President Trump on Thursday called for a bipartisan congressional effort to pass legislation that would protect Americans from getting surprise medical bills that leave patients suffering from sticker shock.
Saying it’s “one of the biggest concerns Americans have about health care,” Trump said he wants to stop patients from being ambushed by sky-high medical bills after they receive emergency care from an out-of-network provider.
“For too long, surprise billings, which has been a tremendous problem in this country, has left some patients with thousands of dollars of unexpected and unjustified charges,” Trump said at the White House. “Not a pleasant surprise, a very unpleasant surprise.”
He said his administration would “hold insurance companies and hospitals totally accountable,” adding that he believes Democrats and Republicans can “come together to do this.”
He was joined at the event by a heart attack victim who said even though he was insured, he got a $110,000 bill, and a man who was charged $17,580 for a urine test for his daughter that he said his insurer would have paid $100 for.
Trump said patients should never have to share the burden of out-of-network costs that they never agreed to pay.
“No one in America should be bankrupted unexpectedly by health care costs that are absolutely out of control. No family should be blindsided by outrageous medical bills,” the president said.
There are two main scenarios the administration wants to fix:
When patients are taken to an emergency room — and then find out that the hospital was out-of-network.
And when a patient opts for elective surgery from an in-network facility, but an out-of-network doctor is brought in and the patient is billed extra.