Critical Air Ambulance Services Endangered as Subsidies Expire

Reach helicopter by Dottie Simmons

Reach Air Ambulance stock image. [Photo used with permission from Southern Trinity Area Rescue]

Air transport for medical emergencies saves lives in rural communities. As a news organization that covers breaking news, we hear the calls go out over the scanner and know the broken bodies that are being carried swiftly to hospitals many miles from our rural roads by these helicopters. Today, the Press Democrat has a story about how this critical piece of our medical infrastructure may have funding cut unless lawmakers step in to replace subsidies that are ending.

According to the article,

As many as one in four medical aircraft bases around California could be shuttered within 12 months if funding for Medi-Cal air transport patients is not included in the 2019-20 budget or extended through backup legislation pending in the state Senate, an industry representative warned last week.

The system cannot sustain itself without the subsides for Medi-Cal patients, who account for nearly 40% of the state’s medical air transports, said Christian Giller, president of the California Association of Air Medical Services. Currently, the transports are subsidized by a $4 fee assessed on most traffic tickets issued in California since 2010. The fee is set to expire at the end of the year, when, absent legislative action, the reimbursement rate will roll back to 1993 levels, minus a 10 percent reduction made in 2013, in the wake of the last recession.

North Bay legislators are scrambling to replace the funding in budget negotiations.

“We need this funding, and we need it now,” said Assemblyman Jim Wood…

The Press Democrat’s article goes into details and really is a must read for those concerned about this vital service.

 

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Kathi Hire
Guest
Kathi Hire
4 years ago

We cannot let these services end! I know of so many lives in Southern Humboldt alone that have been saved by these services. It’s time to find out what we can do to keep them here! I will be tuned in to ideas from people who will respond to this post!!

I am wondering if people who have the”AirMedCare” coverage will also be affected? The cost is small people; $65/year/family! It’s a coverage that non of us can afford NOT to have!!

ernestine
Guest
ernestine
4 years ago
Reply to  Kathi Hire

Jesus. Time to write Huffman, again.

HugoLargo
Guest
HugoLargo
4 years ago
Reply to  ernestine

He is too busy ranting about Trump to do much of anything else productively, unfortunately.

DELLIB
Guest
DELLIB
4 years ago
Reply to  HugoLargo

And the news I heard today is that Ca is a democrat super-majority, and with calls to address the increasing homeless crisis in LA and Frisco are falling on deaf ears, as the Dems have nothing to worry about in Ca for their power structure they are gearing up nationally for the 2020 election. So hold on for chaos if you want to still live in Ca! All you can do now is move out of state, and they don’t even care. Your vote will be replaced by 10 immigrant voters (Who on average tend to lean 73% Democrat)!

Dot
Guest
Dot
4 years ago
Reply to  ernestine

This is State, write these folks: Contact: Assemblyman Jim Wood
P.O.Box 942849, Sacramento, Ca 94249

Senator Mike McGuire
State Capitol Room 5601
Sacramento, Ca 95814
[email protected]

Budget Committee Chairs:
Assembly – Phil Ting
State Capitol Room 6026
Sacramento, Ca 95814

Senate – Holly J. Mitchell
State Capitol Room 5109
Sacramento, Ca 95814

Governor Gavin Newsom
State Capitol Suite 1173
Sacramento, Ca 95814
[email protected]

Richard
Guest
Richard
4 years ago
Reply to  Kathi Hire

I agree with Kathi Hire and I share her concern about the viability of Air Med Care in this situation.

Air Med Care is part of a system of medical flight services. How do the funding problems reported in this article and the article in the Press-Democrat affect Air Med Care? Will it be able to act as a back-up system, or will it be unable to continue to provide its vital service to the people who pay their premiums for this insurance?

Currently, as Kathi Hire points out, the Air Med Care service is a bargain. Everyone who travels far from home needs it. City-dwellers benefit, too, as it provides emergency flights if they get into a wreck as they drive through rural areas.

