SEYMOUR — As emergency rooms in Wisconsin are stretched to capacity, they’re increasingly diverting patients to other hospitals.
If that happens to you, would you know where to go and if your insurance would cover it?
Members of the rescue squad in Seymour, Wisconsin, are urging people to think ahead and have a plan B.
“As a rescue service, we don’t always know in advance the status of the hospitals we transport to,” read a post Saturday on the Rescue Squad’s Facebook page. “We might not find out until we call the hospital to let them know we are transporting a patient to their ER.”
The post asks people to think ahead about a second choice, and more importatly, if their insurance will cover another hospital.
“You might be thinking how does this affect my insurance coverage? Our members are not in the position to answer that question. We would recommend that you contact your insurance company to find out that answer,” read the post.
The rescue service transports to:
- Green Bay Hospitals: St Mary’s, St Vincent’s, Bellin, and Aurora.
- Appleton: St Elizabeth & Theda Care Appleton
- Neenah: Theda Care Neenah
Currently in Northeast Wisconsin, 70 percent of hospitals are at overall capacity, according to the latest data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
That includes 93 percent of all beds and 94 percent of ICU beds.
The trend of increasing diversions comes during the latest spike in COVID infections blamed on the Omicron varient.
The varient is hitting the unvaccinated particularly hard.
According to December data from DHS, three out of four new infections are among the unvaccinated and nine out of 10 hospitalizations are unvaccinated.
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