During the last legislative session our state legislature passed a bill to address out-of-network charges and surprise billing. The bill resulted from bipartisan cooperation, including our area legislators: Sen. Ray Scott and Reps. Janice Rich and Matt Soper. This bill promoted a solution without massive government intervention.<\/p>\n
Legislation under consideration in Congress, however, would undermine Colorado\u2019s reforms and instead implement government-mandated price controls, forcing doctors to perform procedures and services at a discount when a surprise medical bill is in dispute.<\/p>\n
The medical payment system is already riddled with market distortions and price controls. And we see the results: providers avoid serving populations that are subject to price controls and\/or shift costs to populations not subject to price controls. Therefore, patient populations subject to price controls inherently have less access to quality providers.<\/p>\n
This dynamic is particularly acute in rural areas, since we have access to fewer providers to begin with.<\/p>\n
Surprise medical bills are a real problem for Americans, but price controls are not the solution.<\/p>\n
JJ Fletcher,
Palisade<\/p>\n