Georgia House joins push to limit surprise medical bills

ATLANTA (AP) — Lawmakers in Georgia are broadly backing a measure to keep patients from receiving unexpected medical bills.

The House voted 164-4 on Tuesday for House Bill 888, which would require insurers in many cases to pay for care by a doctor or at a hospital that is not within their network of medical providers. It also would limit patient liability for any costs.

The Senate already unanimously passed its version of the same bill, making it likely that one chamber will soon ratify the other's action and send the measure to Gov. Brian Kemp to be signed into law. The Republican Kemp has thrown his support behind the effort this year, helping to turn what had been a hotly disputed subject last year into one supported by huge majorities.

Surprise bills, which can run up to tens of thousands of dollars, can come about when patients in an emergency end up at a hospital that’s not in their insurer’s network. Or a patient may have surgery at a hospital in network, but an anesthesiologist or other doctor that helped is not in network.

The legislation would protect patients from financial responsibility beyond what they would normally have to pay. Instead, insurers and providers could take disputes to the state insurance commissioner.

Roughly 1 of every 6 emergency room or hospital visits results in a surprise medical bill, according to a study released last year by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Over half the states in the U.S. have laws that prohibit or limit surprise billing. But like the proposal in Georgia, their reach is limited because states don’t have jurisdiction over most health plans sponsored by large employers. Those plans cover about 100 million people and operate under federal law.

In Washington, lawmakers have been working on...