As expected, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) has submitted legislation (HB 1117) to protect patients from receiving balanced bills. The legislation is aimed at protecting patients who use an in-network hospital but then receive an additional "balance" bill from an out-of-network provider for care during the stay. This typically arises when a health plan has failed to reach a network contract agreement with some of the providers practicing at the facility, such as ER, anesthesiology, pathology, and radiology groups.... Read More >>