Chances are you know someone or are someone who has received a surprise medical bill. Half of all Americans have been hit with one. Nancy Brown CEO of the American Heart Association talks about ending surprise medical bills could be as easy as a hash tag.
Nancy Brown explains a surprise medical bill happens to patients when they unknowingly receive care from a doctor or healthcare provider who is outside their insurance company’s network or if they are accessing emergency care where they are not able to choose their medical transport company, their hospital or doctor which can be so financially devasting for people and the average surprise medical bill is more than $600 but could also amount to thousands and tens of thousands of dollars.
During a global pandemic people may have been forced to out of network hospital care which really underscores the need for a legislative solution to this problem say Nancy Brown. She goes on to say the COVID 19 pandemic has magnified issue of addressing surprise medical billing and that’s why at the American Heart Association they are relentlessly focused on fixing this issue. She says our elected officials need to take action and for two years the American Heart Association has been working with lawmakers on both sides of the isle and urging them to address the issue but unfortunately this issue of ending surprise medical billing has not be prioritized. Nancy says that is why they have national campaign encouraging patients to share their story about receiving surprise medical bills. Nancy Brown says they urge people to go to your social media accounts and tell your story using the #IWASBILLED. This way they can get the voices of patients along side each other to demand that congress end surprise medical billing now.
Click here to visit Heart.org/surprisebills Please visit their site. There you can get more information. You can get involved and also be reminded to tell your story at #IWASBILLED. Nancy says they know this will really matter in getting this bipartisan bill over the finish line.
