THCC joined health activists across the country in urging Congress to pass a COVID relief bill and to include consumer protection against Surprise Medical Billing in the package. At the end of December our efforts paid off.

The fear of unexpected medical bills should not be a factor that families need to worry about during this pandemic, or at any time. Tennesseans faced high levels of medical debt even before the pandemic started. The measure in the COVID relief package will hold the consumer harmless for out-of-network medical bills at in-network providers. The bill grants providers and insurers a mechanism to resolve billing disputes so the consumer would pay only the expected in-network rate. Please join us in thanking Senator Alexander and the Tennessee Congressmen who supported this bill

The Federal law covers most large insurance plans and includes air ambulance. A State bill is needed to cover smaller plans and ground ambulance service. Senator Bo Watson and Representative Robin Smith have introduced this legislation in Tennessee. Stay tuned for more on this Tennessee effort in 2021.