Requiring Data Collection from Air Medical Providers and Full Transparency from Insurers Will Get to the Root Cause of Surprise Billing
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Save Our Air Medical Resources (SOAR) Campaign today applauded Rep. Ben Ray Lujan’s (D-NM) amendment to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s No Surprises Act (HR 3630).
The amendment would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to collect cost data from air medical providers and claims data from insurers, and report to Congress on the overall cost of providing air medical services.
“To solve the issue of surprise billing for patients, policy makers must first look at real data and address the root cause – denials by private insurers and chronic under-reimbursement by government payers,” said SOAR spokeswoman Carter Johnson. “Air medical providers have long called on Congress to collect data to address these underlying issues. We applaud Congressman Lujan for recognizing the need for full data transparency, particularly from insurers, and encourage Congress to enact this amendment.”
When data on the industry has been collected, it has dispelled inaccuracies and misperceptions about balance billing within the air medical industry. A recent state of Wyoming’s Department of Public Health report shows that most air medical transport patients pay little or nothing for these emergency services.
“Thirty percent of all emergency air medical transports are for patients with private insurance and balance bills occur when a patient’s private insurer refuses to pay for the life-saving service,” said Johnson. “The State of Wyoming’s report demonstrates that anecdotal stories about large balance bills don’t measure up to the data. When Congress collects data about the industry on a national level, a similar trend will emerge, allowing for sound policies that will once and for all take patients out of the middle after insurer denials.”