We dealt with a flight from The Med to Texas Children's about 10 years ago. Not sure if/how things have changed but the flight was considered "Out of Network" even though both facilities were "In network." Never occurred to me to check on the transport although at the time it was an urgent situation so it may not have made a bit of difference to me under the circumstances. We got the flight bill before the Texas Children's bill(s) and it was shocking to say the least. Being one who was used to paying bills on time, we made arrangements to pay it within about 90 days. Big mistake We ended up with much larger bills from TCH and it was literally close to 4 years before we had a single day go by without a medical/lab/medical transport bill. 4 years!! In hindsight, I should not have been eager to get the bills paid. I should have drug my feet on many, if not most, of those medical bills. There were no late charges or interest charges applied. Yes, they might have reported to the credit agencies but we found that a couple did anyway even though we paid. There were so many bills that we ended up with credits on some accounts and overdue amounts on others.
In short, major medical expenses are a huge problem and until *at least* 6 months passes after the discharge, you won't know how much you are really dealing with. And the longer you wait to pay, the more likely that they will offer to work with you/reduce your bill. I was offered several reductions that I did not even ask for on bills that I thought were duplicates or that I thought were already paid---So, my advice is not to get in too much of a hurry. You've just had a medical crisis. Let them wait for payment...and worry that you are not going to pay. Get a clear picture of the total cost and tell them all that you are going through appeals with the insurance company. Just my 2 cents.