The study examined data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to determine how much privately insured emergency patients paid when they received a bill for out-of-network care and how much physicians received.
The researchers found that physicians collected 65 percent of the amount paid for out-of-network bills, compared to 52 percent for in-network bills, a 20 percent increase.
On average, patients who received an out-of-network bill for emergency care paid physicians more than 10 times the amount other emergency patients paid.
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