A bipartisan plan to end surprise ER bills
>  The policy proposal, which you can read here, essentially bars out-of-network doctors from billing patients directly for their care. Instead, they would have to seek payment from the insurance plan. This would mean that in the cases above, the out-of-network doctors couldn’t send those big bills to the patients, who’d be all set after paying their emergency room copays.<p>I do love "sensible policy changes" that work by extracting money from physicians to cover patient bills rather than actually fixing the systemic dysfunction.<p>If you're the surgeon to hand, you don't get to refuse to do emergency surgery. You <i>have</i> to take care of that patient, ethically and legally. Oh, turns out they're out of network, and their insurer isn't obligated to give you a dime? Awesome, free surgery!<p>Here's a sensible solution: when it comes to emergency-based care, insurers must accept all comers as in-network. There's no such thing as "out of network" emergency-related care.<p>But hey, insurers have powerful leverage and a near-monopoly. What're the odds we'd take a slice off <i>their</i> profit margin?