Law Would Limit Surprise Billing For Medical Care
The problem, known as balance billing, happens when patients are treated by an out-of-network professional at an in-network facility. Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the legislation. In other news from Sacramento, regulators could learn lessons from Colorado if recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California.
Kaiser Health News/NPR:
California Aims To Limit Surprise Medical Bills
The unexpected charges come when patients are treated by an out-of-network provider at an in-network facility. After several failed attempts in recent years, the California legislature passed AB-72, which aims to protect patients’ pocketbooks when they’re hit by these surprise bills. Gov. Jerry Brown has until the end of September to sign or veto the legislation. He is expected to sign it into law. (O'Neill, 9/16)
Sacramento Bee:
What Stoned Driving Looks Like And How California Might Regulate It
Marijuana legalization advocates suggest impacts of pot use on driving danger may be even harder to quantify. They argue that the 5 nanograms measure – an investigative threshold in Colorado and a legal standard in Washington, another state where voters approved recreational marijuana use in 2012 – has little scientific reliability. The problem, they say, is that THC detected in blood may apply to a stoned motorist who got in the car after smoking a joint as well as a sober driver who has pot metabolized in fat from using marijuana days or even weeks earlier. (Hecht, 9/16)