Mother must pay air ambulance bill
Albertan who gave birth in Ontario finds provinces, insurance won’t cover $30K
An Alberta mother says she is scrambling to pay a bill of up to $30,000 after a premature birth forced her to use an air ambulance in Northern Ontario.
Amy Savill, from High Prairie, Alta., was visiting with family when her water broke — nearly two months early.
She says she and her family jumped in a truck and rushed to the Timmins hospital, where they say staff weren’t equipped to deal with premature births before 32 weeks gestation.
With the baby coming and no other options, an air ambulance was called in to transport Savill to the hospital in Sudbury, about four hours away.
Before the helicopter arrived, Savill was told the flight would come at a price of up to $30,000. She said she didn’t have a choice.
“You’re not going to say, ‘Oh never mind, I’m not going to go, I can’t afford it,’ ” she said. “It’s the life of your child.”
When she arrived in Sudbury, Savill underwent an emergency caesarean section, giving birth to a baby girl, Amelia. “She came out screaming,” she said. “I let some tears go when that happened, because at least you knew she was breathing and her lungs were OK.”
Shortly after her baby was delivered, Savill says, she learned the costly air-ambulance bill, which she was told would range between $10,000 and $30,000, would not be picked up by the governments of Ontario or Alberta.
“I really thought that it would be covered, until I called Alberta health services and they said ‘No,’ and then I called my insurance company and they put me on hold for a long time and then said ‘No,’ ” she said.
In an email, Carolyn Ziegler, a spokesperson for Alberta Health, said that “all Albertans must pay the cost of emergency ambulance services and inter-facility transfers when travelling outside of Alberta.”
That includes air ambulance services, which Ziegler described as “not insured services under the Canada Health Act.”
Ziegler went on to say that Alberta residents are not charged for air ambulance trips between Alberta facilities when “medically necessary.”
A spokesperson for Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s minister of health and long-term care, said that Hoskins has asked staff to look into Savill’s case to understand the specific details.
Savill said the insurance coverage provided to her through her job includes an out-of-province section, but it was her understanding that she would have been covered only if she had been picked by up helicopter in the bush and brought directly to the hospital.
The Star was unable to confirm whether transport fees are only covered for transfers between Ontario hospitals.
According to Gail Courneyea, founder of Global Angel Charity, a group that raises money to help pay for medial transport, Savill is not alone.
“It’s a tragic story, but it’s not an unusual story,” she said. “People need to realize travelling between provinces also brings with it a need for cover cost of transportation.”
As for Savill, the bill for air transport is just the beginning.
The recently separated mother said that to be near her daughter and provide a place for her 3-year-old son Carter to stay, she’s paying $100 each night for accommodations. “I’ve got two kids; living on EI for the next year while I’m on my maternity leave and starting over in life, and then getting hammered with a $30,000 bill, is a rough start,” she said.
Global Angel has begun to raise money to also help cover the baby’s medical transfer back to Alberta. After posting Savill’s story last night, the organization has already raised more than $5,000 toward a $55,000 goal.