Thread by @chrisvanderveen

THREAD/

1/ I have long said that in health care "the status quo is making far too many people far too much money to want to change the status quo."

No more is this more evident than in the debate over #SurpriseMedicalBills

2/ In Colorado, acting in part on the results of this investigation by @9wantstoknow, legislators finally passed a substantive bill to prevent out-of-network providers from sending surprise bills to patients who visit otherwise in-network facilities.

9news.com/article/news/i…

@9WantsToKnow 3/ Patients have had, for a long time, a legitimate gripe of doing what their insurance wants them to do only to find themselves hit with a bill from a doctor or other provider who they never met, never chose.

Basically, patients want this protection.

@9WantsToKnow 4/ But in order for all Coloradans to have full protection, Congress must act as well (it's complicated)... there has been a flurry of activity there this year to do this... @MichaelBennet has been one of the local leaders to do this. Sides sounded optimistic early on... BUT

@9WantsToKnow @MichaelBennet 5/ While providers say they want a solution for patients, behind the scenes there is skepticism of their true intentions.

Basically, lobbyists are doing what lobbyists tend to do.

modernhealthcare.com/government/sur…

@9WantsToKnow @MichaelBennet 6/ Nationally, an extremely opaque group with no more than a PO Box in Birmingham, Alabama, is spending millions to fight federal surprise billing protection. ($13 million!)

(Hey @DrPatientUnity... it's time for us to chat... we're not giving up on this)

about.bgov.com/news/mystery-g…

@9WantsToKnow @MichaelBennet @drpatientunity 7/ Here's what's CRAZY. All sides say they believe patients should not receive these surprise bills...

But... surprise bills actually add leverage for providers as they fight for more money from insurance companies...

I've seen it happen in Colorado with my own eyes...

@9WantsToKnow @MichaelBennet @drpatientunity 8/ Providers want more money... Duh!

But without a contract with an insurance company, they routinely rely on their patients to file appeals directly after initial claim denied/paid in part.

Keep in mind, many of these providers are seeking 500% Medicare... if not much more.

@9WantsToKnow @MichaelBennet @drpatientunity 9/ without patients, they lose leverage.

and without leverage... they can't get paid... in some rare instances CRAZY amounts...

How crazy? How about $169,000 for intraoperative neuromonitoring (which we found in Colorado too)

9news.com/article/news/i…

@9WantsToKnow @MichaelBennet @drpatientunity 10/ Are you catching on to what I am saying? The status quo is making far too many people far too much money to ever want to change this...

And so they're spending millions to fight something everyone knows must change...

Mad? It's ok... Maybe let your Congressperson know.

*nowhere is this more evident 🤨