When Katelyn Lopez found her baby seizing on the floor of their North Las Vegas home last January, she did what any parent would do. She called 911 for help. What came next shows exactly why Americans don’t trust the government to solve our healthcare problems.
Despite having health insurance through UnitedHealthcare, the Lopez family got slapped with a $1,624 ambulance bill from the city. The reason? The North Las Vegas Fire Department ambulance that rushed her 11-month-old son Maxzen to the hospital wasn’t “in network.” Think about that for a second.
When you dial 911, you can’t shop around for the cheapest ambulance. You get whoever shows up.
Congress Knew About This Problem and Punted
Here’s what makes this story even worse. Back in 2022, Congress passed something called the No Surprises Act that was supposed to protect folks from these kinds of surprise medical bills. The law covers emergency room visits, certain hospital services, and even air ambulances.
But guess what they left out? Ground ambulances. The very thing most people need in an emergency.
Why did Congress skip ambulances? Because the system is too complicated, they said. Too many different players involved – fire departments, private companies, hospitals. So instead of fixing the problem, they created another government committee to study it.
That’s right, your tax dollars paid for 17 people to sit around for months talking about something Congress should have fixed in the first place.
Patricia Kelmar from U.S. PIRG helped write the original law. She admits this is a glaring hole that needs fixing.
She told 8NewsNow investigators:
“It’s just common sense that insurance would cover ambulance transportation for the care that we need.”
The Numbers Tell an Ugly Story
About half of all ambulance rides in America end up being “out of network,” meaning patients can get hit with surprise bills averaging $450. Some folks get bills for thousands of dollars.
A recent poll found that 23 percent of Americans have actually skipped calling an ambulance because they were worried about the cost. Let that sink in. People are risking their lives because they’re afraid of the bill.
In Nevada, we’re not protected from these surprise ambulance bills. Twenty states have passed their own laws to protect their residents, but Nevada isn’t one of them. States run by both Democrats and Republicans have figured this out, yet our state legislature hasn’t acted.
More Committees, More Talk, No Action
The federal advisory committee finally delivered its recommendations to Congress in August 2024. They suggested capping patient costs at $100 or 10 percent of the bill, whichever is less. They want insurance companies to pay for ambulances within 30 days. They want to ban balance billing altogether.
These sound like reasonable ideas, but here’s the thing – Congress still hasn’t done anything with these recommendations. Representative Susie Lee, a Nevada Democrat, says Congress needs to update the law, but concedes there’s not much:
“room on the legislative agenda.”
Meanwhile, regular folks like the Lopez family are stuck dealing with the mess. After media attention on their case, UnitedHealthcare eventually covered the bill, citing “some confusion.”
But thousands of other families don’t get that kind of attention or resolution.
What This Really Shows
This whole situation perfectly illustrates the problem with big government healthcare solutions. Congress passes a law with great fanfare about protecting patients, but leaves out one of the most basic emergency services. Then they create another bureaucratic committee to study what they should have fixed the first time.
Years go by, reports get written, and families still get surprise bills.
The free market isn’t perfect, but at least when you buy something, you know what it costs upfront. With government-run or government-regulated services, you call 911 in an emergency and find out months later you owe over a thousand dollars.
What Conservatives Can Do
Contact your state legislators and demand Nevada join the 20 states that protect residents from surprise ambulance bills. Don’t wait for Washington to fix this – they’ve already proven they can’t or won’t. Support local candidates who understand that transparent pricing and real competition, not more government committees, are the answer to our healthcare problems.
Ask your insurance company if local ambulance services are in their network before you need them. It’s ridiculous that you have to do this homework, but until the system gets fixed, it’s better to know ahead of time.
This isn’t about Republican or Democrat. It’s about common sense.
When someone calls 911, they shouldn’t have to worry about bankruptcy. But trusting Congress to solve this problem is like trusting a fox to guard the henhouse. They’ve had years to fix it and haven’t. Maybe it’s time we stopped expecting Washington to solve our problems and started finding real solutions closer to home.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
