Daily Beast: The Deep-Pocket Push to Preserve Surprise Medical Billing

As proposals to ban surprise medical bills move through Congress and state legislatures with rare bipartisan support, physician groups have emerged as the loudest opponents.

Often led by doctors with the veneer of noble concern for patients, physician-staffing firms—third-party companies that employ doctors and assign them out to health care facilities—have opposed efforts to limit the practice known as balance billing. They claim such bans would rob doctors of their leverage in negotiating, drive down their payments and push them out of insurance networks.

Opponents have been waging well-financed campaigns. Slick TV ads and congressional lobbyists seek to stop legislation that had widespread support from voters. Nearly 40% of patients said they were “very worried” about surprise medical bills, which generally arise when an insured individual inadvertently receives care from an out-of-network provider.

Read more at The Daily Beast.