Insurers lose multi-year lobbying fight over surprise medical bills

[babylonsister]

Insurers lose multi-year lobbying fight over surprise medical bills
By Alex Gangitano - 12/31/20 06:00 AM EST


Health insurers were dealt a major blow this week when President Trump signed a year-end spending package that included legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills.

Lobbying efforts around the issue had sparked a fierce multi-year fight pitting doctors and medical providers against insurance companies.

At stake was whether to use arbitration to determine how much insurers would pay doctors in common situations like when patients receive care from an emergency room doctor who isn’t covered by their insurance plan.

Doctors and providers won out in the end, and the insurance industry now faces a new payment process that could drive up their expenses and create more administrative hurdles.

“This was easily the largest lobbying and public affairs battle in the last several years. The big health insurers and employer groups placed a massive bet... They were ultimately outmaneuvered on the political front,” a health care consultant on K Street told The Hill.

more...

https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/532156-insurers-lose-multi-year-lobbying-fight-over-surprise-medical-bills

[safeinOhio]

1. What? Didn't Tя☭mp

read it before signing it? Or, did insurers forget to pay the King?

[Gothmog]

2. Yeah