{"id":4402,"date":"2015-10-30T19:39:23","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T19:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4402"},"modified":"2015-10-30T19:39:23","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T19:39:23","slug":"texans-can-beat-surprise-medical-bills-thanks-to-new-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4402","title":{"rendered":"Texans Can Beat Surprise Medical Bills Thanks to New Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>by Eric Galatas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>AUSTIN, Texas<\/strong> &#8211; Patients who get \u201csurprise medical bills\u201d after a trip to the hospital now have recourse, thanks to a new Texas law passed in the last session.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Trey Berndt, associate director for advocacy with AARP Texas, says people can get bills they weren\u2019t expecting, for example, when outsourced emergency room workers don\u2019t belong to the same health network as the patient\u2019s in-network hospital. He says patients who thought their insurance covered a visit later get \u201cbalanced billing\u201d for services at much higher out-of-network rates.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cIt\u2019s just not fair,\u201d says Berndt. \u201cIf you\u2019re laying on the gurney, unconscious, you don\u2019t know who\u2019s in your network and who\u2019s not in your network. You don\u2019t have time to shop around. People have the right in Texas, when they go to the hospital, they have the right to expect their insurance to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4403\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4403\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4403\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/gr-48570-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Texans who get unexpected medical bills after a visit to the hospital can now challenge those charges thanks to a new law on the books. Photo: AARP Texas\" width=\"600\" height=\"307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/gr-48570-1-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/gr-48570-1-1-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/gr-48570-1-1-405x207.jpg 405w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-4403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texans who get unexpected medical bills after a visit to the hospital can now challenge those charges thanks to a new law on the books. Photo: AARP Texas<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Senate Bill 481, now in effect, allows patients who get surprise medical bills of more than $500 to contact the Texas Department of Insurance and request mediation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Berndt says in most mediation cases, insurance companies and providers negotiate a fee they think is fair, leaving the patient off the hook for the surprise bill.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Berndt commends the Legislature for passing SB 481 and says access to mediation is good. But he says many Texans might not know they have that option and end up paying bills they can\u2019t afford or take a hit on their credit rating when they can\u2019t pay.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cThe consumer should not get stuck between what\u2019s essentially a debate on reimbursement between the health plan and the provider,\u201d says Berndt. \u201cWe think balanced billing should be outlawed in the emergency department situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Berndt says Texans who get surprise medical bills of more than $500 can call a toll-free number for help. He encourages callers to use the phrase \u201cbalanced bill\u201d and to request mediation to get the best results.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">That number to reach the Texas Department of Insurance is 800-252-3439.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Eric Galatas AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; Patients who get \u201csurprise medical bills\u201d after a trip to the hospital now have recourse, thanks to a new Texas law passed in the last session. Trey Berndt, associate director for advocacy with AARP Texas, says people can get bills they weren\u2019t expecting, for example, when outsourced emergency room [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4404,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4402\/revisions\/4404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}