Pennsylvania Legislation Update:
House Bill 1553 takes on in-network balance billing. On December 11, 2017 the House Health Committee reported on House Bill 1553. This bill prevents a situation that occurs when a patient goes to an in-network hospital or emergency room wherein the provider subcontracts services such as Emergency Room Physicians, anesthesiology, to a non-network provider. In this scenario, the patients were hit with a large non-network bill.
House Bill 1553 requires in-network billing for all services of in-network facilities. The bill has the support of 20 republican sponsors and 11 Democrats. Both the majority and minority chairs of the House Health and House Insurance Committees support this bill.
This bill will make many Pennsylvanians lives easier when accessing emergency care.
More to come soon as this passes through the House and Senate!
National Republican Tax Reform Bill:
The final tax reform bill, set to be voted on today, includes a repeal of the individual mandate, lifting the penalty imposed on individuals who decide not to buy coverage.
What this will do for individuals purchasing health care currently is unclear.
The change takes place for 2019. I believe this will be the first step for the GOP to unravel the ACA law that it failed to repeal and replace earlier this year.
Daniel M McGill, CIC, CBC
Senior Vice President
Capstone Group
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