WSHA comments on draft balance billing legislation

December 16, 2015

On December 4, the Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) sent interested stakeholders, including WSHA, draft legislation concerning balance billing for services by a provider who is not contracted with a patient’s health plan, when the services are provided at a contracted hospital.  The draft legislation is closely modeled on a law adopted in Illinois in 2013 which limits balance billing and subjects out-of-network services to a binding arbitration process.  WSHA commented that cases of non-contracted services at contracted facilities were of low frequency and generally short duration. We were concerned that the bill’s provisions could discourage contracting by health plans and increase the amount of out-of-network services. (Andrew Busz)

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