Dear TxAAPS Members and Friends:
The 86th Session of the Texas Legislature is now in the rear view mirror. In many ways it was a disappointment since the body failed to act on bills that would have been helpful to patients and the physicians who treat them.
Although a number of the bills AAPS supported were not enacted, we are confident that the long hours, days, and months of advocacy performed by the chapter and our valiant members were not wasted. Success in the legislature, more often than not, requires long term effort and commitment. And the work educating policy makers this year helps build crucial momentum towards achieving our goals in future sessions.
TxAAPS will not back down from this challenge and is already gearing up for 2021. There is much work to do and we will keep you updated when your help is needed.
In the meantime, here are a couple exciting updates on ways your colleagues in AAPS are fighting back:
Lawsuit Challenging Prohibition on Physician Dispense
AAPS (national) President Kris Held, MD, and her legal battle to bring in-office dispensing of prescription drugs to Texas, was featured in Forbes.
Protectionist Health Care Laws Enrich Special Interests And It’s Patients That Pay
It may be easy for pharmacy groups to scare legislators away from reform, but two Texas doctors are now working with Institute for Justice to ask a state court to protect their rights under the Texas constitution. Dr. Michael Garrett of Austin and Dr. Kristin Held of San Antonio both want to use doctor dispensing to save their patients money and better manage their health care.
Read Full Article:https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2019/07/17/protectionist-health-care-laws-enrich-special-interests-and-its-patients-that-pay/#2d67f71a2bc8
TxAAPS President-elect Speaks Out on “Surprise Bills”
July 29, 2019
Can Socialists Save Us from Surprise Medical Bills?
By John Dale Dunn, MD, JD
“Surprise billing” is the latest health care crisis, and it has prompted the usual response: big government to the rescue.
Balance billing — or a surprise medical bill — happens when you get a bill from a doctor, hospital, or other health care provider who isn’t part of your health plan’s network of physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers. Your health plan is your health insurance.
Surprise billing occurs because insurance plans can’t create coverage for all the providers you might see in their promises to insured, and insureds don’t get a proper warning about the impact of bills from out-of-network doctors and hospitals that aren’t under agreements for fees with the insurance plan. Most insurance/network plans don’t get the high-dollar and high-expertise providers to agree to their fees, which are pretty modest (often chintzy), so most insurance plans with “networks” sell a shabby product to the public without warning that they are not comprehensive and leave a lot of gaps that are filled by specialists and other providers who don’t agree to the insurance plan “network” fee schedules.Read Full Article:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/07/can_socialists_save_us_from_surprise_medical_bills.html#ixzz5xSp1IJkF