Emergency: The need for ambulance surprise billing protections

Patients have a 50% chance of being transported by an out-of-network ambulance in emergency situations. That means they are at risk of receiving an expensive out-of-network bill. Ambulances were exempted from the federal No Surprises Act protections.

This briefing briefly reviewed patient protections under the federal No Surprises Act, as well as explained the ongoing problem of ambulance surprise bills. Along with California Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, we gave a run-down on the solutions implemented in the 14 states that have enacted state ambulance surprise bill protections and how legislators can protect patients in their state.

For more information, check out our report on the cost of ground ambulance surprise bills. If you’ve received a surprise ambulance bill, tell us your story here.