Out of Network – Ambulance Ride

TLDR: is it possible to fight insurance to switch ambulance service from out of network to in – network?

3 months ago my 5 month old daughter was sick. We called the pediatrician who after seeing us said we needed to go to the hospital as my daughter was showing signs of belly breathing. After going to the local hospital (our nearest pediatric hospital is 3 hours away) they diagnosed her with Covid-19, RSV, and Rhino Virus (I thought RSV and rhino were the same, but was told it’s not).

After being diagnosed with these, and seeing her oxygen sitting around 89-92% they called the nearest pediatric hospital who said she needs to be transferred, but to start giving fluid, oxygen, and steroids until transferred.

Due to needing to be transferred, we obviously didn’t want to drive her ourselves (also, they wouldn’t let us leave without signing any liability forms I’m sure). They called a local transport company which was out of network.

The transport company finally billed insurance, which is out of network and sent us the bill. we owe $6,500 for said transport for something that seems medically necessary + we didn’t have a choice on our provider. If this was an in-network provider, I’d only owe $1200. Before going down a rabbit whole and fighting insurance, I was wondering if this is even possible? Has anyone had luck with switching an out of network provider to an in-network? I work night shifts, so I’d have to stay up later or wake up earlier to call insurance.

submitted by /u/LothNoTemp
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