What Happens If You Don’t Pay Your Ambulance Bill?

Getting to the hospital quickly in an ambulance during a medical emergency can literally save lives. However, the high costs of ambulance rides can leave patients with bills that are much higher than expected. What will happen if I don’t pay my ambulance bill? This is something quite a few people may wonder.

An Overview of Ambulance Bills

Ambulance companies provide an essential potentially lifesaving service by rapidly transporting patients to hospitals during medical crises. However operating ambulances with trained medical personnel ready 24/7 is extremely expensive.

Unfortunately, ambulance companies often do not join insurance networks. This means they can charge patients any amount they see fit. Since network rates aren’t negotiated ahead of time, ambulance bills sent directly to patients can be shockingly high.

Several studies have found that 279 percent of ambulance rides could lead to unexpected out-of-network bills. For just one ambulance ride, these bills that insurance won’t fully cover can easily reach a few thousand dollars.

With medical emergencies allowing little chance to compare costs or ambulance networks beforehand many patients are stuck with crippling ambulance debt through absolutely no fault of their own.

What Can Happen If You Don’t Pay

With ambulance bills often being ridiculously high, you may be tempted to just ignore them. However, this carries significant risks.

Credit Score Impacts

If an ambulance bill goes unpaid for long enough, it is likely to end up with collections agencies. Unpaid debts that get reported to credit bureaus can seriously damage your credit score.

A poor credit score makes it harder to qualify for loans, mortgages, credit cards, and more. Lower scores also often lead to higher interest rates, costing you more money. Damaged credit from not paying ambulance bills can haunt you financially for years.

Legal Action

Collections agencies can take several legal actions against nonpayers. Being taken to court over unpaid medical bills is a real possibility. This can result in wage garnishments requiring your employer to pay your debt through payroll deductions. Lawsuits could also lead to liens being placed on your property, bank account levies, or even asset repossession.

Healthcare Blacklisting

In extreme cases, those who neglect ambulance bills may find themselves “blacklisted” by the ambulance company itself. This essentially cuts off your access to their services in future emergencies.

Other local healthcare providers and hospitals may also refuse non-emergency treatment to those with unpaid ambulance bills. Being blacklisted could literally put your health at risk next time you need urgent medical care.

Options for Dealing with High Ambulance Bills

So what can you do if you receive a shockingly high ambulance bill that you have no hope of paying in full? Here are some options:

Negotiate: Contact the ambulance company and explain your situation. Ask for any discounts, payment plans, or ability to settle for a lower amount.
Get insurer help: Ask your health insurance company to reprocess the claim and cover more of the costs. Provide details on your financial hardship.
Payment plans: Even if the balance can’t be lowered, arrange installment payments over months/years to avoid collections.
Medical charity: Organizations like RIP Medical Debt may help with bill negotiation and even buy and forgive unpaid medical debts.
Avoidance: Some advise not providing real contact/payment details when initially receiving ambulance service. But this may be considered “theft of services”.
Legal action: Suing the ambulance company over unfair billing practices is an option but usually challenging and costly.

The No Surprises Act

New federal legislation called the No Surprises Act bans most surprise medical bills from out-of-network providers as of January 2022. This includes bills from ambulances dispatched through 911. However, the law does not apply to ground ambulance companies directly called without going through 911.

Unfortunately, this major loophole still leaves patients vulnerable to unexpected ambulance bills. But increased scrutiny and regulation surrounding surprise medical billing provides some hope that practices may improve over time.

Simply ignoring outrageously high ambulance bills is extremely risky. Damage to your credit score, legal/financial consequences, and even healthcare blacklisting could result. Always exhaust every option to negotiate costs down or set up reasonable payment plans before resorting to nonpayment. With your health and financial future at stake, it’s better to face ambulance bills head-on rather than letting them wreak havoc unaddressed.

Copy And Paste To Republish This Story

We encourage organizations to republish our content, free of charge. Here’s what we ask:

You must credit us as the original publisher, with a hyperlink to our californiahealthline.org site. If possible, please include the original author(s) and “California Healthline” in the byline. Please preserve the hyperlinks in the story.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay Ambulance Bill? – CountyOffice.org

FAQ

How to negotiate an ambulance bill?

If you cannot afford the ambulance bills, the first step is to talk to the patient’s insurance company. The insurance may set up a payment plan that is workable for you or agree to cover more of the bill. If the patient is not insured, contact the ambulance company, they may agree on a payment plan.

Can you say no to an ambulance?

In general, ambulance squads are unable to contravene the wishes of a mentally competent patient. This may lead to situations of likely cardiac compromise, likely internal trauma, or other life-threatening situations. However, if the patient is of sound mind, they are generally able to refuse treatment.

Is ambulance free in USA?

But if you call 911 for an ambulance, you could face a huge bill, even for a short ride. Ambulances typically don’t operate as a free public service. In many states the average balance due runs over $1,000. Having health insurance does help, but deductibles and exclusions can still leave you with a huge bill.

Why is it so expensive to ride in an ambulance?

It’s a common claim that, in many countries, ambulance service is free. But, in any nation, ambulances are expensive to operate. Because of that expense, every nation charges for ambulance service. Some charge at point of use, like the US.

What happens if an ambulance picks you up out-of-network?

When the ambulance service that picks you up is out-of-network, your insurer pays what it considers fair. And then — surprise! — the ambulance service sends you a bill for the rest. Taken For A Ride? Ambulances Stick Patients With Surprise Bills Q: What can I do if I get one? Ask your insurance company to pay more.

Can a ground ambulance be a surprise medical bill?

In January, Ohio enacted a law banning surprise medical bills starting in 2022 that mirrors the No Surprises Act but includes ground ambulances. In New York, out-of-network providers can’t bill insured patients more than in-network rates in emergency situations, including for ground ambulances though not for transports between facilities.

What happens if you ride an ambulance?

They found that 28 percent of those trips resulted in surprise bills. Following a single ambulance ride, people could be confronted with astronomical bills, debt or even medical bankruptcy. To sidestep the risk of racking up costs, some people avoid ambulances altogether, gambling with time, transportation and their own health.

What happens if an ambulance goes out of network?

This most commonly occurs in emergency situations. If an ambulance brings you to a hospital that is out of network, for example, you may receive a costly surprise medical bill for the services performed. “That’s not something you chose,” Hoadley said.