Trump calls on Congress to end ‘surprise medical bills’

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump on Thursday called for an end to “surprise medical bills,” the astonishingly high charges insured patients can face when a member of a medical team that treats them is not in their insurer’s network.

“Not a pleasant surprise,” Trump said of bills that arrive in the mail and run to tens of thousands of dollars. “A very unpleasant surprise.”

The administration threw its support behind efforts by lawmakers of both parties to address the problem, laying out a set of goals for legislation.

With polls showing that voters trust Democrats over Republicans on health care, Trump has been hitting pocket-book medical issues that resonate with the middle-class, such as prescription drug costs. He was joined at a White House event by patients, one who got a $110,000 bill after a heart attack, and another who got a bill for $17,850 for a test her insurer would have paid $100 for.

“So this must end,” Trump said. “We’re going to hold insurance companies and hospitals totally accountable.” The president said he wants to get it done “quickly,” and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said he hoped to deliver a bill in July.

Just before Trump spoke, the Democratic and Republican leaders of a key House committee said they are ready to move on legislation.

“No family should be left in financial ruin through no fault of their own, which is why we have been working together on a bipartisan solution to protect patients that we hope to announce soon,” Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking Republican Greg Walden, R-Ore., said in a joint statement. The panel oversees the health insurance industry.

Pallone and Walden are not alone; more than a half-dozen senators and representatives have floated ideas or drafted legislation.

“Surprise” bills amounting to tens of thousands of dollars can hit patients and their families when they are most vulnerable – after a medical emergency or following a complex surgical procedure.

Often patients are able to negotiate lower charges by working with their insurers and the medical provider.

But the process usually takes months, adding stress and anxiety. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and the bills are sent to collection agencies.