Sen. Shaheen: Tackling Surprise Medical Bills Must Remain At The Top Of The Senate’s Agenda

In a speech from the Senate floor last week, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) describes how private equity firms abuse the health care system to profit off of patients. Read excerpts from Senator Shaheen’s floor speech below.

• “The voices of Granite Staters who are struggling to pay surprise medical bills are being drowned out — in this case — by private equity firms on Wall Street who are making billions off of the status quo.”

• “Surprise medical bills usually occur when a patient visits an in-network hospital… But the doctor who sees me is not a doctor who’s in the network of my insurance company. So unbeknownst to me as I go into the emergency room, that doctor is what’s called out-of-network. These doctors often are working for physician staffing companies that have gone out-of-network so that they can aggressively pursue surprise bills. These physician staffing companies are also using these surprise medical bills to negotiate, to command in-network payments from insurers that are often twice as high as the average, which can result in higher insurance premiums for everyone.”

• “One in 6 emergency room visits in New Hampshire result in a surprise bill for Granite Staters who have large employer coverage. Nationally, the average cost of a surprise bill from an emergency room visit is more than $600. And the average surprise bill for inpatient care is over $2,000.  Surprise bills like these can easily put a family budget in the red and Congress desperately needs to put a stop to them.”

• “I don’t care how many ads these special interests run, how many mailers they send or how many millions they spend… Health care costs are completely out of control and tackling surprise medical bills must remain at the top of the Senate’s agenda.”