California Bill Would Require Fair Health Insurance Pricing

As The Affordable Care Act provides health insurance to millions more Californians, Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano says his bill would make sure that the coverage remains affordable.

“By insuring that patients in these circumstances can go out of network and pay the same price as they would if the service were provided by a network provider,” says Ammiano.

But Nicole Evans with the California Association of Health Plans says state law is adequate to protect customers and this bill would get between insurers and their customers.

“This bill would unravel the fabric of our managed care system by undermining our ability to negotiate competitive plan networks on behalf of our members,” says Evans.

AB 2533 is part of a package of measures supporters call the "Patient Bill of Rights.” Those measures include a bill that would extend Medi-Cal to undocumented immigrants. That bill gets its first committee hearing Wednesday.