Beaumont CEO calls for surprise billing ban without price setting

Surprise billing should be banned, but the federal government should not control the prices negotiated by providers and insurers, the chief executive of Southfield, Mich.-based Beaumont Health wrote in an op-ed for Crain's Detroit Business.

John Fox, president and CEO of Beaumont and chairman of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association Board of Trustees, wrote that Michigan and federal officials are right to move to ban surprise billing. Discussions about state and federal officials requiring a fee schedule for out-of-network surprise bills, or forced arbitration, take the proposals a step too far, he said.

"The hospital community has made it clear to state and federal legislators that we support one clear and simple goal: Leave patients out of the fight. Patients need to be protected from this, not dragged through it. We support banning surprise bills and making sure patients pay only their in-network amount, whether or not the hospital or physician has a contract with that patient's insurer," he said.

"What we don't believe in is more government intervention or price controls into deciding what private entities, like providers and insurers, pay each other," Mr. Fox wrote.

Read the full article here.

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