Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation into law designed to help eliminate surprise medical bills, according to a report on azfamily.com.
Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, sponsored the legislation, known as Senate Bill 1441. Under the law, she said patients will have options when it comes to challenging a surprise medical bill from an out-of-network provider, according to the report.
"If a patient gets a surprise bill, under my legislation they'll be able to call the [state] department of insurance which will set up a telephone call between the doctor, the insurance company and the patient," Sen. Lesko said. "In most of the cases it will be settled right then and there but if for some reason, it's not settled over the telephone call then it will go to a private arbitrator which will settle the amount and the patient will be out no more expense."
The new Arizona law is set to take effect in 2019, according to the report.
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