Peter Eavis wrote about air ambulances:

• The air ambulance business has been booming. Since insurers usually pay the costs, companies have expanded their fleets and increased their coverage.
• The ambulances save lives. However they’re falling upon hard times since insurers are beginning to ask consumers to pay more of their bills.
• Moreover rapid growth in the industry has left it with a problem of oversupply, with each helicopter flying a fifth less than it used to in 2006.
• Costs are high. Helicopters start at about $4 million and can cost much more.
• The average flight is estimated to cost anywhere between $7,400 and $10,000.
• The average bills has gone up from $17,200 five years earlier to $40,800 now.
• Those who go out of business first might be the non-profit ones who don’t have cash buffers for a decrease in demand.

Read about the lobbyists that the industry has hired, the lengths that companies will go to, to collect debts, and many more details here.

Source: The New York Times