Dear
John,
If you watched the recent presidential debates or any of the World Series, chances are you saw political ads claiming to be about protecting patients from surprise medical bills.
To be clear, surprise billing is a serious problem, but the group behind these highly deceptive ads only cares about protecting one thing. Profits.
That’s why I’m reaching out to personally ask for your help,
John.
As a respected patient and consumer advocate, the National Partnership is a key player in the No Surprises: People Against Unfair Medical Bills campaign. We’ve been on the front lines fighting for legislation that would actually protect patients from surprise medical bills. But this dark money, political pressure campaign has stymied momentum.
We do not have millions of dollars to spend on counter-ads, but we’ve been working hard on Capitol Hill to set the record straight on behalf of patients. Members are listening, and they’re telling us they need to hear directly from their constituents.
That’s why we’re supporting a national day of action, TODAY!
We need 20,000 activists like you to demand their members of congress protect patients from surprise medical bills! Are you in?
Surprise billing happens when someone goes to a hospital that's IN their insurance network and UNKNOWINGLY receives treatment from an out-of-network physician or specialist, resulting in surprise medical bills that can amount to hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. And it happens all too often.
That's because private-equity-owned firms that staff emergency rooms and operate ambulance transportation services are intentionally keeping their care providers out of insurance networks so they can bill patients directly for the amount insurance doesn't cover. This racket is dangerous for everyone, but people who tend to rely more heavily on emergency room care suffer the most.
We've been working with Congress to immediately pass the Lower Health Care Costs Act and No Surprises Act, which have overwhelming bi-partisan support. But their future is uncertain because the two largest physician staffing firms — whose profits rely on the practice of surprise billing — have come together under the pseudonym Doctor Patient Unity and are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a deceptive, political pressure campaign aimed at defeating our bills and protecting their profits.
Please take action to demand your members protect patients from surprise medical bills and stand up to profit-hungry companies! Then encourage your family and friends to join us in this fight by forwarding them this email!
Thank you,
Sarah Coombs
Senior Health Policy Analyst
P.S. Visit NoSurprisesCampaign.org for more information and actions.
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