Bill to limit ‘surprise’ medical fees
♦ Sen. Chuck Hufstetler says the patient protection measure is a high priority this year.
Legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills not covered by their insurance is moving through the Georgia Senate.
Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, is sponsoring Senate Bill 56, which has provisions applying to scheduled and emergency procedures. It aims to address the financial hardship patients sometimes face when they discover later that some of the services were done by out-of network providers.
“The lieutenant governor sent it to the Insurance Committee and it will possibly get a hearing next week,” Hufstetler said Tuesday.
Lawmakers have tried for several years to rein in the charges, and the surprises. But the measure has been caught between the interests of the insurers and the providers — such as radiologists, pathologists and anesthesiologists who are hospital contractors rather than employees.
A House-sponsored bill last year would have required hospitals, physicians and insurers to make clear up front if a scheduled service provider is out of their network. Hufstetler passed a bill through the Senate last year that also would have capped what the providers could charge.
Neither measure made it through both chambers and, last week, he started the process again.
“There’s a little different payment rate this time, to try to get a compromise out, and I’m sure we’ll do some negotiations,” Hufstetler said. “But the Senate has indicated it’s a high priority to work something out.”
The Senate passed on Monday a measure he co-sponsored that would create a streamlined method of licensing physicians to work in Georgia when they’ve been licensed in other states.