California Assembly Passes Measure To Ensure Consumers Don’t Face Costly Surprise Medical Bills

Source: Consumerist

When you’re recovering from surgery, the last thing you want is to be blindsided by an unexpected bill for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars because the hospital hired an out-of-network anesthesiologist or other specialist without telling you.

Unfortunately, this type of surprise medical bill has become an unwelcome reality for nearly 30% of privately insured Americans. California lawmakers have just cleared a major hurdle in their goal of enacting a law that would protect consumers from unforeseen and often unavoidable medical charges.

The California Assembly voted 61-1 yesterday to pass a measure aimed at safeguarding patients from unfair surprise medical bills when they go to an in-network hospital or facility and get charged extra from out-of-network doctors.
The legislation is part of a package of bills intended to prevent unfair out-of-pocket costs for consumers. The bill moves on to the California Senate.

Under the pending bill, if a patient obtains care at an in-network facility but from an out-of-network provider, they would only be required to pay the non-participating provider what would have been charged by a participating provider.

Read more: http://consumerist.com/2015/06/03/california-assembly-passes-measure-to-ensure-consumers-dont-face-costly-surprise-medical-bills/#more-10206646