Torrance Senator Renews Call For Hospital Billing Reform

TORRANCE (CBSLA.com) — A Southern California lawmaker is set to make a new push in Sacramento for increased transparency in hospital billing.

KNX 1070's Charles Feldman reports State Senator Ted Lieu is reintroducing a modified bill after a failed initial attempt last year.

Lieu (D-Torrance) is expected to introduce Senate Bill 266 that would require radiology groups and others to have all of their members enrolled in a particular insurance group to be able to say they are in-network.

The legislation would take aim at third-party groups who claim to be part of a patient's insurance network - when in fact only a few of its members are - and then hitting the patient with a "massive" out-of-network bill.

While Lieu blamed "a very powerful industry" lobby for defeating a previous version of the bill last year, he remains confident of a different outcome this time.

"This bill will have significantly less opposition," said Lieu.

Click here (PDF) to read the full text of SB 266.