Jesse
Grady|Posted: Jun 23, 2020 11:48 AM
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by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of
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The past several months have put a serious strain on
Americans from all walks of life. The spread of COVID-19 across the U.S. has
caused both an unprecedented health emergency and an economic crisis.
Unfortunately, some of those who have the most to lose from all of this are the
very same people who are working hard to get the situation under control:
medical workers.
As hospitals redouble their efforts and refocus their
operations to ensure they are fully prepared to treat patients ahead of a
potential second wave of COVID-19, they have also lost significant streams of
revenue due to forced cancellations for non-emergency and elective care. At the
time when they most need all resources possible, their ability to procure these
resources has been severely limited.
Underscoring this problem, of course, has been the issue of
surprise medical billing, which involves patients receiving emergency care or
going to a doctor they believe is in their network, only to receive an
exorbitant bill for that care later down the road. Measures have been taken to
alleviate this problem for COVID-19 patients, but more must be done to provide
a long-term fix.
To address these issues, some in government have proposed a
government rate-setting solution, which they claim could help alleviate the
burden that has been placed on medical providers. Of course, like most
rate-setting proposals, this is a misguided effort that is coming at the worst
possible time. Allowing the government to step in and set prices would enable
significant overreach into private health care, inevitably creating a situation
where a heavy hand tips the scale in favor of large medical providers and
insurance companies.
In an environment where the government can set rates,
insurance companies would continue to spend millions lobbying for rates that
are favorable to them. These prices would be artificially lowered to such a
degree that smaller medical practices and medical facilities would be unable to
recuperate the lost revenue, in turn sacrificing access to care for Americans
in communities across the nation. This would be especially devastating for
rural communities, given that rural medical care facilities have already been
rapidly closing in recent years. A rate-setting solution would only amplify the
existing problems.
That is why it’s promising to see the Trump administration
begin work on solutions that will rein in surprise medical billing while also
rebuffing government rate-setting proposals. With the steps it has taken
recently, the administration is showing that it is taking the current crisis
seriously and wants to provide long-term answers for patients who have been
stuck with surprise medical bills since even before the current crisis began.
Now, it is up to lawmakers in Congress to work together with
the administration and craft a solution that works for all Americans. Ending
surprise medical bills has long been a bipartisan goal, and there is no reason
it should divide congressional leaders now. American citizens and health care
workers are in desperate need of answers, and our elected leaders must do
everything possible to ensure they do.
One such solution,
which the Trump administration would be wise to support, is Senator Bill
Cassidy’s (R-LA) STOP Surprise Medical Bills Act. Senator Cassidy’s proposal is
one that’s built on conservative principles and has shown success in states
like New York and Florida that have already implemented similar models. It
offers the exact kind of alternative to government rate-setting that our
medical system needs right now.
Both COVID-19 and surprise medical billing will continue to pose
unique challenges for our health care system in the months ahead. In that time,
government officials must avoid being trapped into a solution that relies on
government rate-setting, which will inevitably only make the problem worse. Our
medical providers simply cannot afford to suffer more losses, and rate-setting
would take them further down the wrong path. Price controls have never worked
in the past, and they won’t work this time, either.
Jesse Grady is a former
staff member of President Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign and a former Regional
Field Director for the Texas GOP
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