Your Rights and Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills
When you get emergency care or get treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, you are protected from surprise billing or balance billing.
What is “balance billing” (sometimes called “surprise billing”)?
When you see a doctor or other health care provider, you may owe certain out-of-pocket costs, such as a copayment, coinsurance, and/or a deductible. You may have other costs or have to pay the entire bill if you see a provider or visit a health care facility that isn’t in your health plan’s network.
“Out-of-network” describes providers and facilities that haven’t signed a contract with your health plan. Out-of-network providers may be permitted to bill you for the difference between what your plan agreed to pay and the full amount charged for a service. This is called “balance billing.” This amount is likely more than in-network costs for the same service and might not count toward your annual out-of-pocket limit.
“Surprise billing” is an unexpected balance bill. This can happen when you can’t control who is involved in your care—like when you have an emergency or when you schedule a visit at an in-network facility but are unexpectedly treated by an out-of-network provider.
You are protected from balance billing for:
Emergency services.
If you have an emergency medical condition and get emergency services from an out-of-network provider or facility, the most the provider or facility may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount (such as copayments and coinsurance). You can’t be balanced billed for these emergency services. This includes services you may get after you’re in stable condition, unless you give written consent and give up your protections not to be balance billed for these post-stabilization services.
Certain services at an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center.
When you get services from an in-network hospital or ambulatory surgical center, certain providers there may be out-of-network providers. In these cases, the most those providers may bill you is your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount. This applies to emergency medicine, anesthesia, pathology, radiology, laboratory, neonatology, assistant surgeon, hospitalist, or intensivist services. These providers can’t balance bill you and may not ask you to give up your protections not to be balance billed. If you get other services at these in-network facilities, out-of-network providers can’t balance bill you, unless you give written consent and give up your protections.
You’re never required to give up your protections from balance billing. You also aren’t required to get care out-of-network. You can choose a provider or facility in your plan’s network.
In the state of Florida, there are comprehensive balance billing protections in addition to those provided by the federal No Surprises Act. Florida law states that insurance companies are not allowed to bill you for amounts beyond your plan’s in-network cost-sharing amount. That protection applies to HMO and PPO insurance plans for emergency services by out-of-network providers and facilities, as well as non-emergency services provided by out-of-network providers at in-network facilities. For PPOs, the state payment standard applies to emergency services and non-emergency services provided by out-of-network providers at in-network facilities. For HMOs, the state payment standard only applies to emergency services but the state also has a claim dispute resolution program in place. Under Florida law, these protections do not apply to ground ambulance services for PPO insurance plans, patients enrolled in PPO insurance plans who consent to non-emergency out-of-network services, and patients with self-funded insurance plans. The laws put in place by the state of Florida work together with the requirements of the No Surprises Act to ensure that you are protected from surprise medical bills.
When balance billing isn’t allowed, you also have the following protections:
- You are only responsible for paying your share of the cost (like the copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles that you would pay if the provider or facility was in-network). Your health plan will pay out-of-network providers and facilities directly.
- Your health plan generally must:
– Cover emergency services without requiring you to get approval for services in advance (prior authorization).
-Cover emergency services by out-of-network providers.
– Base what you owe the provider or facility (cost-sharing) on what it would pay an in-network provider or facility and show that amount in your explanation of benefits.
– Count any amount you pay for emergency services ro out-of-network services toward your deductible and out-of-pocket limit.
If you believe you’ve been wrongly billed, you may contact the Department of Health and Humans Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services by calling the No Surprises Helpdesk at 1-800-985-3059, or visiting http://www.cms.gov/nosurprises.
Visit http://www.cms.gov/nosurprises for more information about your rights under federal law.
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