> It feels like an agreement, to me, when the practice takes on a patient knowing who their insurer is. I feel like the reimbursement rate that insurer has nego

> It feels like an agreement, to me, when the practice takes on a patient knowing who their insurer is. I feel like the reimbursement rate that insurer has negotiated, regardless of whether the insurer ultimately covers any procedures, should act as a cap for the fees charged to the patient. It feels a lot like negotiating a contract, except that one party gets to unilaterally change the amount of consideration. How does that fly? You aren't exactly talking about "balance billing"[1] but you'll be pleased to know the No Surprises Act[2] tries to address this situation with required cost (estimate) disclosures in advance of a procedure and capping the out-of-network amount that can be charged in the event of an emergency where there can't advanced disclosure. The HHS recently promulgated regulations[3] under the Act but the compliance date is January 2022. For some reason I think there is at least one (maybe two?) other proposed rules in the works but I can't recall what they address and I can't seem to find them. Edit: The other proposed rule is relating to air ambulance services[4] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_billing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_billing [2]https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3630/ https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3630... [3]https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/07/01/hhs-announces-rule-to-protect-consumers-from-surprise-medical-bills.html https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/07/01/hhs-announces-rule... [4]https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210913.576338/full/ https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210913.57633...