Statement of MSSNY President Dr. Art Fougner Urging US House Committee to Fix Unfair Surprise Bill Proposal


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MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
865 Merrick Avenue, Westbury, New York 11590-9007
www.mssny.org
Communications Division
Telephone: (516) 488-6100

 

For Immediate Release
July 10, 2019 

Statement of MSSNY President Dr. Art Fougner Urging US House Committee to Fix Unfair Surprise Bill Proposal

“New York’s physicians are extremely concerned about the impact to patient care of a bill before the US House Energy& Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee, tomorrow July 11, that would further enable abusive health insurer practices by establishing an insurer determined “default rate” for surprise medical bills (HR 3630).  New York’s physicians very much agree with the goal of the legislation to protect patients from facing these bills, but disagree strongly with the solution being offered by Rep. Frank Pallone and Rep. Greg Walden, Chair and Ranking Member of the E&C Committee.  Their proposal would greatly limit the ability of physicians to negotiate patient care terms fairly with already market dominant insurance companies.  It would also make it much harder for hospitals to ensure needed on-call specialty care in their emergency departments. Moreover, it could have a particularly significant adverse impact on rural and smaller hospitals.  We strongly urge Representative Eliot Engel (a member of the Health Subcommittee) to urge that this harmful legislation be replaced with HR 3502 (Ruiz/Roe/Morelle) that would protect patients from surprise medical bills based on the nationally acclaimed model adopted in New York which has proven to be an effective and balanced approach”

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About the Medical Society of the State of New York
Founded in 1807, the Medical Society of the State of New York is the state’s principal non-profit professional organization for physicians, residents and medical students of all specialties. Its mission is to represent the interests of patients and physicians to assure quality healthcare services for all.

MSSNY Contact:
Roseann Raia
Communications / Marketing
Medical Society of the State of New York
865 Merrick Ave.
Westbury, New York
516-488-6100 ext 302
rraia@mssny.org

 

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