The Trump administration's latest plan would ban providers from holding patients responsible for outstanding charges, though it doesn't address who would pay the outstanding balance.
Many major health care reform issues have been tabled during the COVID-19 outbreak, but now, as the dust settles and legislators brace for a second wave, some issues are finding their way back into the discussion.
According to Politico, the Trump administration is again taking up the issue of surprise medical billing and will possibly seek to include it in a coming stimulus package. As part of the first round of stimulus funding, health care providers who received bailout funding were prohibited from sending surprise medical bills.
While both Democrats and Republicans agree something must be done about surprise bills, finding a solution that benefits both patients and providers has been more difficult. At issue is how payment dispute issues would be solved. Unfortunately, the Trump administration's latest plan, which would ban providers from holding patients responsible for outstanding charges, doesn't offer a solution. In fact, according to Politico, the Congressional Budget Office has suggested that the current plan would result in higher provider rates and insurance premiums.
"As far as protecting COVID patients from being surprise-billed, we're kind of thinking, if this is all that can happen, we want this issue taken care of," one lobbyist told Politico. "But we have major concerns about impact on costs and patients if the entire issue isn't addressed in a more comprehensive way."
Other industry experts are more hopeful, seeing the plan as a win for patients and a huge step forward, regardless of the lawsuits that would inevitably occur over outstanding bills.
"I think increasingly courts are getting it right, and maybe that's because surprise billing is now part of our lexicon," Duke University law professor Barak Richman told Politico.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Emily Payne
Emily Payne is director, content analytics for ALM's Business & Finance Markets and former managing editor for BenefitsPRO. A Wisconsin native, she has spent the past decade writing and editing for various athletic and fitness publications. She holds an English degree and Business certificate from the University of Wisconsin.
