{"id":3521,"date":"2022-12-16T13:07:04","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T19:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/texas\/?post_type=update&#038;p=3521"},"modified":"2022-12-16T13:07:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T19:07:04","slug":"despite-new-laws-texans-still-subject-to-surprise-ambulance-bills","status":"publish","type":"update","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/texas\/updates\/despite-new-laws-texans-still-subject-to-surprise-ambulance-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite new laws, Texans still subject to surprise ambulance bills"},"featured_media":45451,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[173],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[46],"topic_tax":[147],"class_list":["post-3521","update","type-update","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[147],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":173,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[46],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":null}},"featured_image":45451,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"","hide_hero_image":false},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":119,"people":"3496"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the last year, the newly enacted federal <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/nosurprises\/consumers\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No Surprises Act<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> protected <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahip.org\/news\/press-releases\/new-study-no-surprises-act-protects-9-million-americans-from-surprise-medical-bills\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> insured people from surprise medical bills from out-of-network hospitals and air ambulances. But neither the new federal law, nor a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tdi.texas.gov\/tips\/texas-protects-consumers-from-surprise-medical-bills.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Texas law<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that passed in 2019, protects patients from ground ambulance surprise bills. Each year, millions of insured patients who use ambulances are at risk of receiving an expensive out-of-network balance bill from the ambulance company. To provide a closer look at the problem, the U.S. PIRG Education Fund released a new report, \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/resources\/emergency-the-high-cost-of-ambulance-surprise-bills\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EMERGENCY: the high cost of ambulance surprise bills<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this week.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Texas and six other states, more than two-thirds of emergency ground transports could result in a balance bill, which can be pricey for those already dealing with a medical emergency. Nationally, ambulance surprise bills carry a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/doi\/10.1377\/hlthaff.2019.01484\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">median out-of-pocket charge of $450<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It\u2019s even higher in Texas where the median patient charge is $656.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December 2021, Rachel Carnahan\u2019s three-year-old daughter had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance after a fall. \u201cShe was thankfully OK,\u201d said Carnahan, \u201cBut then, we got a bill for $1,082 from the ambulance company and we had to pay more than a thousand of it out of pocket because the city EMS doesn\u2019t take insurance. We\u2019re already tapped out financially and trying to buy our loved ones Christmas presents. This is the last thing we need and it\u2019s just unfair.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Carnahan, a social worker at a children\u2019s hospital, noted that this travesty played out even though she has a robust health insurance plan. \u201cI just can\u2019t understand why we have to pay this bill.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2021, the Texas Senate passed <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/tlodocs\/87R\/analysis\/html\/SB00999I.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SB 999<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, prohibiting surprise ground ambulance billing of consumers by out-of-network providers and non-network providers, but the bill died in the House. <\/span>","":null}}],"featured_content":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Despite new laws, Texans still subject to surprise ambulance 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