The nonprofit air ambulance service in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, CareFlite, is going to county commissioners across North Texas to get the authorization to sell $49 yearly memberships to households in the counties it serves.

The membership plan, called Caring Heart, would greatly reduce the cost of the air ambulance service for any person covered by the plan.

The plan is up for approval in the Denton County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, but it will require final state approval before memberships can be sold to the public.

The membership plan is available to households with private insurance and Medicare, as well as to the uninsured, said CareFlite community relations manager Deanna Harper.

Dallas Morning-News file photo/Nathan Hunsinger

A CareFlite helicopter lifts off in Grapevine in 2003. The nonprofit air ambulance service is seeking county and state approval to start a membership in North Texas.

Medicaid patients are not allowed to join the program because of government regulations, she said.

Established in 1979, CareFlite is the eighth-oldest air medical transportation service in the nation, and the second oldest in Texas, according to its Web site. CareFlite began with one helicopter shared between Methodist Dallas Medical Center and Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital transporting about 20 patients each month. In 1981, CareFlite began operating a ground ambulance division in Dallas to support the helicopters and to provide non-emergency transportation to patients in area hospitals. Today, CareFlite operates five helicopter bases throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The CareFlite service will not change, said Jim Swartz, president and chief executive officer of CareFlite. Members and nonmembers will receive the same treatment and care, he said.

“This only deals with how it’s paid for, not the delivery or care,” he said.

Currently, if a person is injured and transported by CareFlite, his or her insurance company pays a majority of the cost. The person must pay for the remainder.

With this membership, however, the household would pay a yearly fee of $49, and would not have to pay any additional fees if the service is used, not even the insurance company deductible.

“We accept whatever their insurance company pays as full and final payment,” Harper said. “We absorb the remainder.”

For uninsured members, CareFlite gives a 50 percent discount on the total cost of the service, which can be expensive, Swartz said.

One CareFlite transport can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000, he said.

Other counties that have already signed on to the plan include Tarrant, Hood, Johnson, Cooke, Parker and Ellis, among others.

Last year, in Denton County alone, CareFlite transported 502 patients.

The nonprofit has targeted May 1 as a launch date in participating counties, as long as the organization receives final approval by the state.

MONTY MILLER JR. can be reached at 940-566-6875. His e-mail address is mwmiller@dentonrc.com .