For a bit more money, you can sign up for their “Fly-U-Home” service, which will fly you back to your home area, after you are released from the hospital, saving you from the difficulties and expense of arranging private transport.

That is the plan I have purchased for my family. Unless the problems reported here ruin it, I encourage everyone to sign up for it.

Best wishes to all !

Bon Bon
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Kathi Hire

The fee went to $85 but for a life saving ride. It is the best deal ever.

Victor G. Flashman
Guest
Victor G. Flashman
4 years ago

This is shocking and sad, but if 40% of the transport-ees are on Medi-Cal, and Medi-Cal is already preponderantly responsible for funding every medical facility in this state, along with MediCare, let’s think for a minute…

TRAFFIC TICKETS are taxed $4.00? Isn’t a traffic ticket like ANOTHER tax, on driving? And isn’t this subsidy, directly paying for the poor to be flown to care, like a tertiary tax? Don’t we have enough hidden taxes?

Jeeze, I didn’t know any of this, until I read this news item! And I recomend that EVERYONE, living North of say, Santa Rosa, carry this flight ambo insurance on themselves and all their family members, when it apparently is GIVEN to the poor and indigent!!??

I don’t know which is more infuriating, third degree taxation or an ambulance paid for by fees on taxes to pay for people too irresponsible to care for themselves and who choose to live far from medical care…

Why not slap a great big tax on something, and fund decent hospitals, and issue insurance that actually PAYS for care? Why not force corporations to pay “fees” that pay for decent healthcare FOR EVERYONE?”…

These ambulance crews are about the best equipped and best trained caregivers in existence, from Portola to Arcata, and we need them to transfer us from our failing and poor quality hospitals, to decent care somewhere else!

I hope you will support the services by subscribing, and by demanding that the government support the services, by continuing the subsidies, until we can come up with a better way to fund. How about a $1/gallon tax on fuel?

In addition, it appears to me that traffic tickets need to be applied to a larger number of poor quality drivers who are largely going un-taxed! It’s a target rich environment! Seems like those sworn officers could be induced to write 20-40% more of them, and that it wouldn’t be too much trouble…

CaptHoxie
Guest
CaptHoxie
4 years ago

No. A traffic ticket is not “another tax.” It’s the penalty you pay for whatever it is that the cops caught you doing. In the process, local and state governments get a stream of income which they spend, subject to whatever limitations an ingenious legislature imposes on it.

Charlotte's Webb
Guest
Charlotte's Webb
4 years ago

Thank you Victor, good point

Guest
Guest
Guest
4 years ago

“Why not force corporations to pay “fees” that pay for decent healthcare FOR EVERYONE?”…” First at one point 80% of employers used to provide health insurance and they negotiated to limit the increases in costs. Over the years and most acutely with ACA, government mandates made it harder and harder to get good insurance at an affordable price . “As reflected in CBO’s latest baseline projections, the two agencies now anticipate that, because of the ACA, about 3 million to 5 million fewer people, on net, will obtain coverage through their employer each year from 2019 through 2022 than would have been the case under prior law.” https://www.cbo.gov/publication/43090

If the government makes regulations making it more expensive to have full time employees with good insurance, businesses will take note and adjust the number of employees and/or hours of work to reduce the added costs. And that is exactly what happened when it became cheaper, especially for small businesses, to send employees to the ACA market. The solution to the inadvertent negatives of government is almost never more government.

Victor G. Flashman
Guest
Victor G. Flashman
4 years ago
Reply to  Guest

It is true that working a job used to result in decent quality health insurance, that paid for 80%-90% of care costs. I know, because I worked for a 50,000 employee corporation, and my insurance paid 90% of all medical bills.

The insurance you are given now, pays for 80% of nothing, and you have to pay $3-5000 out of pocket FIRST, before anything at all is paid for…

This, in short, is why your hospital is going down the tubes. Thank Obama, that wonderful tool of the rich, who scribbled the newest plan to screw everyone… Obamacare!

