By: Jack Hoadley, Kevin Lucia, Katie Keith
Surprise medical bills were a growing concern for consumers even before the appearance of the coronavirus, but the current health crisis is expected to exacerbate these worries. Congress can and should adopt a comprehensive solution to all surprise bills as soon as possible. However, even if Congress were to act immediately, the effective date for new comprehensive protections would necessarily be delayed to allow those protections to be fully implemented by the federal government.
In a new post published on the Health Affairs Blog, CHIR researchers identify some of the unique circumstances where patients might face a surprise bill because of coronavirus and summarize some state approaches to protect consumers in these instances. Given the crisis (and a delay in comprehensive protections even if enacted), Jack Hoadley, Kevin Lucia, and Katie Keith suggest a more immediate solution that Congress could adopt now and maintain until comprehensive protections are enacted and fully implemented.
Read the full post on Health Affairs Blog here and find even more resources on how policymakers can address surprise medical bills here.
Jack Hoadley, Kevin Lucia, Katie Keith, “Keeping Surprise Billing Out of Coronavirus Treatment,” Health Affairs Blog, April 2, 2020, https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200330.353921/full/. Copyright © 2020 Health Affairs by Project HOPE – The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
1 Comment
Thanks for posting. It should be noted that conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have produced excellent proposals for such reforms.
It is not just a partisan issue.
Also note that a decent reform bill in late 2019 was scuttled in large part by Democrat Richard Neal, who accepted large contributions from private equity firms. And Nancy Pelosi allowed this to happen.
Our national reluctance to impose normal consumer protection standards on medical firms must come to an end. If the virus hastens this along, I guess that is a collateral benefit.