Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Passage of California surprise-bill legislation could spur other states to act

Modern Healthcare: California medical consumers will enjoy strong new protection against surprise out-of-network medical bills starting next July, under a hard-fought bill overwhelmingly approved by the state legislature this week. It's widely expected that Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown will sign it.

Under the bipartisan bill, AB 72 (PDF), authored by Democratic Assemblyman Rob Bonta, patients who received care in in-network facilities would have to pay only in-network cost sharing. This would apply just to non-emergency care, since emergency physicians in California already are barred from balance billing patients. The bill's provisions would not apply, however, to self-insured employer health plans, which are shielded from state regulations by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

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