H.3448 is a reintroduction of last session’s S.936. Like last session’s bill H.3448 would require the owner of an air ambulance to obtain a permit from the Department of Health and Human Services to operate the aircraft as an air ambulance. Moreover, the bill mandates that health insurance providers must provide coverage for air ambulance transportation to a hospital or medical facility when air transport is deemed necessary by a physician. More regulation and licensing requirements create barriers to entry into provision of services creating higher costs for the provider resulting in higher costs for the consumer. And this is exactly the kind of intervention in health insurance practices – requiring all health insurance plans to cover certain services – that is driving up the cost of health care for everyone. Insurers should be free to determine what services their plans cover and consumers should be free to choose among these plans.
Unfortunately, while many lawmakers are vocal in opposition to the regulations and mandates imposed by Obamacare, lawmakers instead propose even more state-created mandates while making little to no effort to eliminate mandates the state imposes on itself already. And there has certainly been no effort to stop taking the federal money that triggers Obamacare mandates.