Scanlon Leads Passage of Important Bill

From The Connecticut General Assembly: Following a dispute last fall that for seven weeks forced Connecticut consumers with Anthem health insurance to suddenly be out of network at doctors and hospitals affiliated with Hartford Healthcare, Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) led passage today of a bill he wrote and introduced HB 5383, An Act Concerning Disputes Between Health Carriers and Participating Providers That Are Hospitals.

“No one in Connecticut should be told that all of a sudden they can’t use the insurance they pay for at their doctor’s office or local hospital due to a dispute between two giant corporations over profits,” said Scanlon, co-chair of the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee. “Under our bill, consumers will receive more notice when these contracts might expire and then are able to stay in-network for 60 days after a potential expiration while talks continue and public pressure demands a resolution.”

HB 5383 requires that in the event of a future dispute similar to the Anthem-Hartford fight of 2017, customers would remain in-network for 60 days following the expiration of the existing contract. In addition, the bill increases the notification threshold in which patients must be told by insurers of a pending contract expiration from 60 to 90 days’ notice.

Scanlon says the bill was the result of what he described as “horror stories” that came out of last fall’s dispute and a desire not to have this happen again.

“Tens of thousands of people were negatively impacted by the Anthem-Hartford dispute and I’m glad we were able to pass a bill today putting some common sense consumer protections in place to ensure that Connecticut families never have to experience the nightmare of cancelled appointments, postponed surgeries and large bills for routine services again.”

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