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Trump boosts fight against surprise medical bills | TheHill

posted onJanuary 28, 2019
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Article snippet: Momentum is building for action to prevent patients from receiving massive unexpected medical bills, aided by MORE, who is vowing to take on the issue. Calls for action against so-called "surprise" medical bills have been growing, spurred by viral stories like one involving a teacher in Texas last year who received a $108,000 bill from the hospital after his heart attack. Even though the teacher had insurance, the hospital was not in his insurance network. Lawmakers in both parties say they want to take action to protect people from those situations, marking a health-care area outside of the partisan standoff over ObamaCare, where Congress could advance bipartisan legislation to help patients. Trump gave a boost to efforts on Wednesday. “[People] go in, they have a procedure and then all of a sudden they can't afford it, they had no idea it was so bad," Trump said at a roundtable with patients about the issue. “We're going to stop all of it, and it's very important to me,” he added. But the effort still faces obstacles from powerful health care industry groups—including hospitals, insurers and doctors. Those groups are jockeying to ensure that they avoid a financial hit from whatever solution lawmakers and the White House back. Asked if he expected resistance from the health care industry, Sen. MORE (D-N.H.), who has sponsored legislation to protect patients from surprise bills, said in an interview. She said she is “very optimistic that we will be able to find c... Link to the full article to read more

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