AHA Statement on Surprise Billing Announcement

 
Rick Pollack
President and CEO
American Hospital Association
December 8, 2019

America’s hospitals and health systems are committed to protecting patients from unanticipated medical bills that they may incur because of gaps in their insurance coverage or as a result of emergencies. Unfortunately, unless this proposal is much improved over previous bills that rely on a benchmark rate, it remains highly problematic and would jeopardize patient access to hospital care, particularly in rural communities. An arbitrary rate gives insurers an incentive to remove hospitals from their networks and force artificially low reimbursement rates, which limits access. Moreover, such proposals would provide a huge windfall to commercial insurance companies at the expense of the nation’s community hospitals. 

We urge Congress to take the time to get this policy right, and not rush a solution to surprise medical bills that would cause this level of disruption to the patients we serve. 

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Contact:         Marie Johnson, (202) 626-2351
                        Sean Barry, (202) 626-2306