Last Thursday, the President announced the introduction of guiding principles for Congress to follow in developing a bill that will eliminate surprise medical billing. The guidelines are as follows:
- In situations involving emergency care, patients should never have to bear the burden of out-of-network costs they didn’t agree to pay.
- Patients should receive a clear and honest bill up front when they receive scheduled, non-emergency care. They must be provided with prices for all services and must be told the out-of-pocket amount they will be responsible for.
- Patients should not receive surprise bills from out-of-network providers that they did not choose themselves.
- Legislation should protect patients without increasing federal healthcare expenditures. Additionally, any legislation should lead to greater competition and more choice.
We applaud this initiative and hope it receives bi-partisan support. Many of us have personally experienced the shock of a surprise medical bill or if not, know people who have been blindsided by outrageous medical bills. A new law based on these guiding principles will definitely go a long way towards protecting us from surprise charges.
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