I Fought The Law and…Unpredictable Results Ensued

By: Jon Jablon, Esq.

Are you a landlord? If so, you might know that the law is not on your side. Or, are you a criminal? The law isn’t on your side either, but that one might be more obvious. Last question: are you a benefit plan with members being balance-billed?

There are certain legal protections that our country’s various legislative and regulatory bodies have put in place, such Section 501(r) of the Internal Revenue Code, so-called “surprise billing” legislation, and others – but in general, the majority of medical providers are not subject to legal restrictions in terms of whether they can balance-bill patients. In other words, in most circumstances, a medical provider is permitted to balance-bill a patient for the full balance on a non-contracted claim.

There are many health plans, TPAs, and brokers who want nothing more than to show a facility who’s boss and refuse to pay another cent. Are there tactics and arguments that can be used to combat balance-billing? Of course there are! But, if a medical provider calls the plan’s bluff and continues to balance-bill, there is the real threat of collections and potentially a lawsuit, which many of us have witnessed first-hand, and it can be a nightmare for the patient.

For health plans that want to stand strong and not negotiate, litigation is an option! Litigation instituted by the health plan or the patient, that is. Even just the threat of litigation can have great effects on balance-billing support; many facilities, when faced with allegations of egregious billing and evidence that their charges are dozens of times Medicare rates, will close out accounts, or look to sign a direct contract for open and future claims.

Look out, though – because if a medical provider says “let’s dance” in response to a threat of litigation, the plan sponsor or patient will need to either back down or follow through. If the latter, it’s truly unpredictable how the court might react. On the one hand, non-contracted claims must, like all other non-contracted transactions in any other market, be billed at some measure of the fair market value. On the other hand, the patient generally signs the provider’s standard assignment of benefits form that says, in small print, “if your insurance doesn’t pay this whole bill, you agree to pay the rest.” In that case, can the claim truly be called non-contracted, after the patient has agreed (read: contracted) to pay the balance?

There are certain factors that work in the plan’s and patient’s favor, but there are perhaps just as many factors that work against them in a given case. It’s a tough call; whether or not to litigate should depend on many factors, including claim size, balance size, and the bill as a percentage of Medicare. For a $3,000 claim billed at 180% of Medicare, I’d recommend against litigation – but for a $150,000 claim billed at 1,300% of Medicare, it might be worth rolling the dice…