Nurse targets high ambulance bills

Son was charged over 6K for ride

By: Lucas frau
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... A New Jersey resident says something needs to be done about expensive ambulance rides, after her son received a costly bill for transportation between hospitals.
..... Kim Cosgrove of Sandyton told NorthJersey.com her son needed emergency care but she was left stunned when she found out the cost.
..... Her son suffered a brain bleed and hemorrhagic stroke in March, [2023] she said. He was taken to Newton Medical Center by an ambulance from the volunteer Blue Ridge Rescue Squad. He then needed to be transferred to Overlook Medical center in Summit because of his condition, Cogrove said. An Atlantic ambulance was used, since Atlantic Health System owns both of the hospitals where her son was treated.
..... The Sussex County resident said her son received phenomenal care at both hospitals, but when it was all over she was astonished by the bills. The first was more than $6,000, which she said she knew was incorrect because it was above the maximum out-of-pocket charge for his insurance plan. Cosgrove immediately called her son's insurance company, Aetna, to dispute the claims.
..... She was left perplexed, because her son's insurance covered both hospital visits but not the ambulance ride between the tow Atlantic Health hospitals.
..... After months and multiple phone calls, Cogrove was able to get the bill down to about $300 by November. [2023] She said she spent hours talking to the hospital even wrote to the president of Newton Medical Center.

..... Cosgrove is a nurse who said she has been helping patients for over 40 years, but even she did not know that ambulance rides could be so expensive.
..... Her concern for patient's runs so deep that she even contacted her congressman Representative Josh Gottheimer, to address this issue, which she said she fears will harm many people.
..... Cosgove said it is "immoral" for insurance companies and hospitals to charge so much for ambulance rides. "I want legislation charged to include ground ambulances as in network charges, not higher or sometimes not covered at all out of network charges. Ground ambulances were carved out of the original No Surprise Act and need to be included."
..... "I want this changed for anyone else in this position," she said. "It's bad enough having a loved one in this position, but to get a huge ambulance bill that you are responsible for after is horrible. It can't help my son, but no one should have to go through this."

Ambulance bills in New Jersey

..... The bill cosgrove saw was astronomical compared with the median surprise ambulance bill in New Jersey which is $437.
..... The nurse's son is not alone, as many people in the Garden State get medical bills for their ambulance trips. In New Jersey, about 64% of ambulance trips yield a bill.

No Surprises Act

..... The federal No Surprise act helps protect people who are covered by health plans from receiving unexpected medical bills for "most emergency services, non-emergency services from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, and services providers."
..... Here's what the law bans for insured patients:
* Surprise bills for most emergency services, even out-of-network.
* Out-of-network cost-sharing, such as coinsurance or copayments, for most emergency and some non-emergency services.
* Out-of-network charges for additional services, such as anesthesiology or radiology, that are provided within an in-network facility.
..... Ground ambulances were left out of this law, even though to many they are consider an emergency service. Medevacs, or air ambulances, are covered under the law.

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