If you live in Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino or Lake County, best get Helicopter Ambo insurance, because you do not want to pay $40,000 for a ride to a decent medical facility, and “hospitals” like Jerold Phelps, Mad River, Redwood, Howard, and El Primo St Joseph’s are not where you are going to want to receive what they call medical care…

And, CaptainHoxie, you better believe that traffic tickets are taxation, and that a serious legal challenge on Ambulance Fees tacked on to pay to ship the poor in a helicopter, would probably end this “subsidy” forever….

Carol Kilgore
Guest
Carol Kilgore
4 years ago

So if your Grandmother who is retired and living on a small SS benefit is in an accident or needs evacuation for medical care you are going to begrudge her that? Not everyone who is receiving mediCal has a choice. Was your grandmother, who worked hard all of her life too irresponsible because now she can’t afford a big insurance payment for private coverage? Being upset with people who fear for their life, or their health, or their next meal is certainly big of you. And I’m sure that people who are in bad accidents in rural areas and need to be flown out didn’t plant on it happening. One day you may need these services too…

Cindy
Guest
Cindy
4 years ago

Instead of spending money on the illegals getting free medical, that money should go to the AirMedCare!

Industrial Disease
Guest
Industrial Disease
4 years ago
Reply to  Cindy

(In addition to) spending money on the illegals getting free medical, that money should go to the AirMedCare! Slight edit

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
4 years ago

But giving free medical, food and housing to illegals is important because it’s the only way the Democratic Party will win. Ban the electoral vote and give millions of illegals the “right” to vote. Install socialism and everybody wins a free prize! PS. The Blue Wave is actually brown….. don’t tell anyone.

Bon Bon
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Cindy

It should go to funding for local fire departments and rural medical centers. Most rural fire departments are volantary. Which that means fire protections ,fire protection education
medical help too. Rich or poor.

Willie Caos-mayham
Guest
4 years ago

🕯🌳Yeh it’s time to tell someone something.

Sharon
Guest
Sharon
4 years ago

This is a service that is needed in rural areas. My son was in a serious car accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2010. He was flown to a out of area trauma hospital. Without that air flight he wouldn’t be here today. Hoping a solution is found. People’s lives depend on these flights.

Willie Caos-Mayham
Guest
4 years ago
Reply to  Sharon

🕯🌳I agree with you Sharon, it’s a service that’s vital in rural areas.

Martin
Guest
Martin
4 years ago

Please don’t just sit there reading these comments, sign up for “Air Med Care,” for yourself, your family, elderly mom and dad, etc. This great service provides the much needed help in this rural area. Many lives have been saved because of the service, and many will be lost without it. I am a member, and strongly urge you to sign up today!

Guest
Guest
Guest
4 years ago

Super important.

A lot of people would get behind keeping this service.

These are vital services
Guest
These are vital services
4 years ago

These are vital services.

Thanks for the info.

Fummins
Guest
Fummins
4 years ago

If existing funding is lost, will they air vac the seriously wounded illegal immigrants with the new funding approved by Newsom?

LostCoastEMP
Guest
LostCoastEMP
4 years ago

Seriously. This is messed up and is going to cost lives here in humboldt. There is a thing in the EMS world and it’s called the golden hour. The one hour you have from time of accident or severe health issue to get to a GOOD hospital. Once that hour passes your life expectancy goes down drastically . I have literally seen people lives saved by medical air transport here in humboldt county. We have 1 ambulance in southern humboldt BTW. Thanks kym for making this aware to us all

Jc
Guest
Jc
4 years ago

I’ve been flown out of Eureka to Stanford’s hospital. If I didnt have this service it would cost 84,000.00 to be flown out. I pay 75.00 a year for my family. It’s worth it. I rather pay more on a ticket then file bankruptcy.

onlooker
Guest
onlooker
4 years ago

We’re subscribers at $65 per household. I’m not sure how much this will affect us ~ it seems that we may lose up to 75% of the air ambulabces, meaning even if it’s possible ti continue to subscribe, it will take a lot longer for emergency air ambulance transport to reach any of us. We’d be happy to subscribe at $65 per person. It seems like a bargain to have access to lifesaving transport. Ends up costing about $5.50 per month.

