Balance Billing Hot Issue for 2016

This will be one of the hottest issues in the 2016 Session:

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation will support efforts to limit what physicians can charge insured patients who seek emergency medical care from out-of-network providers, reports Christine Sexton of Politico.

The OIR made the announcement at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, when insurance commissioner Kevin McCarty’s chief of staff, Belinda Miller, outlined the agency's legislative agenda for the upcoming 2016 session.

The so-called “balance billing ban” has been one of the most divisive health insurance issues over the last several years and pits the state’s largest medical organization against the insurance industry.

Balance billing for emergency services already is prohibited for HMO patients but there is not a similar prohibition for patients insured in traditional health plans.