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Former OSU basketball coach, Tommy Wade, was on his usual run April 7, 2015 when something went terribly wrong.

“I had a heart attack,” said Wade. “Collapsed right in front of the OSU police department.”

Wade had to be airlifted from Stillwater Medical Center to the Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City.

He says the bill for that ride shocked him.

“$38,000 for a 20 minute air flight from Stillwater to Oklahoma City?” said Wade.

And Wade had insurance, good insurance, that had already paid the air ambulance company what they felt was sufficient.

The company was coming after Wade for the balance.

“I told them I can’t pay the bill. I can’t afford it,” said Wade.

Attorneys Noble McIntyre and Ed White are representing more than a dozen clients with similar stories and they’ve now asked the judge to certify the lawsuit as class action.

They say in many instances, these companies will claim to be out of network, leaving a heavy burden on the patient.

“You’re price gouging innocent people who have already been victimized,” said McIntyre.

The lawsuit names four defendants – Air Evac EMS, Inc., Air Methods Corporation, Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC and Eaglemed LLC.

They’re asking the court to refund money to those who have already been charged and to come up with fair billing practices so this doesn’t happen again.

“They’re making profit margins of in excess of 750%. These are huge profit margins they’re trying to get from the average public,” said White.

Wade says the company, Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC,  hounded him for months, trying to get him to pay the bill.

“They were relentless. They were you know they didn’t really let up until I got legal assistance,” said Wade.

He hopes this lawsuit can prevent this from happening to anyone else.

“I wouldn’t want anybody to have to go through that,” said Wade.

We received this statement from EagleMed.

“We are still looking into the allegations and prefer not to discuss ongoing litigation, especially when all we have is the initially filed Petition. EagleMed has been, and currently is, in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma – the largest insurer in the State. At this point, we don’t know why we were sued if our patient had BCBS insurance. We would expect the BCBS agreement to deal with this situation. The only other EagleMed patient was said to have United Health Care insurance, which covered about half of the cost. If our patients need financial assistance with our invoices, we work with them – and we ask them to work with us when their insurance company underpays for services. We still would like to take our patient out of the middle and see if United Health Care will pay usual and customary rates.”

And we received this statement from Air Evac Lifeteam.

‘Air Evac Lifeteam is still looking into the allegations and prefer not to discuss ongoing litigation, especially when all we have is the initially filed Petition. At this point, we don’t know why we were sued. Based on the Petition, the only claim against Air Evac is for transporting a patient who was injured in an on-the-job incident. We would expect an on-the-job injury to be covered by workers’ compensation with no patient financial responsibility. In addition, Air Evac has been, and currently is, in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma – the largest insurer in the state. Caring for our patients doesn’t stop when we get them to the hospital. If our patients need financial assistance with our invoices, we work with them – and we ask them to work with us when their insurance company underpays for services.’