The remedy for surprise medical bills may lie in stitching up federal law
This story is from Kaiser Health News When Drew Calver had a heart attack last year, his health plan paid nearly $ 56,000 for the 44-year-old’s four-day emergency hospital stay at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas, a hospital that was not in his insurance network. But the hospital charged Calver another $ 109,000. That sum — a so-called balance bill — was the difference between what the hospital and his insurer thought his care was worth. Though in-network hospitals must accept pre-contracted rates from health plans, out-of-network hospitals can try to bill as they like. Calver’s bill eventually was reduced to $ 332 after Kaiser Health News and NPR published a story about it last month. Yet his experience shines a light on an unintended conseq...