Medical Bills from Ski Areas...

[Tin]

Interesting thread
this would be a great topic to be covered in a ski mag rather than the usual dreck they write

Yes, and save people thousands of dollars. I had never heard of it until this summer.

 

[180]

Where you get care is up to you. Every clinic I have seen is up front about the charges and in almost all cases you can submit to your insurance co and get reimbursed. Better to have acute care where there is need.

 

[dlague]

We have had our share of injuries at ski areas and were never charged. 1 torn acl (me) a broken shoulder (wife) two collar bones (son) concussion (another son) never a fee.

 

[doublediamond]

Source for this "third mention"?

 

[dlague]

Source for this "third mention"?

Which mention?

 

[doublediamond]

From the OP:

Just came across a third mention of this happening on another website.

 

[Riverskier]

Broke my ankle at Sunday River in 2014. No charges at the ski patrol center but to go over to the Western Maine Mountain Clinic(literally through a door), they warned you it was cash or card up front. But they were affiliated with Stevens Memorial and they could process my BCBS after the fact for me. X-rays, splint and the care wound up costing me a whole co-pay for an office visit after BCBS paid me back.

Same deal with a torn Achilles and dislocated shoulder back in 2010. I happily handed over my credit card in exchange for having my shoulder re-set. I was also reimbursed by my insurance. I for one I am happy the mountain has the clinic and have no problem with the fact that you have to pay. They did xrays and had an orthopedic doctor on staff, which is above and beyond what most ski patrol staffs offer. They will gladly call you an ambulance if you don't want to pay.

 

[Tin]

From the OP:

The order in which I conceived this thread...

Anecdotal....Heard from a former room mate he got a bill from WaWa for a wrapped job and eval when they thought he had a broken ankle. Had him sign something consenting for treatment, he offered them insurance cards, they said they didn't need them. The staff moved it a few different ways, wrapped it, and gave him snow to ice it with and told him to get further evals. His girlfriend drove him to a local urgent care. Stated he received a bill for $1,200 dollars for the wrap and eval about a month later. Tried working it out with them and providing his insurance info, they declined. I didn't believe him...

Saw a few mentions of this happening out west, thought nothing of it since that doesn't apply to most here.

Stumbled upon this on Reddit the other day, also mentioning a large bill for essentially nothing from WaWa.
https://www.reddit.com/r/icecoast/comments/4cgw6p/has_anyone_else_ever_been_billed_by_ski_patrol/



Take it with a grain as it is the interwebz, just something to watch out for. If I, and I'm assuming many others, had a minor injury that required a medical professional I would avoid ski patrol first aid clinics and go to an urgent care to avoid two bills. They are most likely tell you go get further assistance anyway. Glad to know that people in the past have been reimbursed by their insurance. I'm sure it is coming eventually but resorts in Italy actually charge for ski patrol assistance and the sled ride down, just another way to make $$$$$.

 

[Jcb890]

My wife fractured her wrist up at Killington 2 seasons ago. She had it examined, iced, x-rayed and then wrapped with a temporary cast. It was either entirely free or we had to pay a normal co-pay cost. This was right at the first aid/medical building over by Ramshead. They had the x-ray and doctor my wife saw upstairs.

 

[2Planker]

As a Patroleer (Paid & Vol) for almost 30 years.... Ski Patrol services are usually Free. But, once you go "next door" and see a Nurse Practitioner, PA, or Doc there is always a charge. Most are definitely Ca$h up front, and provide an itemized receipt w/ all the necessary Medical Billing codes for reimbursement from your Ins Co.

Stratton, Stowe, Loaf & SR all are very similar. Many Vol Patrols have NP, PA & MD's working as Patrollers, and can give excellent advice and palliative care for free. BUT if you need X-Rays, casts, stitches, IV Meds, Ortho Joint Reset.... you'd be wise to do it "next door" at their clinic and see a licensed professional. Ambl. is at least $600-$1,000 depending on mileage, Meds, services provided. At least that is a No Brainer for the Ins Co.

