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.I do love "sensible policy changes" that work by extracting money from physicians to cover patient bills rather than actually fixing the systemic dysfunction.If you're the surgeon to hand, you don't get to refuse to do emergency surgery. You have 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!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.But hey, insurers have powerful leverage and a near-monopoly. What're the odds we'd take a slice off their profit margin?