People struggle with bills even as insurance coverage increases, showing "that health insurance in America is not protective enough," says a Commonwealth Fund researcher.
CMS also reports that 2.5 million people have reduced their monthly premiums after advance payments of premium tax credits during the Special Enrollment Period, which ends August 15.
"It really undermines what the physicians are doing at the point of care, and it's bad policy," says Doug Wolfe, co-founder and partner of the Miami-based law firm Wolfe Pincavage.
Understanding the qualifying payment amount and the initial information on the independent dispute resolution process "should be a short-term priority for revenue cycle leaders and their teams," says attorney Harvey Rochman.
The few people who have researched hospital prices online within the past six months were slightly more likely to erroneously believe that hospitals aren't required to post price information online.
The research confirms what has been anecdotally reported for months: That hospitals are choosing which parts of the rule to comply with, and that partial compliance is common.
"Patients are not medical experts and should not be expected to self-diagnose during what they believe is a medical emergency," writes Richard J. Pollack, president and CEO of AHA.
The American College of Emergency Physicians said that it "firmly believes that the new policy is in direct violation of the federal Prudent Layperson Standard."
