I need some info on angel flights out of NOLA. Please, is this a rumor?

[MissMarple]

A pilot has claimed that he was not permitted to land in North Carolina with ill victims because Louisiana called off angel flight rescue. The claim is that Louisiana will not cover indigent or medicaid claims outside the state and the people must be returned to Louisiana for care.

I don't need guesses, I've already done that, I need some good info.

Are there any pilot guys (or research people) who may be able to find out?

[lildreamer316]

1. YOu mean all those ppl headed to my city

are not coming now?
Shitheads. Sorry for the frnch.

[MissMarple]

2. I just don't know. It came up on a pilot message board.

[lildreamer316]

3. Crap

We have everything ready at the airport; waiting. Cots and food at the colusieum. Damn Damn damn.

[MissMarple]

4. These are folks who need hospital care, I believe, and are on medcaid.

[MissMarple]

5. Come on guys, I need some help here.

Please :)

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Translation:

You can be sure that the Bush Administration informed the states that they (the states) would be paying for the claims, not the federal government, as is customary in big disasters; the administrators of the states simply passed this along the authorization chain, which means that the angel flights are also being told they won't get paid.

And it was done at the beginning of a 3-day holiday weekend.

Bastards!

--p!

[MissMarple]

8. Angel flights are voluntary. They don't get paid.

It sounded bogus, as in not making sense. But it was on a credible board. The pilots were told to go back. As if they could. Some of them are in small aircraft. Louisiana was getting the blame. It just doesn't make sense.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. If it was a rumor, it may never make sense

I worked in the medical field for a decade and a half. This is how they played games with reimbursement.

I was under the impression Angel flights were made by pilots donating their time, but aircraft fuel and other expenses would be reimbursed by the insurance company. This is a standard arrangement in medical insurance. Transport -- whether in an ambulance or an aircraft -- is always reimbursed if approved. Pilots waiving their pay induce insurance companies to bend when they'd otherwise tell the patient to just lay there and wait for a cheaper form of transport to show up.

There's also the probability that it was a wild rumor; but it sounded a lot like things I've seen and heard being done before.

--p!

[MissMarple]

10. I understand what you are saying, but these guys just donate

the plane, the fuel, the time. Many of them are just private pilots who just like to fly. They belong to the $100 dollar lunch group. I just wonder if someone is playing them. If so, this group, and they all don't do angel flights by any means, needs a heads up.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. Whatever the arrangement ...

And however they work it, you can be sure that everyone who can be played will be played.

I'm sure I missed some details. But I also know about the insurance industry's tricks -- and the Bush Administration's political style.

Pilots tend to be bright folks. If there is any malarkey going on, they'll be on top of it real fast.

--p!

[kittykitty]

7. Every state has its own Medicade plan, so I doubt it is reciprocable

Check the Louisiana State website.