Cuomo Administration Seeks to Curb Surprise Medical Bills

A review by the New York State Department of Financial Services found that patients who went out of their way to make sure the non-emergency treatment they sought was covered by their medical insurance still wound up with bills from specialists — such as assistant surgeons, anesthesiologists and radiologists — who were outside their plan. That’s because it’s often unclear who will be involved and how much it will cost, the report found.

One patient who complained to the Financial Services department made sure to go to an in-network hospital for brain surgery but wound up with a surgeon who wasn’t in his plan. The surgeon billed him $40,091 and the insurer covered only $8,386 – leaving him to cough up $31,704.

[Much of the above comes from the Daily News, which had the best of the articles that I saw. Except that the Daily News blamed the insurance companies. While I hate the insurance companies as much as the next fellow, this is the fault of the doctors and hospitals. It even happened to me. I went for a procedure with a doctor who was in-network. While I was being prepped, the anesthesiologist, who works for one of those rent-a-doc outfits, wanted me to sign a contract saying I would pay for his services myself even though he wasn’t in network. Fat chance, doc. You can Bite Me.]

via Insurance companies to blame for ‘surprise’ medical bills: state report – NY Daily News.

Cuomo Administration Seeks to Curb Surprise Medical Bills

One thought on “Cuomo Administration Seeks to Curb Surprise Medical Bills

  1. We’re not usually fans of Cuomo, but apparently he delivered on the promise to curb surprise medical bills. This is from the NY Times:

    “A New York State law that will take effect in March — one of a few nationally — will offer some protection against many surprise charges and require more advance disclosure from doctors and hospitals on whether their services are covered by insurance. It states, for example, that patients are not responsible for unforeseen out-of-network charges beyond what they would have paid in-network. It directs insurers and hospitals to negotiate any further payment or enter mediation.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/us/drive-by-doctoring-surprise-medical-bills.html

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