By Rachel Warino
1 in 4 Californians have experienced the worst kind of surprise over the past two years: a medical bill in the mail they had zero anticipation of ever receiving. These surprise medical bills happen when an insurer pays less for medical procedures than expected and they can be devastating for working families.
Fortunately there’s a way for us to change this major flaw in our system. A new law on the table, AB 72 (Bonta, Bonilla, Dahle, Gonzalez, Maienschein, and Wood), will put an end to surprise medical bills. The bill passed through the Senate Appropriations Committee a few weeks ago and is now headed to the floor for a vote in the next few days.
As you can expect, powerful medical interest groups and their corporate lobbyists are doing everything in their power to defeat the bill. It takes a hit at their massive profits so they’ll stop at nothing to kill the bill. We saw it happen last year, when a similar version of AB 72 failed by just three votes.
But as more examples come to light of working people receiving exorbitant and unexpected bills in the mail under no fault of their own, the support for change has grown. Recently we heard about Jennifer Saurenman of San Marino in theSacramento Bee. Jennifer was hit with a $4,230 bill for an out-of-network anesthesiologist after a planned surgery. This could happen to you and your family and it has to stop.
We are hopeful that legislators will hear our calls to protect working people like Jennifer and pass this commonsense, bipartisan law.
Working people from around the state are visiting the Capitol today to urge legislators to vote yes on the bill. Your voice is what’s needed to amplify their efforts to ensure that working people in California pay a fair amount when they go to the hospital. Stand with them today and sign the petition urging legislators to put a stop to surprise medical bills!
Together, we can end Surprise Medical Bills in California — Act Now!
After taking action please share with friends and family- we have to get the word out on this important bill!