It was in the year 2017 that a North Dakota law had made it illegal for air ambulance companies to come up with membership plans. However, a recent court ruling has deemed this law illegal and repealed it. The air ambulance organizations of the state are now free to enter into membership agreements with the people of the state. If you are wondering what the reasons were behind this ban in the first place, here is an insight.
Air Ambulance Membership Coverage was Considered Ineffective
The governor of the state was of the belief that air ambulance memberships do not really offer much in the way of benefit to end consumers. There was some merit to this belief; in that, the air ambulance companies only offered limited benefits through membership programs. Each company would offer such plans in isolation. In essence, to get adequate coverage, consumers would have to purchase a membership from each air ambulance company in the state. This is not a very viable option and among the reasons why such memberships were banned in the state. However, the air ambulance companies had a different set of arguments and had gone to court with them.
What the Air Ambulance Companies Believe
Air ambulance bills can be very steep and run into several thousand dollars. There have been instances where people have been compelled to pay out of pocket as the insurance companies have denied complete coverage. Air ambulance memberships that often cost less than 100 dollars a year offer a solution to this problem. Members are not charged any amount beyond what is covered by their insurance providers.
However, the most important thing to note in this context is the No Surprise Bill that will come into effect in 2022. It will ban the practice of balance billing altogether, insulating people from being charged for air ambulance services.
