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Friday, March 29, 2024 - 02:01 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

The late Dr. Michael Bauman, professor at Hillsdale College, once cautioned against Dangerous Samaritans. They are those people, especially elected officials, who try to help a situation but make it worse. As Dr. Bauman said, “We forget that good intentions are not enough, and that massive government programs carry unintended consequences. We forget that aiming is not hitting, and that meaning well is not necessarily doing well.”

His words are perfectly suited for the Lower Health Care Costs Act (LHCC) currently being proposed by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and others to end surprise billing for patients.

Working to protect Americans from surprise medical bills, especially in emergency medical procedures, is a noble effort. When a patient is needing critical, life-saving assistance, they and the medical staff assisting them should not be worrying about which providers are “in-network”.

But unfortunately, Sen. Alexander’s proposed fix would create a wide array of unintended, yet dangerous, consequences. To the delight of the big insurance companies, the LHCC Act proposes government price control, dictating how much doctors and health care providers can charge for medical procedures. It’s no surprise then that a wide array of free-market groups are opposing the price-fixing solutions like those offered in the LHCC Act.

Price control has never fixed a problem; it has been shown to always create more problems.

In this case, price control would force health care providers to either operate at a loss, raise costs in other areas, or simply remove themselves from the market. All of those options are bad for patients, especially those in rural communities, where healthcare providers are already being strained to the limit to provide quality medical care and stay in business.

The good news though is that there is a solution that protects Americans from surprise billing and balances the scales between healthcare providers and insurance companies.

A bipartisan group of Senators has proposed a free-market solution that already has a track record of success. The STOP Surprise Medical Costs Act establishes independent arbitration boards (IDR). In this style of arbitration, when a billing dispute arises between a medical provider and an insurance company, each side is required to propose a reasonable cost for care, with the most reasonable claim being selected by the independent review board. This approach ensures that a healthcare provider can’t inflate the cost of their services and an insurance company can’t offer a low payment for the cost of care provided.

What’s best about this proposal is that all of this takes place independent of the patient, who never has to get involved and merely pays the normal deductible.

IDR is already being used in several states and offers the most common-sense approach that not only protects the patient but gives healthcare providers and insurance companies a clear path to resolve payment disputes.

That elected officials normally known for their support of free-market solutions, like Sen. Alexander, are advocating for a solution that increases government involvement in our healthcare should give constituents pause.

When it comes to the healthcare of Americans, we don’t need more Dangerous Samaritans, claiming they are finding solutions, while all the while creating more problems that will have dangerous consequences down the road.

There is a clear path forward to fixing the problem of surprise billing, and the bi-partisan STOP Act is a big step down that path.

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