If you’re like me, you may have presumed that if you’re in a really bad accident and need to get to a hospital F-A-S-T, the sound of the med evac chopper might be music to your ear, but those choppers have been crashing at an alarming rate.  In a somewhat surprising article, we learn that ground ambulances typically get patients to hospitals just as fast and much safer.

“[Some] trauma-care specialists say studies show that regular ambulances often get patients to the hospital just about as fast and that patients who go by ground have about the same chance of surviving as those ferried by helicopter. . . .”

Read the article from the Austin American Statesman

COMMENT:
The cost of air evac choppers can be staggering. In some cases, a single flight may cost $7,500 or more.

Many health plans do not provide full coverage for air ambulance. In fact, this is sometimes a key difference between two otherwise equal plans.

Given that ground ambulance is just as effective in most cases, and statistically safer, it seems that the extra risk associated with air flights may not be worthe the additional cost–or risk–except in the most extreme situations.