Insurance Commissioner: No Surprise Medical Billing
Thursday, March 10, 2022
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| Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler |
State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler requested the legislation to help align Washington’s recent Balance Billing Protection Act with the new federal No Surprises Act that took effect on January 1, 2022.
“We heard so many heartbreaking stories from consumers about their battles with surprise medical bills,” said Commissioner Kreidler.
“I’m incredibly proud of the bipartisan law we created several years ago and that the federal government followed in our footsteps. Now, we have the best of both laws.
"I’m very grateful to Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, Rep. Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver and Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor for their leadership on this critical issue.”The federal No Surprises Act extends surprise billing protections to all consumers, including people with self-funded health plans and federal employees.
It also expands the types of services that are protected from surprise billing. Congress gave those states with strong surprise billing protections, including Washington, added flexibility in how they align the new federal law with state protections.
House Bill 1688 will protect consumers from balance billing for a broader set of health services, including behavioral health emergencies treated outside of a hospital emergency room in settings such as crisis triage centers and the services of mobile crisis response teams.
House Bill 1688 will protect consumers from balance billing for a broader set of health services, including behavioral health emergencies treated outside of a hospital emergency room in settings such as crisis triage centers and the services of mobile crisis response teams.
It also prohibits health insurers or medical providers from asking a patient to waive these critical protections.
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1 comments:
Too bad that Commissioner Kreidler fully endorses surprise insurance rate increases due to his illegal order prohibiting credit scores from being taken into account for insurance rates.
When the legislature failed to prohibit credit scores from being used to set insurance rates, Kreidler ignored this and made a baseless emergency order. Most people saw huge increases in their home and auto rates as a result.
There is a clear correlation between people with good credit scores and people who have low insurance losses because of safe habits. Thanks to Kreidler, responsible people are now subsidizing the bad habits of the small number of people who cause most of the accidents on our roads.
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