SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the meanwhile-don't-get-sick-or-hurt dept.
The bipartisan plan to end surprise ER bills, explained:
The policy proposal, which you can read here, essentially bars out-of-network doctors from billing patients directly for their care. Instead, they would have to seek payment from the insurance plan. This would mean that in the cases above, the out-of-network doctors couldn't send those big bills to the patients, who'd be all set after paying their emergency room copays.
The doctors would instead have to work with patients' insurance, which would pay the greater of the following two amounts:
- The median in-network rate negotiated by health plans
- 125 percent of the average amount paid to similar providers in the same geographic area
The Senate proposal would also require out-of-network doctors and hospitals to tell patients that they are out of network once their condition has stabilized, and give them the opportunity to transfer to an in-network facility.
[...] it's pretty good policy too! That's the general feedback I got from Zack Cooper, an associate professor at Yale University, who, along with his colleague Fiona Scott Morton, has done a lot of pioneering research to uncover how frequently and where these surprise bills happen.
"It is fantastic that they're doing something, and that it's bipartisan," he says. "It's one of those areas where we can agree what is happening now is not good, and this gets us 80 percent of the way to fixing it."
[...] "My concern here is that in-network rates are already quite high, so we're cementing that into the system," he says. "The current world gives emergency physicians tremendous power in negotiating higher in-network rates."
See also: Emergency room visit costs: what's the price of care?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by crafoo on Monday October 08 2018, @10:23PM (6 children)
More than heavily-regulated, these industries are poorly-regulated. I think it's fine to heavily regulate an industry as long as it is warranted and the regulations are in the best interest of the population.
Instead, I think these two industries regulations are riddled with weird loop-holes, money-making schemes, tit-for-tat trade deals, and failed pet projects. Not only are they over-regulated, they are poorly regulated. Massive extra costs with no benefit to the industries or the population in general.
The only solution I can see is to a concentrated, multi-year effort to slowly tear down most of the regulations, simplifying where they cant be removed. It would take representatives in the house and senate with the country's best interest in heart and mind.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @11:15PM (4 children)
What is an example of something that is heavily, but not poorly regulated, in the US?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @03:40AM (1 child)
Electrical standards? Fire protection standards?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @04:20AM
I hear commercials on the radio every day about how fire standards are subpar where I live.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday October 09 2018, @08:50AM (1 child)
Aviation safety.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Wednesday October 10 2018, @12:51AM
Good example I think.
I think meet packing has come a long way since the early 1900s too but still some pretty awful aspects to it.
Forestry, also. Not sure if I'd call it heavily regulated though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @02:36AM
It will take representatives in the house and senate with the country's best interest in heart and mind.
Gotta vote for 'em