Here are three takeaways from the roundtable, as presented by NJ Spotlight reporter and roundtable moderator Lilo H. Stainton.
1. Consumer advocates, insurance companies, hospitals and physicians believe New Jersey should make more efforts to protect patients against surprise bills from out-of-network healthcare providers, but they disagree on whether the state should also try to control the underlying clinical costs and, if so, how to come up with a fair solution, according to the report.
2. Consumer advocates have spoken against surprise medical bills, saying out-of-network bills now add some $400 million in costs for 168,000 New Jersey residents, according to the report. One of Friday’s panelists, Citizen Action’s Maura Collinsgru, described the issue as “the health equivalent of car jacking.”
3. New Jersey Sen. Joe Vitale, D-Middlesex, said proposed state billing legislation (S-1285) designed to protect consumers may continue to change to ensure it is balanced to all parties, according to the report. The measure, if passed, would make New Jersey one of the most recent states to enact legislation to protect against or prohibit balance billing practices.
Read the full report here.
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