From Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania (https://www.lutheranadvocacypa.org/):
Surprise medical bills — alarmingly common in Pennsylvania — can financially devastate those already vulnerable and deter people from seeking necessary health care.
Urge your state House member to step in to protect patients at https://support.elca.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1178.
Surprise medical bills often happen following an emergency, such as a heart attack or serious car accident, when patients don’t have the chance to choose who provides their care. Surprise medical bills can also happen at an in-network hospital when some of the providers who care for a patient are not in the network or when an in-network provider refers a patient to get lab work, a diagnostic test, or other care that isn’t in-network. Typical bills can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.
A 2018 study found that 1 in 3 Pennsylvania adults received a surprise medical bill in the past year, and most of them don’t know where to turn to get help. Have you or someone you know experienced this practice? Share your story with us.
Not sure what a surprise medical bill is? See the graphic, prepared by the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN). A 2016 Federal Reserve study found that 44% of U.S. households cannot pay an emergency expense of $400 or more without borrowing or selling some of their possessions, and a 2018 poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 67 percent of people nationwide are worried that they won’t be able to afford a surprise medical bill. That ranks higher among people’s worries than being unable to pay for prescription drugs, health insurance premiums or deductibles, or for basic expenses such as food, rent, mortgage and gas.
Currently, Pennsylvania law does not adequately protect patients from getting hit with surprise medical bills when they receive care from an out-of-network provider. Patients need protections from surprise medical bills, but it must be done in a way that doesn’t increase premiums or reduce patients’ access to doctors. If the solution were to make insurance plans pay out-of-network providers too much, then out-of-pocket costs go up for everyone.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly has introduced HB 1862, the Surprise Balance Billing Protection Act, which passed out of committee on a unanimous bipartisan basis. The bill is designed to protect patients while reining in out-of-pocket costs and maintaining patients’ access to doctors. Its aim is to establish a fair and equitable process for resolving the issues behind surprise medical bills, ensuring that providers are paid fairly.
Learn more and Take Action to pass HB 1862, the Surprise Balance Billing Protection Act.
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