Pike Mortar
Guest
Pike Mortar
4 years ago

A subscription doesn’t guarantee shit, nor does it fund a damn thing. You think a $40,000 chopper ride is somehow offset by a $80 yearly sub? If the service fails then that subscription don’t mean nothing.

Chris Baird
Guest
Chris Baird
4 years ago

These guys are making money hand over fist! There is absolutely no need to subsides anything they do. They bill you and your insurance! A true hospital based air ambulance program will bill less than 10 k for a flight. These companies are good selling fear and are in the pockets of politicians

Billy Casomorphin
Guest
Billy Casomorphin
4 years ago
Reply to  Chris Baird

Seems like you think that a helicopter ambulance is an inexpensive thing to purchase and operate. The cost of the bird itself and the crew, is extreme, even though, recent study indicates that outcomes are improved in only 20% of cases!

In fact, in cases of air transport of patients to higher level facilities:
Apparently one third of these patients transported by air are not ever admitted to the receiving facility!

https://www.emsworld.com/article/10325077/ems-myth-6-air-medical-helicopters-save-lives-and-are-cost-effective

Of course, in remote and rural areas, a large number of patients are transported because the facility they present to lacks the level of care needed, or because the ER is “too busy” or because they haven’t the facilities and/or skills, staff, equipment etc to care for the patient. Or, because the patient can’t pay – so we transport…

In short, it’s easier to transport out (and cheaper) than it is to care for and treat complicated cases in remote locations, and not because outcomes are improved, in every case

Patients who are “undesirable” are also often transported, especially if nursing staff “can’t deal with” the patient, or if there is little financial incentive to treat. Dumping is illegal, but then, so is discrimination…

BUY THIS INSURANCE!

It might not save you, but it will get you away from the terrible hospitals of Humboldt!

AND REMEMBER:

If you get delivered to Jerold Phelps Hospital, you will need transport to the airport by regular ambulance, before you can get flown out from the Garberville Airport. This transport will add another bill to the cost of care at SHCHD, and is just another good reason to avoid medical care in Garberville, at any cost…

PJ Eckert
Guest
PJ Eckert
4 years ago

The details, ah those details….Those of us who do NOT have MediCal can (and should) sign up for membership in the air ambulance companies. The membership explicitly says it is not insurance. It says that, for members, the company will waive any additional costs NOT covered by your (any except MediCal) insurance. They do bill your insurance first, every time. There are two–AirMedCare and PHI–and they both have contracts in Humboldt County.

Note that people with MediCal should NOT sign up and both companies will tell you so, because MediCal covers, at a reduced rate, the entire cost. This article that Kym posted is saying that the “reduced rate” that MediCal pays either company will be rolled back to a rate set 26 years ago, which would be a huge financial burden for the air ambulance companies.

Wtf
Guest
Wtf
4 years ago
Reply to  PJ Eckert

You can still be stuck wit the excess medical doesn’t take care of . Take it form someone who knows . Medical won’t pay more than 55k for the flight now . If you have reach service and the reach chopper isn’t available your air med is useless as it doesn’t pay for other companies to fly you . The state subsidies are a mystery to me as people are still being charged for the flights . Who is getting the subsidy ?

Ems
Guest
Ems
4 years ago

These are privet large companies that generate profit for share holders and owners.
Should ems really be privet when most of the rest is not for profit community services
( fire,police, etc)? Try making these companies not be profit driven and then reassess if they are financially sustainable or not.
This has nothing to do with the flight teams that put their lives on the line to save others. This is a basic fact that these services should really not be privet. If these companies do end up closing bases, we as a citizens will probably end up paying for our own ems service for emergencies.
There are operations like this (chp, fire, coast guard) that do take flights but the bulk is taken by privet companies. We could end up expanding out our own services in time if needed.
If you completely take out profits, these services may be more offordable and safer.
Since this is what is available at this time, the membership is well worth it.
I appreciate all these teams do and they really are heros. If any are readying, thank you.