The health plans have decided that your heart attack or your broken leg or your laceration is not as important as growing their profit margins.

"Clearly, this 'balance billing' should be abolished, which will ensure reasonable payment for appropriate care, even for that provided by out-of-network physicians. Today in my pediatrics office, I encountered a health plan that would rather pay $400 for an ER visit for a shot of Decadron for croup, rather than me. Lsst week, an even more dramatic disparity of treatment for a laceration I repaired."

^{- William K. Mallon, MD (President of the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians).}

 

^{From: "Balanced Billing, Isn’t" -- Originally published on MDNG.com, Friday, August 22, 2008}