Lobbying group Physicians for Fair Coverage spent $4.1 million this summer on a campaign against legislation that would ban hospitals from billing patients for surprise out-of-network charges, The Hill reports.
The group represents physician staffing firms like ApolloMD, many of which are funded by private equity firms, the report notes. Its significant campaign is surprising, as the new group spent $5,000 from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2018, the same period last year, according to the report. Its spending for the first six months of 2019 was less than $200,000.
Physicians for Fair Coverage is instead promoting a bill that would allow medical billing disputes to be settled through arbitration.
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