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Subject: President Donald J. Trump Wants to Protect Patients and Their Families from Surprise Billing

poolreports
Today 12:53pm
1
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2019

** PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP WANTS TO PROTECT PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES FROM SURPRISE BILLING

** “The seen and unseen costs of healthcare are still taking an enormous toll on millions of American families.” – President Donald J. Trump

**
LIFTING THE BURDEN OF SURPRISE BILLING: President Donald J. Trump is putting forward principles to address the problem of surprise billing in healthcare.

* American families deserve to be protected against the burden of costly, surprise bills when their loved ones receive medical care.
+ A 2018 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 67 percent of Americans worry about unexpected medical bills, with 38 percent saying they are very worried.
* Patients are often hit with surprise bills after receiving emergency care from an out-of-network provider, when they could not choose their provider.
* Patients also often receive surprise bills at highly inflated prices after receiving care from an out-of-network provider they reasonably assumed was in their network.
* The Trump Administration believes that any effort to address the issue of surprise billing should be undertaken with these principles in mind:
+ Patients receiving emergency care should not be forced to shoulder extra costs billed by a care provider but not covered by their insurer.
+ Patients receiving scheduled care should have information about whether providers are in or out of their network and what costs they may face.
+ Patients should not receive surprise bills from out-of-network providers they did not choose.
+ Federal healthcare expenditures should not increase.

PROTECTING PATIENTS: President Trump wants to ensure patients are not taken advantage of and have the price information they need to make informed decisions.
* The Administration wants to ensure patients are not price gouged in emergency situations by out-of-network providers they could not choose.
+ In emergency situations, balance billing for amounts above the in-network allowed amount should be prohibited.
* The Administration wants to bring transparency to the confusing and opaque pricing system patients face when scheduling care.
+ Before scheduling their care, patients should be given information about whether the care providers are out of their network and what related costs that may bring.

COMMITTED TO LOWERING COSTS: Combating surprise billing will build on the numerous actions President Trump has taken to put patients in control and lower the costs they face.
* The Trump Administration expanded short-term, limited duration insurance plans, which can be far cheaper than exchange plans and better suited to peoples’ needs.
* The Administration expanded association health plans, making it more affordable for small businesses to provide health insurance to their employees.
* The President signed the elimination of the individual mandate penalty.
* The President launched a campaign to drive down drug prices, and recently finalized a historic new requirement that drug companies include prices in television advertisements.
* The Food and Drug Administration set new records for generic drug approvals in 2017 and 2018, saving Americans $26 billion in the first year and a half of the Trump Administration.

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Public Pool is an automated feed of White House press pool reports. For live updates, follow @WHPublicPool on Twitter.
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Subject: Pool report 2 - Gathering for surprise-billing announcement

poolreports
Today 11:42am
1
From: “Rogers, Katie”
Date: May 9, 2019 at 11:37:21 AM EDT
Subject: Pool report 2 - Gathering for surprise-billing announcement

The remarks will be delivered in the Roosevelt room and live streamed at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Highlights TK.
—
Katie Rogers
White House Correspondent
The New York Times
(646) -xxx-xxxx

Public Pool is an automated feed of White House press pool reports. For live updates, follow @WHPublicPool on Twitter.
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