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Whats the deal with MedEvac charges out of whistler?

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Shadows
Posts: 8068 - Karma: 43
was on the glacier, got flown out. was told i wouldnt be charged for the flight. couple months later (now) i get a bill for 2400 US. They knew i wasnt a citizen but still said it would be free.
ive been flown out a few times from places and got billed for all of them. so when i was told  Whistler was free i wanted to know why, but was knocked out.
so why would it be free? there was a thread on tgr i was reading that explained some stuff, but it got too long and all the answers i was gather were indecisive.
anybody got insight on this?
Nov 21 2007 11:47PM
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Shadows
Posts: 8068 - Karma: 43
ps, it was a red chopper so i can only assume it was whistlers and not an independent.
Nov 21 2007 11:51PM
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wrenegade
Posts: 6631 - Karma: 41

Correct me if I'm wrong anyone, but I don't believe W/B actually owns any Helos. I think they just contract the work out to Blackcomb Helicopters, Pemberton Helicopters, etc, and rents them when they need to do bombing and what not. So when you need heli rescue I think they just call in the birds and let the injured pick up the bill. It is not cheap to run Helos at all and I can't see them footing the bill for these things everytime, even if it is inbounds.

I was charged for a damn ambulance ride, so I don't really know how Whistler/Province of BC could not pay that but somehow pick up a medevac bill.

Nov 22 2007 12:32AM
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freezed
Posts: 12973 - Karma: 500
I was not helicoptered out, but I had to have ski patrol sled me, and an ambulance drive me to the hospital. I didn't get charged anything.
Nov 22 2007 1:04AM
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french_fry
Posts: 4698 - Karma: 53
regardless, with $2400 worth of heli time, you could have been heli skiing for a day or 2. That seems awfully expensive for a ride down to the village, or even Vancouver.
Nov 22 2007 2:52AM
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Jeff_Thomas
Posts: 3144 - Karma: 184
are you american?
buy travel insurance next time.
Nov 22 2007 3:49AM
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Craigskis
Posts: 6650 - Karma: 1,645
^ as with any Canadians skiing in the states. Very Important.......
Nov 22 2007 9:53AM
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Shadows
Posts: 8068 - Karma: 43
yea, travel insurance would've been a sick idea.
i got charged for the ambulance too. you guys give out some real crazy drugs though.
still dont see why they say it would be free. i called up the clinic and they laughed at me, so fuck that.
Nov 22 2007 11:34AM
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Shadows
Posts: 8068 - Karma: 43
going rate for Evacs is 2400 an hour. i was in it for maybe 5 minutes.
Nov 22 2007 11:38AM
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Jeff_Thomas
Posts: 3144 - Karma: 184
They may have thought you were from BC
Nov 22 2007 12:36PM
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g-man
Posts: 1955 - Karma: 301
you were out of bounds.  The Glacier is in a provincial park.  W/B insurance does cover that.
Nov 22 2007 2:19PM
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g-man
Posts: 1955 - Karma: 301
*doesnt
Nov 22 2007 2:19PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,142
You can still get a court order setting aside the fee if your consent was procured by a misrepresentation on the part of employees of the company... ie, you can say you wouldn't have consented to getting flown off the hill if they hadn't convinced you it'd be free. But if it was serious enough to require a heli I would think you would've wanted to pay for it anyway.
Nov 22 2007 3:44PM
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Jeff_Thomas
Posts: 3144 - Karma: 184
he said he was unconscious. sounds like you were OB like graham said.
Nov 22 2007 6:16PM
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Shadows
Posts: 8068 - Karma: 43
it wasnt life threatening - dislocation. a few drugs and a sled ride wouldve been fine. but it was spring and you had to down load so i dont know how they handle that. I was also in the understanding that the glacier is in bounds, no one said otherwise.
Nov 22 2007 11:47PM
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J.D.
Posts: 21362 - Karma: 5,142
Oh. Well you can make that argument then. They can't so much as touch you without your consent or implied consent based on the standard of what a reasonable person would have agreed to. If they procured that consent by lying to you it doesn't count. Unfortunately, how you'd go about getting the fee set aside might be more of a hassle / cost than the original 2400.
Nov 23 2007 12:12AM
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Shadows
Posts: 8068 - Karma: 43
damn. ill look into it though. thanks a lot guys.
Nov 23 2007 12:13AM
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james44
Posts: 3323 - Karma: 578
really? when i overshot and knocked myself out they charged me $75 for the 3 min ambulance ride
Nov 23 2007 3:23AM
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ZavierV
Posts: 5077 - Karma: 100
yeah james, when i broke my collar bone they charged me $84 for the same trip to lions. mine happened 2 years earlier so you're lucky the rates went down aha.
Nov 25 2007 8:25PM
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james44
Posts: 3323 - Karma: 578
all the way to lionsgate or was this at grouse?? i dont know what the whis hospital is called but thats the one i woke up in
Nov 26 2007 2:01AM
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