More regulations or should we fix the payment system?
Years ago, I attended a ABA conference and asked “why don’t we just fix the payment system” rather than add more regulation. I am reminded of that event this morning in reading the KHN proposed options for addressing balance billing.
The proposed solutions are a bunch of new federal and state laws addressing charges and billing practices. Regulation is an important part of protecting individual Americans against corporate wrong doing. However when regulation is used as a bandaid, regulations become part of the problem.
In the case of healthcare, additional cost. High cost is one of the big issues that the industry needs to address in order to make healthcare more affordable.
The problems that need to be addressed
1/ Fragmentation
Fragmentation makes it difficult for patients to navigate and costly to administer.
2/ Network
Not all providers participate in commercial networks which means some patients are exposed to balance billing.
3/ Transparency
Insurers and healthcare providers don’t want their contracted rates shared to enable the consumer.
4/ Current Billing Regs
Healthcare services and products are marked up because everyone needs to be charged the same. There is variability in the contracted rates so the markup may seem excessive.
The problems require a more fundamental change.
