Everybody knows about “balance billing”, even if they have never heard the term. “Balance billing” refers to the bill that a patient gets from a medical provider for the difference between the provider’s charge and the amount paid by insurance. Whether a patient gets a bill and the amount of the bill may depend upon whether the medical provider is “in-network” or “out-of-network”.
Politicians and academics have been talking about this problem for years. However, nobody has been able to do anything about it. Until now – at least in part. The CARES Act provides $100 billion in relief aid for hospitals and other medical providers. As a condition of receiving money from this fund, a provider is required to sign an agreement attesting to the receipt of the money and agreeing to certain terms and conditions. Among those terms and conditions is the following, which appears on the Department of Health and Human Services website:
The Secretary has concluded that the COVID-19 public health emergency has caused many healthcare providers to have capacity restraints. As a result, patients that would ordinarily be able to choose to receive all care from in-network healthcare providers may no longer be able to receive such care in-network. Accordingly, for all care for a presumptive or actual case of COVID-19, Recipient certifies that it will not seek to collect from the patient out-of-pocket expenses in an amount greater than what the patient would have otherwise been required to pay if the care had been provided by an in-network Recipient.
In addition, a spokesperson for the Department said:
The intent of the terms and conditions was to bar balance billing for actual or presumptive COVID-19.
Like any government pronouncement, this one is racked with ambiguity. For example, it should be easy to identify an actual COVID-19 patient. But, who is a “presumptive COVID-19 patient”? This and many other questions will have to be answered by further guidance. However, this may be an important step forward in ending “balance billing”.
If you are interested in learning more about balance billing and other health insurance solutions for your business, contact RMC Group.