Fans of our Fair Health Prices WA campaign know that we’ve been eagerly awaiting a new report by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner about how to tackle the problem of “surprise” balance billing by ground ambulance companies. Now the wait is over! 

On October 2nd, the Insurance Commissioner released a study to the Legislature detailing the recommendations of the Ground Ambulance Balance Billing Workgroup. A summary can be found here. We were pleased to see recommendations to ban balance billing by ground ambulance providers and to keep a lid on ground ambulance prices with a fixed rate approach where possible.  This guidance reflects our advocacy as a Workgroup participant for a solution to balance billing that also promotes health care affordability. We’re hoping to see action this legislative session to carry out these recommendations!