I called American Medical Response this morning about the bill I received. I first said that I thought that they weren’t giving me enough time to resolve the insurance situation, and that the five day turnaround that they expected was inconsistent with the policy on their website, which says “Payment of the account is required within thirty (30) days of receipt of the invoice.” The customer service representative offered to extend the deadline by thirty days, and, naturally, I agreed to this.
I then asked whether they had any insurance information for me at all. The rep said they had that I was insured by BlueCross, and that I should contact my insurance company about an authorization. This wasn’t very helpful because both of my insurance plans are affiliated with BlueCross, but I didn’t press the issue further.
I next called Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts (my parents’ insurer) to see how I could go about getting an authorization for the transportation. The representative informed me that no claim had been filed by the ambulance company at all, and that, in fact, no claims had ever been filed for me on the plan. I told her that I’d call the ambulance company with my information, and asked whether I’d need an authorization. She looked it up and determined that I would not. She asked if I knew whether it was in-network, but I didn’t know. She told me that for emergency service, they’d cover the charges in full, but for non-emergency service, I’d have to pay 20% if it were out-of-network. She also mentioned a deductible of $250 per person or $500 per family.
I called the ambulance company again, and they confirmed that they only had my student insurance plan information. I don’t know how it happened that way because the EMT on the ambulance did find both insurance cards in my wallet. In any case, I gave the representative my information for my parents’ insurance, and he said they’d submit the bill that plan. I asked him if he could tell me what the due date on my bill was, and he told me that I could disregard that, and they’d send me a new bill if I ended up owing something after insurance.
I’m still not entirely convinced that the insurance companies are going to pay for this. I’ll believe that when I see it. If nothing else, though, at least I have some time for things to work out.
