Patients being hit with costly ambulances and emergency medical bills. This must stop.

Ryan Elaoud is a third-year student at the Ohio State University, majoring in biomedical science.

In the current U.S. healthcare landscape, there are glaring obstacles that impede many Americans in obtaining appropriate healthcare.

One such obstacle may even result in the difference between life or death: the exorbitant cost of ambulances and emergency medical services. As critical life-saving services become increasingly financially out of reach for many, it's time to scrutinize the economic barriers preventing swift and lifesaving access to healthcare for all.

Currently, escalating costs of ambulance services create an insurmountable barrier, deterring many individuals from seeking timely medical assistance.

Healthcare system has dangerous flaws

In 2017, one in four American families had to turn down medical care that they needed purely because of cost. This figure is exacerbated among older millennials (ages 34-42) with 32% turning away from medical care because they couldn’t afford it in the past year.

However, this issue extends beyond mere financial burden; it is a systemic flaw that hampers the very essence of accessible and equitable healthcare. The financial barrier to ambulances affects the vulnerable—the poor—the hardest, resulting in adverse health outcomes and an ethically strained healthcare system.

In 2022, 12.2% of Americans did not have health insurance; in that same year, the average charge for an ambulance before health insurance coverage and discounts was $1,277 — a debilitating charge for many people of lower socioeconomic status. This cost barrier to ambulance services exacerbates health disparities, perpetuates inequality, and jeopardizes public health by impeding swift critical care delivery.

Ambulance companies state that large costs of round-the-clock staffing, limited insurance reimbursements and expensive equipment are the predominant reasons for elevated consumer bills. Furthermore, some argue that high ambulance costs are justified by the complex, highly trained personnel providing care and the life-saving nature of emergency medical services.

While the high costs of said staffing and the complex technology involved may be understandable in certain cases, it is nonetheless crucial to recognize that these same large costs commonly result in insurmountable financial barriers to potentially life-saving care for many Americans.

What is the solution?

While the No Surprises Act, established on January 1, 2022, helped overcome many of the financial barriers to healthcare for vulnerable populations, it is not close to exhaustive, or even to what is required to create equitable healthcare for all.

The No Surprises Actaimed to prohibit healthcare services from billing patients with “surprise” charges for out-of-network fees. This meant that for various emergency services and for select non-emergency services from out-of-network providers, patients could not be billed more than their in-network rates.

However, No Surprises Act’s protections do not extend to ground ambulances, meaning that patients can still be hit with crippling surprise out-of-network fees for critical, life-saving care. A more expansive NSA that includes traditional ground ambulances would alleviate this problem.

Not only would it result in more transparent pricing and lower ambulance costs for patients on average, but it would also lessen the financial burden facing Americans for critical healthcare services. This solution has already been implemented in multiple states with legislation such as House Bill 388, wherein protections like the No Surprises Act are extended to ground ambulances.

A federal-level modification of the No Surprises Act to include ground ambulances would result in a more equitable healthcare system, reduced financial disparities and improved overall public health.

Failure to address this issue will perpetuate a cycle of delayed or denied emergency care, with consequences echoing across American communities.

Now is the time for collective action

To produce change necessary for health equity for all Americans, we—as upstanding citizens—must advocate for policy changes, engage in community discussions and support initiatives that champion affordable and timely access to emergency medical services.

By calling on our local and federal lawmakers to amend the NSA, we can help to dismantle financial barriers preventing access to ambulances and ensure that every individual, regardless of financial standing, can seek emergency medical assistance without hesitation.

Our health and the well-being of all American communities depend on our actions.

Ryan Elaoud is a third-year student at the Ohio State University, majoring in biomedical science.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: No Surprises Act should be extended to ambulance companies. Here's why.