More than one in three Californians have medical debt . . . When someone has unaffordable medical expenses those unpaid bills often turn into medical debt that is included on their credit report. This damages their credit score and may affect their ability to get an affordable car loan or a mortgage, to rent an […]
Lower Costs
California Before 10 Years of the ACA
Especially given all that is going on in our health system, it is time to stop re-litigating a health law signed ten years ago, especially one that has shown so much proven success. California is proof of how much our health system has transformed. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, California was the national poster […]
Budget Deal Reached!
The Legislature and the Governor have reached a budget deal! The Budget Conference Committee convened on Thursday night to take final action on budget issues in Conference Committee, which is described below. See how health priorities fared in our budget scorecard. The revised budget includes several limited but important investments in health and human services, […]
Key Patient Protections Pass Legislature, Now On Governor’s Desk
With the California Legislature adjourning after midnight last Saturday, most of the action on priority bills for health consumers moves to the Governor’s desk. Most of the Heath Access-sponsored bills protecting consumers from unfair out-of-pocket costs are now one Governor’s signature away from enactment. There were disappointments in the final days of this year’s legislative […]
End of Session Recap: Legislation to Stop Surprise Medical Bills Stalls in California Assembly; Other Key Patient Protection Measures Advance to Governor’s Desk
The California Assembly adjourned Saturday morning without passing legislation to prevent patients from facing surprise out-of-network bills after they get care in in-networks hospitals or other facilities. AB533 (Bonta), sponsored by Health Access California, would have held consumers harmless for surprise bills reflecting out-of-network charges that were outside of their control (See separate AB533 fact sheet). A broad coalition […]
Close-up on AB 533 (Bonta): Protecting Consumers from Surprise Medical Bills
Consumers know they can save money and limit their out-of-pocket costs by going to an in-network provider. Too often, however, consumers who do the right thing by going to an in-network hospital or facility end up getting a surprise bill by a doctor who turns out not to be in-network. According to a recent survey […]
New national attention on hospital debt collection practices..
About a week ago, the New York Times broke a major story on the issue of hospital billings and collections. It’s an issue we’ve done a lot of work on, leading to the passage of the Hospital Fair Pricing Act in 2006, and educating pa tients about the consumer protections in California law through our website, http://www.hospitalbillhelp.org/. […]