Panel OKs bill targeting predatory medical debt collectors
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - An Idaho Senate panel on Wednesday approved legislation to create transparency in medical bills sent to patients and rein in predatory medical debt collectors.
The Senate State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to approve the measure backers call consumer protection legislation but opponents say would increase healthcare costs for patients who pay their bills.
It now heads to the full Senate to be debated.
The bill seeks to cap attorney fees charged to patients at $350 for those who do not contest their bills in court and $750 for those who do. It would also set a 45-day deadline for medical facilities to get bills to a patient's insurance.
The legislation addresses "a problem that many Idahoans have experienced and are struggling with today, and that is aggressive and unscrupulous medical debt collection on the back of a medical billing and collection system that is often very counter-intuitive and confusing, "said Republican Sen. Kelly Anthon.
Republican Sen. Mary Souza said she received a bill more than a year after service had been provided.
"If we can get confused by the medical billing, anyone can," she said.
Billionaire Frank VanderSloot, founder of Idaho Falls-based wellness shopping club Melaleuca, helped initiate the legislation after a debt collection agency targeted one of his employees, tacking on legal fees that turned a $294 bill into $5,500. He's also spent $1 million in legal fees defending people who he said appear to have been caught up in predatory medical billing by attorneys.
Several medical debt collection attorneys spoke against the bill, saying medical providers would lose money and pass that cost on to their patients. But they acknowledge the industry contained some bad actors.
Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill asked if those bad actors had been reported to the Idaho Bar Association. He was told they had not because they hadn't broken any law.
Backers say that's a loophole in the law that needs to be closed.
It's unusual for legislation that adds regulations on industry to advance in the conservative Idaho Legislature that has super-majorities of Republicans in the House and Senate.
"This is a big problem," said VanderSloot after the meeting. "We're addressing a problem that literally thousands and thousands of Idahoans run into."
