Another story about medical debt

KFF Health News published an article on yet another way in which patients can end up in medical debt. Like some other stories, patients mentioned in this article seem to have signed forms that they did not fully understand and opted for an out-of-network provider. One element of this story not frequently highlighted in other medical debt stories is that insurers sent reimbursement checks to the patients, who were then supposed to sign them over to the provider. In some cases, patients admitted to keeping the checks. In at least one case, a patient declared that she handed over the checks, but is still being sued.

Part of the confusion appears to stem from a lack of upfront clarity of pricing and of how much out-of-network insurers would pay. An exacerbating factor appears "onerous repayment terms." Some of these pain points might be streamlined by, for example, having the insurer pay the provider directly, even for out-of-network patients. Perhaps, though, insurers do so in order to minimize the likelihood that they will be contacted for any outstanding balance; or perhaps they do so to give providers an added incentive to join their networks. To reduce confusion, state governments could perhaps standardize and simplify patient forms, similar to how some states streamline mortgage applications.