The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said it supports various approaches to stop surprise medical bills, including benchmarking.
Here are four, as outlined in the association's comments to lawmakers:
1. The association — which represents 36 U.S. Blue Cross Blue Shield companies — said it supports a ban on balance billing for all emergency services and out-of-network non-emergency services, limiting this responsibility to in-network amounts when patients "have a reasonable expectation that they have done everything to seek care at an in-network facility."
2. The association said it also supports a proposed payment benchmark to guarantee that payments to out-of-network providers align with median payments to in-network providers for the same services.
3. Regarding a payment benchmark, the association wants HHS to establish calculation methodology "for a reasonable payment benchmark" via rulemaking.
4. The association wants to keep patients out of payment disputes between providers and health plans by requiring plans to pay providers directly in surprise-billing scenarios.
Read more about approaches supported by the association here.