Late Tuesday night, the Ohio Senate passed a plan that would stop Ohioans from receiving surprise medical bills from out of network providers. The plan, which had passed the House earlier, is now on its way to Gov. Mike DeWine.
The president of the Ohio Association of Health Plans, Kelly O’Reilly, says this measure prevents Ohioans from receiving what’s known as a balance bill.
“That’s a bill that comes because they went to an in-network facility but for one reason or another were seen by a provider, a doctor, who was outside of their health plan network," O'Reilly says.
O’Reilly says one in six hospital patients have received these bills, which can be very expensive, despite their best intentions to use providers their health insurer prefers. If DeWine signs this bill, O’Reilly says those providers will be fairly compensated without forcing health insurance companies to raise rates.
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