Why the flight to the hospital is more costly than ever

By Christopher Rowland July 1 at 4:18 PM
Air ambulance rates in the United States are soaring.

The cost of a medical ride in a helicopter or airplane climbed about 60 percent from 2012 to 2016, to a median of $39,000, according to a study of federal data released Monday. The list charges rose to as much as 10 times what Medicare pays for the service, despite a surge of air ambulance carriers entering the market, the study said.

Because many air ambulance companies are not part of insurance networks, patients often get hit with the huge bills, according to the findings by Johns Hopkins University researchers, whose study was published in the journal Health Affairs.

“If you’re somebody who gets injured, and an air ambulance comes, you’re going to pay huge amounts because most likely you’re out of network and you’re going to get a bill for $30,000 or $40,000,’’ said Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins and co-author of the study.

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