"Surprise Medical Bills"

KUT News Radio
2/25/2020

Through a partnership with other news organizations, I focused on the issue of surprise medical bills in Texas for more than a year.

Those stories -- particularly those of patients faced with large bills -- forced lawmakers to find a way to tackle the problem. As some of my reporting noted, advocates wanted patients taken out of the middle of disputes between insurers and providers. Well, last year, state lawmakers did just that.

I was told by stakeholders that KUT's reporting with NPR and Kaiser Health News was a catalyst for a lot of this change.

I was also told later in the year that a possible loophole created during the rule-making process for that law would have vastly undermined the intent of the bill. The day my reporting ran on NPR, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatened the agency proposing that loophole. Later, the agency left the process altogether.

Now, Texas has one of the strongest protections for consumers in the country.

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Submitted by Ashley Lopez.