Today was a big day for healthcare costs in North Carolina.
The State Senate, by a bipartisan vote of 44-2, passed one of the most significant and far-reaching healthcare affordability bills of any state legislature in the country.
The bill was combined with legislation to make patient-focused improvements to the prior authorization process.
In total, the bill would mean hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for businesses and consumers in enacted into law.
That means lower premiums, lower employee contributions to company health plans, higher wages, and job growth.
Here is some of what the bill does:
- Eliminates hospital facility fees from being charged at non-hospital settings. These hidden fees drive up costs by billions. Families and businesses should not pay hospital fees when they do not use the hospital.
- Addresses surprise out-of-network bills by ensuring patients are notified if anyone on their care team is out-of-network, and if they may receive a separate bill.
- Sets important consumer protections around medical debt by requiring an itemized disclosure of chargers prior to a bill being sent to collections.
- Allows patients to get an accurate estimate of any charges they will be obligated to pay before receiving care. Under the legislation, the patient’s bill cannot exceed 5 percent of that estimate.
- Sets fair turnaround times and increases transparency for prior authorization processes.
The legislation is a major win for businesses, workers, and their families.
It now goes to the State House.
For everyone dealing with the burden of North Carolina having the nation’s highest healthcare costs, the hope is the House acts quickly.
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