this cost, then you would need to either provide a letter of medical necessity, or have the doctor handling the emergency suggest using an air ambulance because of medical necessity.

The best rule of thumb that you can do is to contact your insurance company to verify that this health cost is covered. If you do not have coverage, then you should review what the options are available for adding that coverage to your policy. You may be pleasantly surprised at how little it is to add on this coverage option to your insurance plan. Again, it is important to remember that not all policies are the same so costs of additional coverage can be different depending on who your insurance provider is. Limitations and exclusions also vary from insurance companies. If you want air ambulance coverage but you do not like the options available from your current policy, then it may be time to consider a new plan that covers everything you may want!

Overall

Not everyone will need to use an air ambulance during their lives. However, people can benefit from having air ambulance costs covered to save themselves from hefty medical bills. Make sure to contact your insurance policy provider to talk to them about what air ambulance coverage looks like for your policy and if there are any limitations, exclusions, or other important pieces of information that you should know. If you find that you do not like the coverage options available, it may be time to start looking at other insurance providers!