空中救護車以會員身份吸引農(nóng)村消費者購買該服務(wù)

空中救護車以會員身份吸引農(nóng)村消費者購買該服務(wù)

On a hot June day in Fort Scott, Kan., 7-year-old Kaidence Anderson sat in the shade with her family, waiting for a medevac helicopter to land.

在堪薩斯州斯科特堡6月的一個炎熱的日子，7歲的凱丹斯·安德森和她的家人坐在陰涼處，等待一架醫(yī)療直升機降落。

A crowd had gathered to see the display prearranged by staff at the town's historic fort.

一群人聚集在該鎮(zhèn)歷史悠久的堡壘，觀看由工作人員事先安排的展覽。

"It's going to show us how it's going to help other people because we don't have the hospital anymore," the redheaded girl explained.

“這將向我們展示它如何幫助其他人，因為我們已經(jīng)沒有醫(yī)院了，”紅頭發(fā)的女孩解釋說。

Mercy Hospital Fort Scott closed at the end of 2018, leaving this rural community about 90 miles south of Kansas City, Kan., without a traditional hospital.

斯科特堡的慈善醫(yī)院于2018年底關(guān)閉，使這個位于堪薩斯州堪薩斯城以南約90英里(約合80公里)的鄉(xiāng)村社區(qū)沒有一家傳統(tǒng)的醫(yī)院。

The community has outpatient clinics run by a regional nonprofit health center and — at least temporarily — an emergency department operated as a satellite of a hospital a county away.

這個社區(qū)的門診部由一個地區(qū)性的非營利性醫(yī)療中心運營，而且還有一個急診室（至少是暫時的），作為縣外一家醫(yī)院的附屬機構(gòu)。

Since the hospital closed, air ambulance advertising has become a more common sight in Fort Scott mailboxes.

自從醫(yī)院關(guān)閉后，空中救護廣告在斯科特堡的郵箱里變得越來越常見。

The air ambulance industry expanded by more than a hundred bases nationwide from 2012 to 2017 and prices increased as well, according to a recent federal report. The median price charged for a medevac helicopter transport was $36,400 in 2017 — a 65% increase compared with the roughly $22,100 charged in 2012, according to the March report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

根據(jù)最近的一份聯(lián)邦報告，從2012年到2017年，空中救護行業(yè)在全國范圍內(nèi)擴大了100多個基地，價格也有所上漲。美國政府問責(zé)局3月份的報告顯示，2017年，一架醫(yī)療直升機的運輸費用中值為3.64萬美元，較2012年的約2.21萬美元上漲65%。

Private insurance frequently does not cover the full cost of the trips, and consumers often are surprised to get a bill showing they are responsible for the bulk of the charges. However, both Medicare and Medicaid control the price of the service, so enrollees in those government insurance programs face much lower out-of-pocket costs or have none.

私人保險通常不能支付旅程的全部費用，而且消費者常常會驚訝于他們要為賬單上顯示的大部分費用負(fù)責(zé)。然而，醫(yī)療保險和醫(yī)療補助計劃都控制著這項服務(wù)的價格，所以那些政府保險項目的參保者會付更少的費用，或者根本沒有。

"We're a safety net for people in rural areas," Myers said. "Generally, if I tell you the names of the towns that most of our bases are located in, you wouldn't know them unless you lived in that state."

邁爾斯說:“我們是農(nóng)村地區(qū)人民的安全網(wǎng)。“一般來說，如果我告訴你我們大多數(shù)基地所在城鎮(zhèn)的名字，除非你住在那個州，否則你是不會知道它們的。”

Increasingly, though, state regulators have a skeptical view.

不過，州監(jiān)管機構(gòu)對此越來越持懷疑態(tài)度。

North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread called the memberships "another loophole" that air ambulance companies use to "essentially exploit our consumers." The state banned the memberships in 2017, noting that the subscription plans don't solve the problem of surprise medical bills as promised.

北達(dá)科他州保險專員喬恩·戈德弗雷德稱會員資格是“另一個漏洞”，空中救護公司利用這個漏洞“從本質(zhì)上剝削我們的消費者”。國家在2017年禁止了這些會員資格，指出這些訂閱計劃并沒有像承諾的那樣解決意外醫(yī)療賬單的問題。

Too often, the company responding to a patient's call for help is not the one the patient signed up with, Godfread said. North Dakota has nine different air ambulance operators that respond to calls, and patients have no control over which will be called, he explained.

戈德弗雷德說，通常情況下，響應(yīng)患者求助請求的公司并不是患者注冊的公司。他解釋說，北達(dá)科他州有九家不同的空中救護公司負(fù)責(zé)接聽呼叫，而病人無法控制呼叫哪一家。

Myers said having a membership offers peace of mind particularly to those Medicare enrollees who do not have an added supplemental insurance plan that covers transportation.

邁爾斯說，有會員資格可以讓人安心，特別是對那些沒有包括交通保險在內(nèi)的補充保險計劃的醫(yī)保參保者。

Also, because the memberships are not officially insurance or a covered benefit, air ambulance companies can end them at any time "without obligation to notify the customer".

此外，由于這些會員資格不是正式的保險或覆蓋的福利，空中救護公司可以在任何時候終止它們，“沒有義務(wù)通知客戶”。