In an Action Alert to its members, the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) warns that the so-called No Surprises Act is really an insurance company protection bill. “Poised to be rushed through in the final days of the lame duck Congress, [it] is a surprise attack on patients’ access to independent physicians.”
The alert states: “Proponents claim the bill (which does not yet have a bill number) is needed to protect patients from so-called surprise bills. Unfortunately, this problem caused in large part by past policy failures like [the Affordable Care Act] is not going to be fixed by 357 new pages of federal regulation. In fact the legislation is full of bad surprises that will result in decreased patient choice and the closure of more independent medical practices.”
Among the bad surprises, the Alert lists the following:
- “It adds red tape to both patients seeking care out-of-network and independent physicians providing that care.”
- “Insurers and government bureaucrats will exert even greater control over patient care, especially care that is needed in emergency life or death situations.”
- “Section 115 creates a federal claims database inimical to patient privacy.”
- “Section 117 may require any independent physician to submit an insurance claim for patients who have commercial insurance…. This provision has unclear and potentially harmful implications for the ability of patients and physicians to enter into third-party-free relationships.”
AAPS concludes that the bill “greatly increases the power of government over American medicine” and urges members to tell Congress that the “[‘No Surprises Act’] should not be added to bills being rushed through before Christmas and that it will reduce patient access to independent physicians who work for the patient and not for the benefit of the insurance plan’s bottom line.”
AAPS has represented physicians of all specialties in all states since 1943. The AAPS motto is omnia pro aegroto, meaning everything for the patient.
