Enloe/Calstar Flightcare Program
- Thread starter Kensaku
- Start date
phoenixrising
ookie
Supposedly, in the greater bay area, a ground 911 rig is only about 5 minutes slower than a heli, and sometimes faster, since there are less transfers with a ground rig. I think I heard there were over 20 helicopter crashes last year, too. While this plan is great, don't think it's automatically gonna save your ass or get you to the ED for sure or quicker...but hey, you're on a track, you know what risk is, so do what you gotta do.
ap430
Uniform Speed Racing
it might not save your ass, but if you do get air lifted out and live. It will save you around 25 thousand dollars or so:thumbup as some insurance companies might not pick up the full bill for it.
ucb
Go Beers!
I take it you've never been to wonderful willows CA or seen how bad the traffic can be on 37 coming into sears
And my regular ambulance ride was $1000 even with insurance. I'd much rather have taken a chopper for $50
SNsMoto
Don't be that guy.
Thanks for posting this up guys!
Can you guys clarify a few things for me:
-To paint a picture, say I get in to a life threatening accident and require air lifting; if I don't have this membership and get airlifted, will my insurance (Kaiser) not cover it? Is that what this membership is for; to basically extend the coverage of my regular health insurance to include airlifting? I was reading though on the first page that someone said his airlift would have costed $xx,xxx and the trauma room visit would have costed $xx,xxx, but his Kaiser insurance covered all of it minus the small deductible amounts even though he didn't have this airlift membership. So I'm a little confused as to what this exactly covers, who it's for, and how it applies or doesn't apply to our health coverages.
-And lastly, does the family membership extend out to friends as well? Say my friend crashes in the middle of a spirited ride and needs to be airlifted, would this cover him?
Sorry for all the questions. They are closed right now or else I'd be on the phone with them heh. Thanks for sharing this barf.
Can you guys clarify a few things for me:
-To paint a picture, say I get in to a life threatening accident and require air lifting; if I don't have this membership and get airlifted, will my insurance (Kaiser) not cover it? Is that what this membership is for; to basically extend the coverage of my regular health insurance to include airlifting? I was reading though on the first page that someone said his airlift would have costed $xx,xxx and the trauma room visit would have costed $xx,xxx, but his Kaiser insurance covered all of it minus the small deductible amounts even though he didn't have this airlift membership. So I'm a little confused as to what this exactly covers, who it's for, and how it applies or doesn't apply to our health coverages.
-And lastly, does the family membership extend out to friends as well? Say my friend crashes in the middle of a spirited ride and needs to be airlifted, would this cover him?
Sorry for all the questions. They are closed right now or else I'd be on the phone with them heh. Thanks for sharing this barf.
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675 Trip
Well-known member
Some insurance companies will cover everything. some will cover part. it is a gap insurance, sort of. they will collect what they can from your insurance, etc and not bill you anything.
It also supports their operations. it's a significant revenue stream and helps them keep birds in the air.
It also supports their operations. it's a significant revenue stream and helps them keep birds in the air.
duh_ave
Well-known member
(wacky posting date!)
yes, group rates are still good.
look up the specific company on the web. they all have coverage maps or lists of the areas they cover.
example, a company may not cover all of California (southern Cali areas are often excluded) but will cover you in parts of Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, etc
Hellraizer547
Well-known member
I had the Stanford Emergency Helicopter team come to my work to inform us of their operations. The Q&A came up about Helicopter vs Ambulance. From what they mentioned is that they rather Helicopter somebody out from Mt. Hamilton for the reason of patient safety. The reason why it is safer, especially on that road for an example is that if the person is on medication or just gets motion sickness the patient can vomit and make things much worse. The helicopter will eliminate that possibility and decreases transport time.
Sergio
Sergio
Sergio
Sergio
A'sFan
Fred 'ReRun' Stubbs
See the thread in Racers Forum that updates changes to the Cal-Star flight care reciprocation, updated 9/5/2010
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=345701
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=345701
NorCalBusa
Member #294
According to CALSTAR, while lots of people thought so, there has never been a reciprocity agreement with them and REACH. Both sides have tried to forge one, but could never come to terms.
The good news is they are very close to making such an agreement now- he expected to be done in a week or two. I'll post back when he let's me know its in place.
The good news is they are very close to making such an agreement now- he expected to be done in a week or two. I'll post back when he let's me know its in place.
Dude I was there that day when you took your ride. Gave me shivers when I heard the helo coming. VERY glad to see you in the land of the non vegatative
GetOuttaMyWay
Well-known member
Sorry to quote so old stuff, but I just signed up for my first track day so I took a look at this thread. It sounds like if you have Kaiser you don't need this Flightcare program since Kaiser covers it, right?
dbenj
Z²Trackdays.com
The answer is: IT DEPENDS! You have to check your policy and if you aren't sure, call Kaiser and ask. They have a million different levels of coverage and many of them do cover 100% air ambulance but not all.
Bottom line: $50-$100 a year for supplemental insurance is damn cheap peace of mind.
--David
GetOuttaMyWay
Well-known member
I just called Kaiser, they said anyone who has a Kaiser health plan is covered for life flight services if it is for a medical emergency. The only variable is how much your deductible is on your plan, after the deductible it's $100.
I think it's stupid to just give this Flightcare program $100 if you're insurance already covers it. It's not a charity out there trying to help everyone out, it's an insurance company.
DonJigweed
Urban Achiever
Bad advice. Whatever the person on the phone from Kaiser told you is the "best case scenario." In actuality, if you get choppered out you'll probably still be on the hook for a sizable bill, regardless of what your deductible is. The insurance game is funny like that.
Basically, you can never have enough insurance. Particularly if the cost-benefit ratio is as outsized as it is in this case (i.e. $35 annual policy insuring against potential $30-40K loss).
Buy the insurance. You won't miss the $35.
GetOuttaMyWay
Well-known member
That makes no sense. It's not in their interest at all to not tell their customers the full story. They would have cautioned me that I should buy more coverage because ultimately they want a policy to collect on...they see people default on bills like that all day long.
Here's a quote on here from a thread I found on google from 2009:
"Kaiser paid all my bills when I was helo'd from thill with a broken femur. Surgery took place in Chico (not a kaiser hospital). All I paid were $10 co-pays in follow up visits to my doc. About a year later, they also removed the rod that was inserted by the other doc in Chico. YMMV"
I'd think he would have mentioned the $30-40k bill that came after the $10 bill.