New Colorado Law Bans Balance Billing

The Centennial State is making health insurers responsible for protecting members who try to stay in network against big, unexpected medical bills.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, has signed S.B. 213, a bill that concerns “balance billing” at hospitals.

The new balance billing law is supposed to protect managed care plan patients who undergo treatment by in-network physicians at in-network hospitals, then receive sky-high, out-of-network bills from out-of-network radiologists, anesthesiologists and other out-of-network doctors who help with treatment.

S.B. 213 “clarifies that health insurance plans, not patients, must pay the extra charges in those situations,” the Owens administration says in a statement about the bill.