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From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Circulating legislation from GOP authors would allow Wisconsin health care providers to allow discounts for “prompt” payment of health care fees.
Sen. Rachael Cabral Guevara of Fox Crossing and Rep. Clint Moses of Menomonie recently sent out a co-sponsorship memo seeking support for the bill, which has the support of the Wisconsin Hospital Association.
Under current law, providers can’t reduce or offer to reduce coinsurance or a deductible for someone covered by a health insurance policy if it’s required by the policy’s terms, with exceptions for financial hardship, the memo shows. The legislation would exempt certain discounts from that law if they meet various criteria such as being offered to incentivize prompt payment, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau.
Bill authors argue health care providers have been forced to become “debt collectors” due to insurance company plan designs. They note insurers don’t always pay providers the full contracted rate for a billed health care service, and often pay the negotiated rate minus any remaining amount that the insured person needs to pay to meet their deductible or out-of-pocket maximum.
This results in higher administrative costs for providers “who are rightfully owed for the services they’ve already delivered,” authors wrote. They say other states allow providers to offer discounts to encourage timely payments.
“By clarifying the law, this bill gives providers the option (but not the requirement) to offer a modest discount — capped at 15% and reasonably related to avoided collection costs — for prompt payment of the patient’s share of the bill,” authors wrote.
The memo details other requirements for discounts to be allowed under the bill. These include: having the provider notify insurers by posting discount policies online; preventing the discount from being provided before the service is scheduled or outside the provider’s typical billing framework; barring providers from shifting the cost of the discount to other payers, and others.
“This targeted clarification will promote administrative efficiency, reduce collection costs for providers, and deliver direct savings to patients who pay their bills promptly,” authors wrote.
The co-sponsorship deadline is tomorrow at noon.
See the bill text.
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