I know there have been other threads on this topic, which I’ve mostly ignored because I tend to hike in places where rescue costs are covered by state or federal agencies, at least to extract you until they can pop you into an ambulance. This summer however, I’ll be hiking on all kinds of land and rather than investigate all the details, I just reached out to my health insurer and asked if I’m covered. The response was basically “not much but you’ll never know.” Insurance being what it is in the U.S., you never really know what you’re going to be obliged to pay, just about anywhere. Here was their response to my question, also below:
Q. “I’m a backpacker and regularly go into remote locations. Does our plan cover any medical transportation from remote areas in case of emergency, and if so, what are the limitations or extent of coverage? For example, I am going to Grand Canyon next month to do a rim to rim. If I break a leg at the bottom, what does our medical plan cover/not cover?”
A. “If the transportation company is out of network, Premera will only cover 80% of the allowed amount. The allowed amount is the amount that the insurance carrier deems as reasonable for the service. Since out of network companies do not have a contract with your insurance, they are able to bill any amount for their services. If the billed amount is greater than the allowed amount, you will be responsible for this difference. This is called balance billing. Balance billing, sometimes called surprise billing, is a medical bill from a healthcare provider billing a patient for the difference between the total cost of services being charged and the amount the insurance pays. Unfortunately, the allowed amount is determined at the time of the service and TouchCare nor the insurance will have this information prior to it. My sincerest apologies for this.”
I think not having posted prices – and posted allowable prices -for every service should be illegal. But since no one cares what I think, I decided to go ahead and get separate insurance, since there is no way to predict what I could be charged. Not wanting to have a medical bankruptcy a few years before retirement!
