When a medical emergency strikes, the only thing you care about is getting to the nearest and best doctor and hospital for treatment. When seconds count, the very last thing on your mind should be whether or not you’ll see a doctor or receive care that your insurance company considers “out-of-network,” sticking you with the bill.

Yet, too often, families across the country have gone through the pain and trauma of a medical emergency only to relive the experience when receiving unexpected medical bills for critical treatment. These surprise bills threaten our life-savings, retirement, college funds and even homes. It shouldn’t be this way. Patients who don’t have a choice in the medical professionals who treat them, shouldn’t be left out in the cold when insurance companies decide not to reimburse for treatment.

If insurance companies get Congress to pass “rate-setting” legislation, these costs will continue to be passed along to patients, who are already paying expensive monthly premiums and co-pays for care. Patients should be taken out of the middle entirely.

Congress can take patients out of the middle by passing Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR). IDR is a bipartisan supported proposal that uses a neutral third-party to determine the fair-market value for medical treatment in billing disputes. Texas and New York have instituted IDR. Both states have seen a drop, and most importantly, patients aren’t left wondering how they’ll pay for a bill. I know our senior Senator, Susan Collins, understands the needs of rural Mainers and the challenges our healthcare system is facing. I ask that she again stand up for those like my family challenged by this issue.

With so many American families struggling financially, it would be reckless for Congress to give a handout to insurance companies. Instead, the focus should be on how to solve the problem of surprise medical billing once and for all by adopting dispute resolution policies that keeps billing between insurers and providers.

Jeffrey K. Pierce is a former state representative and is the Republican candidate for House District 53 in the state Legislature. He lives in Dresden.

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