 

[Smellytele]

When my son got hurt at Alpine Meadows in CA ski patrol evaluated him in first aid, gave him a sling and then proceeded to tell us you may want to get the arm x-rayed when we got home. We were flying out the next day. The day after we got back I brought him in for an x-ray and indeed it was broken. The break was up so high they couldn't put a cast on it. Felt bad about not getting him looked at earlier but not much they could do anyway. he used the sling when we reminded him but he was 7 and was out jumping off snow banks within a week or 2.

 

[abc]

I think a lot of the different outcome maybe due to different insurance people have.

If you have a HMO, the doc/nurse you're seeing at the mountain clinic are likely "out of network". So you'll probably be responsible for at least some part of the expense. Could be a good chunk of that expense.

If you're in a proper CLINIC, they would have had you sign some paper taking responsibility for the cost. Without that piece of paper, you can sent the bill back to them and tell them to get lost. Granted, if you had a concussion, you're probably not in too sound a mind to decide before signing.

Assuming you signed that paper, you're going to get a bill.

Sent the bill to the insurance company, and hope for the best. Chances are, it's covered, with a deductible.

 

[mbedle]

How many places in the east actually have Clinics onsite?

 

[catskills]

I know Windham Mountain Resort is one of the few ski areas that have Advanced Life Support (ALS paramedics) on ski patrol that can do ALS patient care like IV on the hill, which I believe is free. Windham also has a clinic which probably is not free. The town of Woodstock NY has a FREE ALS paramedic ambulance service. If you get hurt drive to the town of Woodstock and call 911 for free IV and ambulance ride to Kingston Hospital. As for the quality of care in Kingston, NY Hospital lets just say I hope its getting better under new management. Better to go across the river to the Northern Duchess Hospital.

 

[CoolMike]

If you get surprised and billed for medical services like this: do not pay these jokers. Make them sell this debt to a collection agency. Screw that.

 

[Jcb890]

If you get surprised and billed for medical services like this: do not pay these jokers. Make them sell this debt to a collection agency. Screw that.

So now you're paying a collection agency the money instead of the company who may need the money and in turn, you have screwed them over by them having to sell the debt at a discount to the collection agency. It isn't like the collection agency is going to offer you a discount on your debt. I'm not sure I agree with that.

A better rule of thumb is probably to make sure you know of any possible costs up front.

I have another example - I was injured at Okemo. They had to put IV's in me at First Aid and I was taken by ambulance to an area hospital. No charges from Okemo, but my parents (on their insurance at the time) got a gigantic bill from the insurance company saying they would not pay for the ambulance. They fought it and wound up not having to pay for the ambulance because it was deemed necessary or something along those lines.

 

[Jcb890]

How many places in the east actually have Clinics onsite?

What kind of clinics are we talking?

I know Killington does.

 

[mbedle]

I guess I am thinking on the level of putting in an IV, taking an X-ray, etc, some place that can provide more critical care and not just stabilizing the patient before the ambulance gets there. My nephew dislocated his shoulder at Stowe last year and they immobilized it and sent him on his way with no charge.

 

[Jcb890]

I guess I am thinking on the level of putting in an IV, taking an X-ray, etc, some place that can provide more critical care and not just stabilizing the patient before the ambulance gets there. My nephew dislocated his shoulder at Stowe last year and they immobilized it and sent him on his way with no charge.

Killington has a clinic. As I posted before, my wife broke her wrist. We walked over, they examined her, said she should probably get an x-ray, so we went upstairs, to their medical facility. They took our insurance, she got her x-ray, the Dr. told her there was a small fracture and he put her wrist in a cast right on the spot. No charges aside from normal insurance costs.

 

[drjeff]

Mount Snow has a clinic where they have on site MD's staffing it, x-ray machines, and the ability to perform many emergency medical services on site.

I know personally that my family has used it for cervical spine x-rays for my daughter when she sustained a concussion last year, and I used it for a dozen stitches in my left middle finger about 5 years ago courtesy of an accident with a serrated knife!!