The air ambulance industry has several major players in the United States. One such player is Angel Medical Flight. The company has found itself in the middle of a political exchange inadvertently recently. In the heart of the matter is the surprise billing practice. This time around, the subject of the controversy is Democratic challenger, Mark Kelly, who is all set to challenge Senator Martha McSally who is a Republican. It is supposed that Mr. Kelly has been closely associated with the aforementioned air ambulance company and that he was still a part of it when there was a controversial balance billing issue a few years ago.
The Political Connection of the Air Ambulance Company
Mark Kelly, it is said, was a part of the air ambulance company and had received about $20,000 last year from it last year as part of his consulting services. Apart from that, he had received $5,000 in the years before that. In addition, it is said that he holds stocks in the company worth anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000. The stocks are non-public as it is an organization that is privately owned. The sitting Senator is now questioning whether Kelly would be the right elected representative as balance billing is an issue that has repeatedly cropped up. The company that Kelly is supposedly a part of has been at the wrong end of it.
The Heart of the Matter
It has been reported that the air ambulance company had waived off the entire amount and not collected anything from the patient. Initially, the patient was billed a whopping $475,000 as a balance bill. News reports of that time have revealed that no payment of that magnitude had to be made by the patient ultimately. In essence, although the issue of balance billing had cropped up, one cannot squarely blame Kelly as the patient did not have to pay the huge air ambulance bill at the end of it. How this issue affects his campaign, only time will tell.
