Classic Air Medical discontinues memberships

Classic Air Medical, which operates air medical transport services across eight US states, has announced that it has discontinued its membership program.

In a statement, the provider said: “Our team will work with your insurance company to fully cover the cost of our air medical service. Selling air medical memberships is an outdated and unnecessary practice and we believe that all air medical companies should discontinue their use.”

The discontinuation follows the implementation of the No Surprises Act, enacted on 1 January 2022. Classic Air Medical argued that when it had created its membership program a decade ago, it was ‘to protect patients and their families from open-ended balance billing’ – with the provider managing to minimize costs to patients to an average of US$200 – but that the new legislation had rendered the concept of air medical memberships ‘unnecessary’.

The provider said that it gives its ‘full support’ to the Act

It said that it ‘fully supports’ the legislation, adding: “With the No Surprises Act, consumers have new billing protections when getting emergency care and non-emergency care from out-of-network or in-network facilities, and air ambulance services from out-of-network providers.”

Through new rules aimed to protect consumers, out-of-pocket costs are restricted, and emergency services must continue to be covered without any prior authorization, and regardless of whether or not a provider or facility is in-network.”

Classic Air Ambulance operates over 20 bases across Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming. It recently announced the opening of a new base at Cassia Regional Hospital in Burley, Idaho.