Oct. 27, 2016: Statement of Betsy Ryan NJHA President and CEO, Supporting Patient Protections and Opposing A-1952, the ‘Out-of-Network Bill’


“NJHA is committed to protecting patients from surprise medical bills, and we’ve offered a complete plan of consumer protections that go beyond those in any other law passed nationwide. We support a prohibition on balanced billing in emergency scenarios by both hospitals and the physicians who are contracted with hospitals. We support increased disclosure so that consumers are fully informed when they schedule a procedure. We support transparency requirements for hospitals to post insurance information on their web sites. But what we cannot support are the arbitration and payments caps contained in this bill that would be a boon to insurance company profits, while reducing payments to healthcare providers. If protecting patients from surprise medical bills is the goal of this legislation, we are committed to those provisions right now. But we cannot yield on a bill that props up insurance companies to the detriment of the hospitals and physicians that care for the people of New Jersey.”

For further information contact:
Neil Eicher, 609-275-4088, neicher@njha.com
Melinda Caliendo, 609-275-4076, mcaliendo@njha.com