Obama's Budget Takes on Surprise Medical Bills Debate

President Obama’s final budget proposal was met with little fanfare, but a lot of political opposition. The President, however, put forth one legislative proposal that deserves attention. It is aimed at helping consumers who get stuck with surprise bills from out-of-network health care providers. Specifically, the proposal would protect patients from having to pay unexpected fees to out-of-network providers for services delivered while they are in an in-network hospital. Although details are sparse, the administration proposes to require hospitals to take “reasonable steps” to match patients with physicians who are in their health plan’s network, and require physicians who “regularly provide” services in hospitals to accept in-network rates.